Jack Johnson

A detailed Summary of Jack Johnson

Arthur John (Jack) Johnson (1878 -1946) was the first black, and first Texan, to win the heavyweight boxing championship of the world.

Johnson was born in Galveston on March 31, 1878. He was the second of six children of Henry and Tiny Johnson. Henry was a former slave and his family was poor. After leaving school in the fifth grade, Johnson worked odd jobs around South Texas. He started boxing as a sparring partner and fought in the "battles royal," matches in which young blacks entertained white spectators who threw money to the winner. I think that Johnson never realized that these men just wanted the young Negroes to fight so they could have fun. To my point of view, the white men knew that some day one African American was going to make it big and they just wanted to belittled them as much as possible so they would feel left out and no where to go. White men put barriers in front of great African Americans and the ones who overcame them were champions and great men to the African American history and people.

Johnson turned professional in 1897 following a period with private clubs in Galveston. His family's home was destroyed by the great hurricane of 1900. A year later he was arr

ested and jailed because boxing was a criminal profession in Texas. He soon left Galveston for good. I think that he wanted to get away from the white people who had harmed him and didn't want him to be a profesional like he became. Johnson was a glamour tall black man and white females followed him around because they knew that he was way out of their league. Johnson believed that he could do anything thing he wanted just because he was "Jack Johnson".

After his career in boxing, Johnson, an amateur cellist and bull-fiddler who was a connoisseur of Harlem nightlife, eventually opened his own supper club, Club Deluxe, at 142nd Street and Lenox Avenue. He also lectured, sold stocks, and worked as a movie extra. Johnson, who loved to race fancy cars, died as the result of an automobile accident near Raleigh, North Carolina, in June 1946. The play, The Great White Hope, by Howard Sackler, which was eventually made into a movie starring James Earl Jones, is based on his life. Johnson was admitted to the Boxing Hall of Fame in 1954. He wrote two books of memoirs, Mes Combats (in French, 1914) and Jack Johnson in the Ring and out (1927; reprinted 1975).

Jack Johnson defeated Canadian Tommy Burns in 1908 in the World Boxing Championship. This initiated the quest to find a "Great White Hope" to defeat Johnson. James Jeffries, a leading white fighter, came out of retirement to answer the challenge. Johnson won their fight on July 4, 1910. News of Jeffries's

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Category: People