The Great White Hope
by Howard Sackler
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Book Summary Information
Author: Howard SacklerEdition: Hardcover
Audio: English (Published)
Published: 1968
ISBN: N/A
Number of pages: 264
Publisher: Dial Press
Book Reviews of The Great White Hope
Book Review: Stirring Play on Several Levels
Summary: 4 Stars
This long but oft-gripping play covers the first Black heavyweight champion. Jack Johnson (1878-1946) held the title from 1908-1915, leading many to search for a great white hope to defeat him. As the play recounts, Johnson was a mix of proud, defiant and arrogant, and he dared date white women, which could get a black man lynched in parts of the South. The play doesn't hide his tendency towards unkindness even to those that loved him (like his white girfriend Eleanor). There is also heavy focus on Johnson's legal struggles that forced him to leave the USA for Europe and Cuba - some suspect the Mann Act of 1910 against white slavery was passed in response to his traveling across state lines with white girlfriends. The play takes place in his adopted home of Chicago (he was born in Galveston, Texas), plus New York, London, Budapest, Cuba, and Mexico. It recounts what was probably his most famous fight against ex-champion James Jeffries (perhaps the top great white hope) who unretired to fight him in Reno, Nevada on July 4, 1910. Johnson's 15-round TKO victory caused rioting in some cities, although the champ also had many white fans.
The Great White Hope had a successful two-year run in New York from 1968-1970, winning the New York Drama Critics Award, a Tony Award, and a Pulitzer Prize. It also was made into a 1970 film with James Earl Jones and Jane Alexander. I once discovered a highly-racist newspaper editorial in which the Chicago Tribune was utterly alarmed by a black champion. Still, his victory over Jeffries a few days after that editorial appeared led many kids to sing a jingle that went: "What's the matter with Johnson, he's alright...what's the matter with Jeffries, he can't fight...On the Fourth Day of July, Johnson knocked out Jeffries eye...what's the matter with Johnson, he's alright."
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