Jack Johnson was the first African American to win the heavy weight boxing champion of the world title in 1908. He held that title till defeated by Jess Willard in Havana in 1915. Johnson was convicted in 1913 under the Mann Act "for having a consensual relationship with a white woman across state lines". He died in a car crash in 1946 in North Carolina. Now two republican congressmen-John McCain and Peter King-are urging President Obama to issue a pardon for Johnson. There is also a PBS documentary by Ken Burns entitled "Unforgivable Blackness: The Rise and Fall of Jack Johnson". (I do not know the date of the TV program).
(Source: "Lawmakers push for pardon of boxing great Jack Johnson" by William Douglas of the McClatchy newspapers. The Record on April 2, 2009)
No comments:
Post a Comment