By GROMER JEFFERS Jr. / The Dallas Morning News
gjeffers@dallasnews.com
Jack Johnson, the first African-American to become world heavyweight boxing champion, overcame racism and poverty to slug his way to the top.
Efforts to clear his name of a bogus conviction for transporting a white woman across state lines for immoral purposes, however, have not been as successful.
Boxer Jack Johnson was falsely convicted of transporting a white woman across state lines for immoral purposes. Today is the 131st anniversary of Johnson's birth in Galveston, and it comes as renewed efforts are under way in Congress to get a presidential pardon for the boxer who died 68 years ago.
Rep. Peter King, R-N.Y., and Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., plan to introduce resolutions before Congress on Wednesday calling on President Barack Obama to pardon Johnson.
A pardon, supporters say, would right a wrong from America's racist past. But for many others, particularly in Galveston, vindication for Johnson means much more.
They hope to reintroduce the man nicknamed the Galveston Giant to a hometown that shunned him in his finest hour and never regarded the boxer as its favorite son.
"I don't think the city has embraced him or celebrated his success," said Samuel L. Collins, one of two Texas advisers for the National Trust for Historic Preservation. "Over time, he's been forgotten."
Alice Gatson, a retiree from Galveston, agreed.
"His history has been thrown at Galveston, but they don't really know him, his story or what he was all about," Gatson said.
Members of Johnson's family, who live in Chicago, will join McCain and King on Wednesday at a Washington news conference.
Ennis Williams Jr., a retired educator and president of the Old Central Cultural Center in Galveston, said he'll be there in spirit.
"This would be a tribute to all of the citizens of Galveston," Mr. Williams said of a presidential pardon. "By overcoming the odds and winning the heavyweight title, Jack Johnson left a legacy for all of our young residents to follow."
Arthur John Johnson was born March 31, 1878, in Galveston to former slaves Henry and Tina Johnson.
With only a fifth-grade education, Johnson took up boxing, using the sport to earn a living after his family home was destroyed in the hurricane of 1900.
Boxing was illegal in Texas. And when veteran fighter Joe Choynski came to Galveston to fight Johnson and give a boxing exhibition at the city's athletic club, both men ended up in the Galveston Jail, where the elder fighter gave Johnson lessons in the sweet science.
Waiting to face white champ
Johnson would become a formidable and flamboyant fighter, using his quickness and superb defensive skills to overcome opponents.
Because white heavyweight champions would not fight black challengers, Johnson was forced to wait until 1908 to become world champion. He knocked out Tommy Burns on Dec. 26, 1908, in Sydney, Australia, to win the title at age 30. As a reflection of the racism at the time, motion picture cameras were ordered turned off just before Johnson knocked out Burns, to shield viewers from the sight of a black man defeating a white man.
Two years later, an undefeated James J. Jeffries came out of retirement to challenge Johnson for the title Jeffries once held.
With the likes of famed novelist Jack London proclaiming, "Jeff, it's up to you," Jeffries became the greatest of the Great White Hopes.
Johnson knocked out Jeffries in Reno, Nev., on Independence Day in front of 22,000 people in a spectacle tinged with racial tension. The outcome triggered race riots across the country.
From the power of his fists, Johnson became the most popular black man in the world, and he reveled in his success.
In an era when it was common for black men to be lynched for even looking at a white woman, Johnson openly cavorted with, and even married them. He spent money as fast as he could make it.
His refusal to play to racial stereotypes irked the establishment and made him many enemies.
Like other states, the Texas Legislature banned films of his victories over white fighters.
And when Johnson first won the heavyweight title, Galveston officials planned to throw a parade for Johnson but canceled it when it was learned he was traveling with a white woman.
More than 100 years later, Galveston still hasn't had a major celebration, let alone a parade for Johnson.
Last year, to mark the centennial of Johnson's historic victory, fans and historians prepared a jazz festival and celebration to pay tribute.
"It just didn't come together," Collins said. "Then the storm [Hurricane Ike] wiped everything out."
Johnson's career began to spiral downward in 1915 when he lost his title to Jess Willard before 25,000 people in Havana, Cuba.
But that was the least of his problems.
Two years earlier, he had been forced to flee the country after being falsely convicted of violating the federal Mann Act, an effort to curb the transporting of white women across state lines for prostitution.
A year in federal prison
He returned in 1920 and spent about a year in Leavenworth federal prison in Kansas, where he invented a type of wrench for which he held a patent.
Later, he owned a nightclub in Harlem that, after being sold to gangster Owney Madden, would become the world-famous Cotton Club.
Johnson died in 1946 after a car crash in North Carolina, where he had retired.
Years after his death, Johnson was immortalized in the stage play and movie The Great White Hope, starring James Earl Jones.
Over the years, there have been a number of attempts to get federal authorities to give Johnson a posthumous pardon. They began again in earnest in 2005 when a critically acclaimed documentary by Ken Burns aired on PBS.
Many Galveston residents say the pardon is long overdue.
"It's about time," said Tommie Boudreaux, a retired school principal who lives in Galveston. "In the African-American community, we're proud of his accomplishments."
In his hometown, a Jack Johnson Foundation seeks to preserve the boxer's place in history. A street is named for him and a mural featuring him adorns a wall at the city's African-American Museum.
Collins, the adviser for the National Trust for Historic Preservation, said Johnson deserves not only a pardon, but also that long-canceled parade.
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