John Arthur Johnson (March 31, 1878 – June 10, 1946), nicknamed the "Galveston Giant", was an American boxer who, at the height of the Jim Crow era, became the first black world heavyweight boxing champion (1908–1915). His 1910 fight against James J. Jeffries was dubbed the "fight of the century".John L. Sullivan, cited in: Christopher James Shelton, Historian for The Boxing Amusement Park, Johnson defeated Jeffries, who was white, triggering dozens of race riots across the U.S. According to filmmaker Ken Burns, "for more than thirteen years, Jack Johnson was the most famous and the most notorious African American on Earth".Ken Burns, Unforgivable Blackness He is widely regarded as one of the most influential boxers in history.
In 1912, Johnson opened a successful and luxurious "black and tan" (desegregated) restaurant and nightclub in Chicago, which in part was run by his wife, a white woman. Major newspapers of the time soon claimed that Johnson was attacked by the federal government only after he became famous as a black man married to a white woman, and was linked to other white women. Johnson was arrested on charges of violating the federal Mann Act—forbidding one to transport a woman across state lines for "immoral purposes"—a racially motivated charge that embroiled him in controversy for his relationships, including marriages. Sentenced to a year in prison, Johnson fled the country and fought boxing matches abroad for seven years until 1920, when he served his sentence at the federal penitentiary at Leavenworth.
Johnson continued taking paying fights for many years, and operated several other businesses, including lucrative endorsement deals. He died in a car crash in 1946 at the age of 68. In 2018, Johnson was posthumously pardoned by U.S. President Donald Trump.
Early life Born on March 31, 1878, Johnson grew up in Galveston, Texas. He was the third child and eldest son among nine children born to Henry and Tina ("Tiny") Johnson, both formerly enslaved. Henry, who was disabled while serving in the Union's 38th Colored Infantry as a civilian teamster, worked as a janitor while Tiny took in washing.Ward, Geoffrey C. Unforgivable Blackness: The Rise and Fall of Jack Johnson. New York:
As a youth, Johnson associated with the racially integrated 11th Street and Avenue K gang, though he later wrote in his 1927 autobiography that he did not engage in fights before the age of 12. Remembering his childhood, Johnson said: "As I grew up, the white boys were my friends and my pals. I ate with them, played with them and slept at their homes. Their mothers gave me cookies, and I ate at their tables. No one ever taught me that white men were superior to me." Although a segregated high school for Black students was available to him, Johnson did not enroll. Instead, he entered the workforce to contribute to his family's income. He held a series of jobs, including cleaning a barbershop, working as a porter in a gambling parlor, and assisting a baker. For a time, he traveled to Dallas in search of employment and apprenticed with a carriage painter. It was there that the shop's owner, Walter Lewis, first introduced him to the sport of boxing.
Johnson later said that he left home again at age 16. According to his account, he traveled to Manhattan to meet Steve Brodie, the Irish immigrant who claimed to have survived a jump from the newly completed Brooklyn Bridge in 1886. He reportedly then went on to Boston to see another of his heroes, Barbados Joe Walcott, a welterweight fighter from the West Indies. Afterward, Johnson returned to the Texas Gulf Coast and worked as a janitor, a stableboy, a hotel porter and a longshoreman. At one point, he got a job cleaning a gym and saved up enough money to buy a pair of boxing gloves. In the summer of 1895, he took part in his first significant bout, facing fellow dockworker John Lee on the beach. Johnson won both the match and the $1.50 prize. Later that summer, when professional boxer Bob Thompson offered $25 to anyone who could last four rounds with him in Galveston, Johnson accepted the challenge. He completed the four rounds but later described the prize money as "the hardest earned money of my life."
Boxing career Johnson made his debut as a professional boxer on November 1, 1898, in Galveston, when he knocked out Charley Brooks in the second round of a 15-round bout. This victory gave him the Texas state middleweight title.
In 1899, Johnson traveled to Chicago and began winning "battle royals", in which a half dozen or more young black men were gloved, blindfolded, and pushed into a ring where they were forced to flail at each other until only one remained standing. Johnson was the last man standing, and won $1.50, which he had to turn over to the white "manager" who had gotten him the fight. His performance attracted the attention of promoter Jack Curley and P.J. "Paddy" Carroll, who arranged for him to face Black heavyweight John "Klondike" Haynes. Johnson lost that bout in May 1899 after retiring in the fifth round. In January 1901, Carroll organized a rematch between Johnson and Klondike in Memphis. Johnson battered Klondike badly enough that he quit in the 14th round.
Johnson vs. Choynski
On February 25, 1901, Johnson fought Joe Choynski at Harmony Hall in Galveston, Texas. Choynski, a popular and experienced heavyweight, knocked out Johnson in the third round. As Johnson lay dazed on the canvas, authorities, including the Texas Rangers, intervened, and both fighters were arrested for participating in an illegal prizefight. They spent 23 days in jail, during which Sheriff Henry Thomas permitted spectators to gather outside and observe the men sparring. A grand jury declined to issue indictments, and the sheriff released both men on the condition that they leave town.
