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It's been a while. In fact, far, far too long, since John (Jack) Arthur Johnson was imprisoned for no reason other than he was black. Johnson was born March 31, 1878, the first son (although there were two older sisters) of Henry and Tina "Tiny" Johnson in Galveston, Texas. Henry and Tina were former slaves who worked hard to raise their six children and to see that they learned to read and write. Jack grew up to be a huge man at six feet, one and one-half inches tall, weighed well over 200 pounds and had a seventy-four inch reach.
Johnson learned to box and was very good at it. His style was somewhat distinctive in that, in that day, most boxers came out aggressively and swinging away. He started a fight with caution and wariness, becoming more aggressive as the fight progressed. He was known for his sharp and damaging counter punches. By age 24, he had won 50 fights against whites and blacks and he won his first championship match in February 1903, the "World Colored Heavyweight Championship". His ambition was, however, to win the full World Heavyweight Championship but at the time, blacks were barred from this classification.
In July 1907, Jack was able to secure a match with former World Heavyweight Champion, Bob Fitzsimmons, whom he knocked out in 2 rounds. Then in 1909, he was able to secure a fight for the real thing against the then holder of the heavyweight title, Canadian, Tommy Burns. The fight was held in Sidney, Australia. He had followed Burns to Australia and had used the press to taunt him for a match. After 14 rounds of severely beating the champion, the police stopped the fight and the referee awarded Johnson the title by a TKO. This was a day of exultation for Johnson, but the press vilified him for beating the champion so cruelly. Racial animosity also surged as many whites were incensed that a black man had taken the championship and the black community was thrilled.
After this win, he faced several other hopefuls whom he fought, primarily in exhibition matches and prevailed. But in 1910, a former champion, James Jeffries, came out of retirement to "show that a white man was better than a Negro". There was eagerness to see this fight and a huge arena was built in Reno, Nevada where the fight was held before 22,000 on July 4th. John was much the better fighter and the fight was grueling for 14 rounds. In the 15th, Johnson knocked Jeffries down twice and his crew called it quits to avoid his being knocked out. This caused race riots in cities across the nation and some 23 blacks and 2 whites were killed.
Johnson later lost the title to a cowboy named Jess Willard who started boxing only after reaching 30 years old. The fight was held in Havana, Cuba on April 5, 1915 before an audience of 25,000. The fight was scheduled for 45 rounds (!) but Johnson was knocked out in the 26th round.
Johnson, as many of our present day athletes, earned much monies from his fights, the endorsements of products and so on. And unfortunately, he allowed it to lead him into a life on the fast track. It is told that he was pulled over once for speeding and the officer gave him a $50. speeding ticket. When Johnson proffered an one hundred dollar bill, the officer complained that he could not change that bill. Johnson told him to keep the change because he intended to drive the same speed on his return trip. He married three times, all to white women which was sorely frowned upon in that day. He seemed to enjoy breaking tradition and was unafraid to attempt anything it seemed. He reportedly taunted men, both black or white, while in or out of the ring.
He married a divorced Brooklyn socialite in 1911 and reportedly beat her often and she shot and killed herself in 1912. Three months later, he married a prostitute who divorced him in 1924 and he then married another prostitute who outlived him. But his affinity for white women had brought him problems.
Back in October, 1912, he was arrested and charged with "transporting women across state lines for immoral purposes" during his early association with Lucille Cameron, the prostitute, who shortly afterward became his second wife. When she would not testify against him in court, the case was dismissed. But less than a month later, he was arrested again for the same charge only with Belle Schreiber, another prostitute. She did testify against him and he was sentenced to 1 year and one day, in prison.
But, Johnson jumped bail and fled to Canada where he met Lucille Cameron in Montreal. From there, they went to France and for seven years they lived in Europe, Mexico and South America, but he returned to the United States in 1920 and turned himself in to the federal officials and served his time in prison at Leavenworth and was released in July, 1921. There have been several failed efforts to have a president grant him a posthumous pardon.
A bill was passed in the House of Representatives in 2008, requesting George Bush to pardon Johnson, but a companion bill in the Senate, failed. In April, this year, Senator John McCain, Representative Peter King, filmmaker Ken Burns and Linda Haywood (a great niece of Jack Johnson) requested a presidential pardon be granted him by Barack Obama and the resolution was passed on July 30th. Although he had his faults, he was unquestionably a great athlete and undeserving of the prison term he received. Let's hope the president will see fit to strike it from his record. It would have been much nicer though if it had been done while he yet lived.
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