{"id":250,"date":"2010-07-04T14:38:32","date_gmt":"2010-07-04T18:38:32","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.fightcitynyc.com\/?p=250"},"modified":"2010-07-04T14:38:32","modified_gmt":"2010-07-04T18:38:32","slug":"jack-johnson-the-man","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.fightcitynyc.com\/?p=250","title":{"rendered":"Jack Johnson, The Man"},"content":{"rendered":"
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100 years ago today, on July 4th, 1910, Jack Johnson defeated hope. That day, hope was represented by boxer James J. Jeffries, who had retired 6 years earlier as boxing\u2019s World Heavyweight Champion. Jeffries came out of retirement for the sole purpose of beating beat Jack Johnson, the first Black man to be World Heavyweight Champion. Jeffries\u2019 mission on Independence Day 1910 was to restore the World Heavyweight Championship to its rightful owners- the White Man. <\/p>\n

Johnson ascended to the World Heavyweight Champion throne by dismantling Tommy Burns on December 26th, 1908 in Sydney, Australia. Till then, White people believed that Black men were too weak, too cowardly, too lazy, too stupid, too limited as men to be World Heavyweight Champion. After chasing Heavyweight Champion Tommy Burns around the world for 2 years, Johnson knocked out Burns in 14 rounds and became the first Black World Heavyweight Champion. White people derided Johnson\u2019s victory, claiming that Johnson was not the Champion because he had never fought James J. Jeffries, who had retired undefeated. White people called on Jeffries now to unretire and vanquish Johnson.<\/p>\n

In 1910, Jeffries heeded the call and agreed to face Johnson. Said Jeffries, “I feel obligated to the sporting public at least to make an effort to reclaim the heavyweight championship for the white race. . . . I should step into the ring again and demonstrate that a white man is king of them all.” Jeffries accepted the \u201cGreat White Hope\u201d mantle.<\/p>\n

The \u201cFight of the Century\u201d took place on July 4th, 1910 in front of 20,000 spectators, mostly White, in a ring constructed just for the occasion in Reno, Nevada. Many more followed the fight over the radio. The fight was a one-sided affair. Johnson was too fast, too strong, too skilled for Jeffries. Johnson was a cerebral fighter who started fights sizing up opponents while avoiding their blows. Johnson capitalized on his opponent\u2019s mistakes and as the rounds tolled, Johnson became more aggressive. Johnson knocked Jeffries down for the first time in Jeffries\u2019 career in the 15th round. Jeffries\u2019 corner threw in the towel to prevent Johnson from knocking Jeffries out. By destroying the \u201cGreat White Hope\u201d, Johnson had struck a blow to racist stereotypes of Black inferiority and had given the world a glimpse into a future where given the opportunities, Black Americans could and would excel.<\/p>\n

Following Johnson\u2019s victory over Jeffries, Blacks around the U.S. took to the streets to celebrate Johnson\u2019s glorious victory. In some cities, the police allowed the revelers to celebrate unmolested. In other cities, police and angry White people tried to quash the celebrations in a desperate attempt to preserve the White people\u2019s place at the top of the U.S.\u2019s racial hierarchy. In all, riots occurred in more than 25 states. About 23 Blacks and 2 Whites were killed and hundreds more were injured.<\/p>\n

The consequences of Johnson\u2019s victory were far reaching. In an effort to eradicate evidence of Johnson\u2019s achievement, Congress passed legislation banning the distribution of fight films across state lines.<\/p>\n

On July 5th, 1910, the day after Johnson\u2019s victory, the following editorial appeared in the Los Angeles Times:<\/p>\n

A word to the black man
\nDo not point your nose too high
\nDo not swell your chest too much
\nDo not boast too loudly
\nDo not be puffed up
\nLet not your ambition be inordinate
\nOr take a wrong direction
\nRemember you have done nothing at all
\nYou are just the same member of society you were last week
\nYou are on no higher plane
\nDeserve no new consideration
\nAnd will get none
\nNo man will think a bit higher of you
\nBecause your complexion is the same
\nOf that of the victor at Reno<\/p>\n

–Los Angeles times July 5, 1910<\/p>\n

Jack Johnson lived at a time when Black Americans were treated like second class citizens, if that. Johnson lived at time when Whites used intimidation and violence to maintain the U.S.\u2019s racial hierarchy. Johnson lived at a time when being Black was considered a sin. But Johnson wasn\u2019t afraid. Neither was Johnson interested in being anybody\u2019s equal. Johnson wanted to be the best. Johnson strove to be the best fighter, the best gambler, the best dressed, to drive the best cars and to sleep with the best women, Black and White; Johnson strove to be the best man. To Johnson, nobody was as qualified to evaluate what was best as he was; nobody was qualified to tell Jack Johnson how to be Jack Johnson. In an era when it was dangerous to be Black, Johnson insisted on being himself. Because Johnson insisted on being himself, he was not humble and therefore, not perfect.<\/p>\n

Johnson was aware of mistakes and imperfections. \u201cJust remember,\u201d he told a reporter towards the end of his life, \u201cwhatever you write about me, that I was a man.\u201d Like Johnson, we Americans are not perfect. Like Johnson, we Americans insist on being ourselves.<\/p>\n

It is all together fitting that on the day that we celebrate America\u2019s Independence, we take a moment to celebrate Jack Johnson, the man.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

100 years ago today, on July 4th, 1910, Jack Johnson defeated hope. That day, hope was represented by boxer James J. Jeffries, who had retired 6 years earlier as boxing\u2019s World Heavyweight Champion. Jeffries came out of retirement for the … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-250","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fightcitynyc.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/250","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fightcitynyc.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fightcitynyc.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fightcitynyc.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fightcitynyc.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=250"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.fightcitynyc.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/250\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":253,"href":"https:\/\/www.fightcitynyc.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/250\/revisions\/253"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fightcitynyc.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=250"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fightcitynyc.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=250"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fightcitynyc.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=250"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}