A Brief History
On April 24, 2018, we await word as to whether or not President Donald Trump, a self-professed admirer of Napoleon I Bonaparte, Emperor of the French, will pardon former boxing champion and legend Jack Johnson, another admirer of Napoleon. Sylvester Stallone, the man who made fictional boxer Rocky Balboa a legend, has reportedly encouraged President Trump to issue the pardon. (Note: Regarding their mutual admiration for Napoleon Bonaparte, it seems both men may have a mistaken historical impression of exactly who and what Napoleon Bonaparte was. Trump has conflated Napoleon with Napoleon III and shown a shallow understanding of Napoleon I, while Johnson admired Napoleon on the mistaken impression that Napoleon also rose from abject poverty to great heights.)
Digging Deeper
Trump has apparently embraced the idea, as his tweet regarding the idea indicates:
“Sylvester Stallone called me with the story of heavyweight boxing champion Jack Johnson. His trials and tribulations were great, his life complex and controversial. Others have looked at this over the years, most thought it would be done, but yes, I am considering a Full Pardon!”
John was the first Black heavyweight boxing champion, and his much celebrated match against Jim Jeffries in 1910 is often called “The Fight of the Century.” That fight, won by Johnson, generated waves of racially based resentment toward Johnson, who suffered the invective of much of the Nation. How upset were White Americans? Race riots across the country (25 states and 50 cities saw such violence) followed the fight! Today, when many Black boxing champions are routinely cheered on by adoring fans of all races and national origins, it is hard to believe Americans could have been so polarized. (Rioting over a boxing match? Ridiculous!)
Johnson’s legal woes came about in 1916 when he was convicted of the Mann Act, a law against transporting a female across state lines for immoral purposes. The woman in question that Johnson transported? Lucille Cameron, the woman that became Johnson’s wife! Johnson had to flee the United States to avoid being imprisoned on the trumped up charges (NO PUN INTENDED!), though he later returned to serve a 10 month sentence.
Johnson had always challenged the racial status quo in the United States, refusing to follow “accepted” meek behavior by an African American man. He dated White women and partied hard, living a life of excess, spending money as fast as he made it from fighting and endorsing products. Johnson was one of the first boxers to engage in trash talk, taunting opponents and others in and out of the ring. When Johnson became a Freemason, his lodge was booted from the parent organization, and Johnson quit his membership. All three of his known wives were White women.
An anecdote about Johnson may well sum up his flamboyant lifestyle. When stopped for speeding the officer advised Johnson the fine was $50. Johnson produced a $100 bill and gave it to the cop, who protested that he did not have change for a hundred. Johnson allegedly told the cop to keep the $100, as he intended to pass back over the same route later at the same speed!
Johnson, born in Texas in 1878, was known as “The Galveston Giant,” although his height was only 6 feet and ½ inches. He died in a car crash in North Carolina in 1946 as he sped away from a diner that refused to serve him because of his African heritage. He was 68 years old.
The subject of a pardon for Jack Johnson has previously been raised, notably by Senator John McCain in 2004, who kept up his campaign to pardon Johnson and criticized President Barack Obama for failing to do so. Apparently President Obama thought the resources and time of the people he had working on researching pardons was best spent on those people currently in prison or having their lives ruined, perhaps unfairly. Others may refer to the carousing nature Johnson, including incidents of domestic violence as reasons not to consider the long gone boxer for legal rehabilitation.
The idea of a posthumous pardon is not a commonly followed practice but has occasionally been done in the past. In the case of a person that may well have been framed or convicted under questionable circumstances due to race or other factors, such a pardon may well ease the pain of the pardoned person’s descendants.
Question for students (and subscribers) to ponder: What do you think? Should Jack Johnson be pardoned? What are your thoughts on this subject? Are you for or against such a pardon?
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Historical Evidence
For more information, please see…
Johnson, Jack. My Life and Battles. Potomac Books, 2009.
Ward, Geoffrey. Unforgivable Blackness: The Rise and Fall of Jack Johnson. Vintage, 2006.
