Unforgivable Blackness: The Rise and Fall of Jack Johnson
by Geoffrey C. Ward
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Book Summary Information
Author: Geoffrey C. WardEdition: Hardcover
Audio: English (Original Language); English (Unknown); English (Published)
Published: 2004-10-26
ISBN: 0375415327
Number of pages: 512
Publisher: Knopf
Book Reviews of Unforgivable Blackness: The Rise and Fall of Jack Johnson
Book Review: Darkness overcome
Summary: 5 Stars
Jack Johnson was one of the early twentieth century's most controversial figures. He was the first black man to attain the world heavyweight championship title, an honor that had been the exclusive domain of white boxers since the sport began. His flashy personality, considerable wealth, and refusal to let his race limit his career and marital prospects belied the traditional concept of the servile, grovelling black. When Johnson beat up white men in the ring and consorted with white women in public, Caucasian America reacted violently. Blacks like Booker T. Washington worried that the hostile attention he attracted would reflect badly on them. "Just who do you think you are?" he was often asked- by both races. "Jack Johnson," he invariably replied.
The first half of `Unforgivable Blackness' traces Johnson's rise from Galveston street fighter to heavyweight champion of the world. It was hard going for years: white title holders refused to fight him, worried at the battering their legends would take if they lost to a black man. In what must be the epitome of persistence, Johnson chased the Canadian heavyweight champion Tommy Burns across the world, showing up in European cafes and Australian hotel lobbies to issue challenges. He finally defeated Burns in Sydney, Australia, in 1908, but hostile whites refused to acknowledge him as the new champion until 1910, when he beat the legendary Jim Jeffries, who had retired undefeated six years previously and only agreed to fight so he could show that "a white man is better than a negro."
In the second half of this fast-paced volume, white America crucifies Johnson for his boxing success and affinity for white women (all three of his wives were Caucasian). Congress banned prizefight films from being taken across state lines, sparing thousands of whites the demoralizing sight of Stanley Ketchel and Jim Jeffries being defeated by a Negro. Policemen wrote Johnson tickets for driving a car that they felt no black should be able to afford. He was accused of violating the Mann Act, which made it illegal to take a woman from state to state for immoral purposes. Found guilty of `transporting' Chicago prostitute Belle Schreiber, Johnson fled to Europe with his wife Lucille and wandered the globe for years. He lost the heavyweight championship to Jess Willard in Havana in 1915 and hoped that he might finally go home now that the title had been reclaimed by a white fighter. But when he did, Johnson was arrested and spent 10 months in Leavenworth prison for the Mann Act conviction. Upon his release, he was considered too old to box professionally again and therefore reduced to minor film roles and speaking engagements. He was killed in a car crash outside Raleigh, North Carolina, in 1946, after speeding furiously away from a restaurant that refused to serve him.
Geoffrey Ward has written Johnson's story in an highly readable style, combining sports history with popular biography. You don't have to be a boxing aficionado to enjoy `Unforgivable Blackness'. The entire book has an high-velocity undercurrent that keeps the reader turning the pages. Perhaps that's because Jack Johnson himself was an energetic, fascinating individual who only let himself be beaten in the ring.
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