Jack Johnson: Race, Boxing, and America

"I’m black… They never let me forget it. I’m black alright… I’ll never let them forget it."
-Jack Johnson (1878-1946)

Jack Johnson was born March 31st, 1878 to two parents who had actually been slaves.  He was the first black heavyweight champion of the world.  Obviously, he experienced racism, but delving further into how he experienced it and how he was portrayed offers some interesting insights.

It is important to mention that there were black champions before Jack Johnson, but he was the first heavyweight champion, and thats when people got all bent out shape.  Heavyweight champions are considered the "real" champions, after all, while others are considered the best only at their specific size.  From an article by Jack Slack, perhaps the best fighting analyst out there:

“George “Little Chocolate” Dixon, a bantamweight, and Joe Gans, a lightweight, were the first black fighters to win world titles. They defeated white fighters for the titles in 1890 and 1902, respectively.  Both men were enormously respected for their skill and accomplishments. But when Jack Johnson was finally allowed to compete for the heavyweight title and won it in 1908, all hell broke loose. The hunt for the “Great White Hope” began, and for years, rhetoric was repeated in the papers about returning the highest prize in pugilism to the white race. Whether you like it or not, the heavyweight title is a lot more important to people than the belts in other weight classes.”

This is interesting because it reflects something that we even see in popular media today.  People of color, specifically and especially black folks, can be in important positions, but they can't be in the most important position.  You can see it in the way that movie protagonists are almost always white- they can have a sidekick or best friend or whoever that isn’t white, because that isn’t the key position.  You can see it in politics, for instance- just look at how a large section of society has reacted to Barack Obama.  They’re so scared of a black man with a name like his in office that they think he is some sort of communist Muslim atheist black liberation anti-Christ.  Some of those combinations don't even make sense (atheist and Muslim?), and none of them are bad except for the anti-Christ one, but that doesn't matter to the reactionary bunch who feed off the fear of a black POTUS, nor to any who benefit from those feeding off of said fear.

Getting back to the point at hand, Jack Johnson became the first black heavyweight champion of the world on December 26, 1908, and the United States lost its damn mind. They searched desperately for a white champion, a "Great White Hope", and couldn't find one.  In what was called the "Fight of the Century", undefeated former heavyweight champion James J Jeffries was called out of retirement and faced Johnson in 1910.  Johnson would win the bout in the 15th round.  Afterwards, Jeffries was so humbled he said "I could never have whipped Johnson at my best" and conceded Johnson was the better boxer.

Jack Johnson vs James J Jeffries

Perhaps one of the best parts about this is that Jack Johnson was so technical and intelligent in his fighting style. He fought defensively, waited for opponents to make mistakes, and capitalized on them; he also picked opponents apart instead of just going for the big money punches.  This wasn't just a black man beating white men in the ring- he was beating them by showing better patience and strategic thinking.  Of course, they labelled him as "cowardly" and "a trickster" for using these tactics, while a decade earlier they had been calling then heavyweight champion Jim Corbett "the cleverest man in boxing" for using the same tactics.

During his time as a champion, he was portrayed as the typical “wild black threat” archetype.  He was cocky, flashy, openly messed with white women, and basically just didn’t give a fuck in the most awesome way possible.  Back then, any other famous black figure went out of their way to come off as non-threatening as possible because of the very real probability of violence- Jack Johnson was one of the first to break that mold and not give a shit.  Therefore he was portrayed in a way not dissimilar to the way we talk about rappers now: condemning their flash, excess, violence, and misogyny while ignoring it from other parts from mainstream society.  This led to quite a lot of threats against him, not to mention prison stints from a racist system and having to live in Jim Crow era United States, but he made it to old age and died at sixty eight years old.

Muhammad Ali, perhaps my biggest personal hero if I were forced to choose only one, cited him as an inspiration and it is apparent why.  Here's to Jack Johnson, a person who not only challenged white supremacy in both the fighting arena and world at large, but did so unapologetically.