By Hasan Kwame Jeffries, The Ohio State University
African Americans savored every win. That’s why they relished every time they landed a blow against Jim Crow, whether that was in the House of Representatives, when an anti-lynching bill finally received the votes it needed to be sent to the Senate, or in the boxing ring, when a brash and bold Black pugilist, by the name of Jack Johnson, became heavyweight champion of the world.
The “Galveston Giant”
Jack Johnson was born on March 31, 1878, in Galveston, Texas. Both of his parents had known the deprivation of slavery, as well as the hardship of freedom. They provided for Johnson and his eight siblings as best they could: through hard work and thrift, laboring endless hours and stretching every penny and every thread, as Black folk have always done. But it wasn’t enough to keep the entire family fed and clothed.
Johnson began boxing when he was a teenager. But standing just over six feet and weighing nearly 200 pounds, Johnson was a force in the ring, even makeshift rings, and quickly gained a reputation as a formidable foe. By the early 1900s, he was dominating the segregated Black boxing circuit. The “Galveston Giant” was born, and so was the legend of Jack Johnson.
A Boxer, Promoter, Fighter, and an Entertainer
There was one thing bigger than Johnson’s stature, and that was his personality. Johnson was simultaneously a boxer and a promoter, a fighter and an entertainer. He thrilled Black spectators with the power of his punches and unmistakable Blackness. White audiences were taken with him, too, but for different reasons. They exoticized Johnson, reducing his mastery of the ‘Sweet Science’ to natural brutishness. They also feared him. They feared what he represented—Black manhood, Black strength, Black independence, and Black power.
So when Johnson began clamoring for a shot at the World Heavyweight Championship, African Americans wanted to see it. They wanted to see a Black man pummel a white man without fear of retribution. Whites, however, were less than thrilled by the prospect of Johnson squaring off against a white champion. They assumed, of course, that the white fighter would win—that white supremacy would triumph. But what if the white pugilist lost, just like everyone else who’d faced the “Galveston Giant”?
This article comes directly from content in the video series African American History: From Emancipation through Jim Crow. Watch it now, on Wondrium.
Boxing Champion of the World
Johnson finally got his shot at the championship when heavyweight titleholder Tommy Burns, a white Canadian, agreed to fight him on Christmas Day, in 1908. The bout was held on the other side of the world, in Australia, almost as if to hide the fact that it was happening. After 14 rounds, Johnson prevailed with a technical knockout. For the first time, a Black man was the heavyweight boxing champion of the world.
African Americans reveled in Johnson’s victory. They pointed to it as prima facie evidence that white supremacy was a lie. Whites, meanwhile, were aghast, and soon began clamoring for Jim Jeffries, the former undefeated white heavyweight champion, to come out of retirement to take the title back for the race. The 6′2″ Jeffries was their great white hope. But Johnson wasn’t afraid. He wanted to take on Jeffries. And both sides got their wish in what came to be called the fight of the century.
The Fight of the Century
The fight of the century took place in Reno, Nevada, on July 4, 1910, before 22,000 people. After 15 rounds, Johnson prevailed. About the Black pugilist, Jeffries said, “I could never have whipped Johnson at my best. I couldn’t have hit him. No, I couldn’t have reached him in 1,000 years.”
While African Americans celebrated the victory, whites rioted. The fight had been filmed, one of several Johnson matches that movie makers recorded to be shown in theaters across the country. But the spectacle of a Black man beating a white man was too much for white people to take. It undermined the very premise of Jim Crow, which was white supremacy. Black people understood this, which is why they cheered for Johnson. White people understood this, too, which is why they rioted even after film screenings, a fact that led state authorities to pull reels of the bout and eventually ban showing boxing films altogether.
A Bogus Charge and a Sham Trial
Johnson’s reign as Heavyweight Boxing Champion of the World only lasted five years. But his audacious behavior, including his lavish spending and especially his gallivanting with white women, only fueled white rage. In 1913, he was convicted by an all-white jury of violating the Mann Act, which made it a crime to transport a woman across state lines for purposes of prostitution. Whites called it justice; African Americans called it what it was: a bogus charge and a sham trial. Rather than go to prison, Johnson fled the country. He defended his title overseas for two years, before being knocked out in a title fight in Cuba in the 26th round.
Johnson’s triumphs in the ring did not lift any African Americans out of poverty (save for himself, for a while). They also didn’t advance the cause of anti-lynching. In fact, in the opinion of some Black activists, including W. E. B. Du Bois, his antics outside of the ring made it more difficult to disabuse white people of the belief that Black men were sexual predators.
Still, his achievements were meaningful. For African Americans, they were a point of pride as well as a source of inspiration, which is what they needed as they marched, sometimes in silence, and increasingly with voices raised, toward freedom.
Common Questions about Jack Johnson
By the early 1900s, Jack Johnson was dominating the segregated Black boxing circuit. The ‘Galveston Giant’ was born, and so was the legend of Jack Johnson.
Jack Johnson got his shot at the championship when heavyweight titleholder Tommy Burns, a white Canadian, agreed to fight him on Christmas Day, in 1908. After 14 rounds, Johnson prevailed with a technical knockout. For the first time, a Black man was the heavyweight boxing champion of the world.
African Americans reveled in Jack Johnson’s victory. They pointed to it as prima facie evidence that white supremacy was a lie. Whites, meanwhile, were aghast, and soon began clamoring for Jim Jeffries, the former undefeated white heavyweight champion, to come out of retirement to take the title back for the race.
