Jack Johnson:
First Black Heavy Weight Champion:
"Unforgivable Blackness"
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Jack Johnson became the world's first African-American heavy weight champion in 1908 in a bout with Tommy Burns. He held the title for 7 years.

Born in Galveston, Texas, one of seven children, Jack Johnson dropped out of school after fifth grade and began to do odd jobs around town. He began training to box after beating up a local bully and by 1897 had become a professional boxer. Jack Johnson trained with people like Joe "the Barbados Demon" Walcott and Joe Choyinski. From 1902-1907 he won over 50 matches, some of them against other African-American boxers such as Joe Jeannette, Sam Langford and Sam McVey. This photo shows Johnson (left), in a 1903 match against Sam McVey.

Jack Johnson's career was legendary. In 47 years of fighting, he was only knocked out three times, but his life was troubled. There was a campaign of hatred and bigotry waged against him by whites who wished to regain the heavyweight title and who also resented his interracial relationships with women.

He fought Bob Fitzsimmons, the ex-heavyweight champion in 1906 and knocked him out. But the boxers who succeeded Fitzsimmons refused to fight Johnson because of his color. Instead, another white boxer, Tommy Burns, fought Marvin Hart and won. Burns was then awarded the heavyweight title. He also refused to fight Johnson, but was chided until he finally agreed to a fight on Christmas Day in 1908. Like Muhammad Ali, almost 50 years later, Jack Johnson beat Tommy Burns soundly while dancing around the ring taunting him. He became a hero in Harlem, his 1908 championship bout partially financed by Barron Wilkins, a Harlem club owner and philanthropist. Even then, Jack Johnson was not fully accepted as champion and proponents of white supremacy searched diligently for what they termed a "great white hope" to take the title away from him. They resorted to ex-heavyweight champion James Jeffries to fight Johnson. Their "hope" was defeated in the 15th round in a match surrounded by severe racial tension, in Reno, Nevada, in 1910.

Finally, in 1915 Johnson lost his title to Jess Willard under questionable circumstances. The fight was held in Cuba and it was rumored that Johnson allowed himself to be knocked out in the 16th round. His marriages to white women, against the law at the time, and his flamboyant lifestyle had brought him a great deal of difficulty. He is said to have intentionally lost the fight in order to avoid further trouble with the authorities.

After his career in boxing, Johnson, an amateur cellist and bull-fiddler who was a connoisseur of Harlem night life, eventually opened his own supper club, Club Deluxe, at 142nd Street and Lenox Avenue. He also lectured, sold stocks, and worked as a movie extra. Johnson, who loved to race fancy cars, died as the result of an automobile accident near Raleigh, North Carolina, in June 1946. The play, The Great White Hope, by Howard Sackler which was eventually made into a movie starring James Earl Jones, is based on his life. Johnson was admitted to the Boxing Hall of Fame in 1954.