Johnson attested that his success in boxing came from the coaching he received from Choynski. The aging Choynski saw natural talent and determination in Johnson and taught him the nuances of defense, stating: "A man who can move like you should never have to take a punch".
World colored heavyweight champion
On February 5, 1903, at Hazard's Pavilion in Los Angeles, Johnson won a 20-round decision over Denver Ed Martin for the World Colored Heavyweight Championship,"Too Much for Martin— Jack Johnson Gets the Decision in a Cleverly Fought Battle of Twenty Rounds"], Los Angeles Express, February 6, 1903, p.3 ("Before the largest crowd of spectators every brought together by a boxing contest, Jack Johnson last night made good his claim to the colored heavyweight championship of the world.") which he defended four times in the next two years. By the end of 1903, the Los Angeles Times declared that "Jack Johnson is now the logical opponent for Champion Jeffries.... The color line gag does not go now."
Johnson vs. Jeanette & Langford Johnson and Joe Jeanette fought frequently between 1905 and 1908, with Johnson dominating their official matchups before winning the world heavyweight title. Often referred to as part of the "Black Heavyweight" era, they fought 7–10 times (sources vary on exact number of "no-decision" matches). After winning the heavyweight title in 1908, Johnson refused to fight Jeanette again, despite numerous challenges.
Johnson fought Sam Langford once, on April 26, 1906, at the Lincoln Athletic Club in Chelsea, Massachusetts. Johnson, who outweighed Langford by 35 pounds, won easily, breaking Langford's nose and cutting his lip. Johnson said later that he had prolonged the match to 15 rounds at the request of the ring's management. Once Johnson won the heavyweight championship, he refused to give Langford a chance at the title."LANGFORD LOSES IN GAME FIGHT" The Boston Journal, April 27, 1906, page 9
World heavyweight champion At the time, the heavyweight boxing champion was widely regarded as an embodiment of ideal masculinity. The prospect of an African American holding the title challenged prevailing beliefs in white superiority. Because boxing was one of the most popular sports of the era—alongside baseball and horse racing—the champion attracted significant public attention. Many white Americans opposed the idea of a Black champion receiving such prominence after defeating white opponents. As a result, Johnson encountered substantial obstacles in securing a bout with the reigning heavyweight champion.
In 1904, Johnson issued a challenge to James J. Jeffries, who held the world heavyweight title at the time. However, Jeffries refused to fight an African American and retired instead. Johnson later fought former champion Bob Fitzsimmons in July 1907 and knocked him out in two rounds.
Johnson finally won the world heavyweight title on December 26, 1908, a full six years after lightweight champion Joe Gans became the first African American boxing champion. Johnson's victory over the reigning world champion, Canadian Tommy Burns, at the Sydney Stadium in Australia, came after following Burns around the world for two years and taunting him in the press for a match. Burns agreed to fight Johnson only after promoters guaranteed him $30,000. Burns, who was 24 pounds lighter than the 192-pound Johnson, was practically out on his feet in the 14th round when the police jumped into the ring and stopped the fight in front of over 20,000 spectators. Referee Hugh McIntosh awarded the championship to Johnson.
After Johnson's victory over Burns, racial animosity among whites ran so deep that some, including renowned American author Jack London, called for a "Great White Hope" to take the title away from Johnson. While Johnson was heavyweight champion, he was covered more in the press than all other notable black men combined. The lead-up to the bout was peppered with racist press against Johnson. An editorial in the New York Times ("Pugilists as Race Champions") expressed a concern that the fight would "have the deplorable effect of intensifying racial antagonisms and of making race problems more difficult of solution": If the black man wins, thousands and thousands of his ignorant brothers will misinterpret his victory as justifying claims to much more than mere physical equality with their white neighbors. If the negro loses, the members of his race will be taunted and irritated [provoked] because of their champion's downfall.
Johnson refused to keep a low profile in the face of criticism of his color and character, and instead took on an excessively flamboyant lifestyle. He drove flashy yellow sports cars, reputedly walked his pet leopard while sipping champagne, flaunted gold teeth that went with his gold-handled walking stick, and engaged in numerous, overlapping romances with women–all of them white.
As title holder, Johnson thus had to face a series of fighters each billed by boxing promoters as a "great white hope". He fought two exhibitions and three no-decisions before meeting middleweight champ Stanley Ketchel on October 16, 1909. The -pound Johnson knocked out the -pound Ketchel in the 12th round with a devastating right to the jaw, one of the hardest blows ever delivered. Five of the challenger's teeth were ripped off at the roots; Johnson can be seen on film removing them from his glove, where they had been embedded.
"Fight of the Century"