Unforgivable Blackness: The Rise and Fall of Jack Johnson (Hardcover)

by Geoffrey C. Ward (Author)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly
Johnson (1878–1946), boxing's first black heavyweight champion, was a lightning rod for controversy in early 20th-century America. Even many of his fellow African-Americans resented his unapologetic dominance of the ring and steady succession of white girlfriends and wives, viewing his behavior as a setback to race relations. Ward (A First-Class Temperament) depicts the fear and resentment Johnson spurred in white Americans in voluminous detail that may startle modern readers in its frankness. Contemporary journalists regularly referred to Johnson as a "nigger" and openly advocated his pummeling at white hands, though ample quotations from supporters in the Negro press balance the perspective. Ward first documents the obstacles the boxing world threw in Johnson's path (including prolonged refusals by top white boxers to fight against him), and then probes the government's prosecution of the champ under the Mann Act (which banned the interstate transport of females for "immoral purposes") for taking his girlfriends across state lines. Ward brings his award-winning biographical skills to this sympathetic portrayal, which practically bursts with his research—at times almost every page has its own footnote. Though the narrative drags slightly in Johnson's declining years, the champion's stubborn, uncompromising personality never lets up. Even readers who don't consider this a knockout will concede Ward a victory on points. Photos.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From The Washington Post
Jack Johnson, the first black man to win the world heavyweight championship, would have been worth remembering even if he were white. An elegant boxer who took great pride in his ability to evade a punch, he recited poetry from memory, played the bass viol, listened to opera on the gramophone, even negotiated his own contract for his 1910 "Fight of the Century" against Jim Jeffries.

Johnson dressed flamboyantly, showing up for one fight swathed head to toe in pink. Half a century before the arrival of Cassius Clay, he regularly predicted the round and even the time of his knockouts, a feat of prescience only occasionally helped by the circumstance that the bout was rigged. He readily admitted to being a "sport," someone who would proudly spend his last dollar on a cigar and a tip, and never lose his insouciance. He possessed what novelist Rex Beach called "the soul of a joy rider," and his escapades make for entertaining reading. He cross-examined a witness in London's magistrate court, danced the tango with his wife on a Vienna stage, hurried out of St. Petersburg, Russia, in August 1914 as the Great War began.

But it was the inescapable fact of Johnson's race, and the world's reaction to it, that makes him one of the most compelling sports figures of the 20th century, and a fitting subject for serious biography. From the time he emerged as a heavyweight contender in 1903 -- roughly halfway between the Emancipation Proclamation and Brown v. Board of Education -- he was a symbol of achievement and opportunity to African Americans, some of whom admired him despite his impetuous behavior, and some because of it. He refused to alter his behavior to fit the preconceived notions of others, black or white, and rejected the accommodating attitude of Booker T. Washington, the most respected African American of the era. "I have found no better way of avoiding race prejudice," he wrote, "than to act with people of other races as if prejudice did not exist."

Yet Johnson's skin color affected his existence, personal and professional, for every day of his boxing career and beyond. With the Ku Klux Klan thriving and even sober publications referring to blacks as "niggers" in print (usually quoting them in exaggerated dialect), the United States hardly seemed ready for a black heavyweight champion, let alone one who married white women three different times and often traveled with a retinue of several others. "All his life," Geoffrey Ward writes, "whites and blacks alike would ask him 'Just who do you think you are?' The answer, of course, was always 'Jack Johnson' -- and that would prove to be more than enough for turn-of-the-twentieth-century America to handle."

Ward, a frequent collaborator of documentary filmmaker and author Ken Burns, has written an engaging and well-researched popular biography, long on expository footnotes and short on perspective. But if his Jack Johnson behaves like a cartoon character, it's because Johnson was a cartoon character. He'd stride from place to place in his dandified attire, drive rapidly and dangerously (an auto enthusiast, by 1909 he owned five of the nation's fewer than half a million cars, and he once explained to a traffic judge that his constant speeding was an advertisement for himself and his lifestyle), drop off one attractive woman at the apartment he kept for her, then race off to collect another. Throughout the book, Johnson's energy never flags, and neither does our interest.

Johnson spent the first half of his career chasing potential white opponents (quite literally, in the case of the undersized Canadian heavyweight Tommy Burns, whom he shadowed to Europe and Australia, often showing up in hotel lobbies and restaurants to announce his availability to fight) and the second half defending himself from prosecution for various breaches of public decorum, real or invented. Though the details of Ward's narrative can be difficult to follow -- more dates would surely help, and an appendix detailing Johnson's career -- a portrait of a complicated man emerges.

As Johnson racks up one victory after another over lesser opposition, Ward focuses less on the details of each bout, more on Johnson's pursuit of the white champions of the day and their often comic determination to avoid fighting him. When he finally gained the title, beating Burns in Australia on Dec. 26, 1908, the achievement was undermined by Jeffries' absence from the ring (he had retired as champion three years earlier). It wasn't until Jeffries came out of retirement and Johnson managed to defeat him on July 4, 1910, that whites and blacks alike finally recognized him as the best heavyweight in the world. It was Johnson's finest moment, and Ward captures it well. The second half of the story centers on the series of relationships with white women that led to Johnson's downfall. His flouting of convention was too public, too indiscreet, even for many African Americans to bear. Arrested for everything from beating his fiancée to driving too slowly around New York City's Columbus Circle, he saw his white friends abandon him and his ability to earn a living as a professional prizefighter and entertainer dry up.

Most notable among the accusations was a charge of violating the Mann Act, which prohibits transporting a woman over state lines for immoral purposes. Created to stop the movement of prostitutes as business dictated, it was a potent weapon for those who believed that sex between a black man and a white woman was by definition immoral. Found guilty on the flimsiest of evidence while still champion, Johnson fled to Europe to avoid a jail sentence and found himself unable to get a fight. When he finally lost the heavyweight title in Havana to the lumbering giant Jess Willard in 1915, it was almost a relief. "Now all my troubles are over," Johnson said. "Maybe they'll let me alone."

Johnson returned home to face sentencing, eventually doing 10 months in Leavenworth, where he wrote his memoirs, applied for two patents, and played baseball for the prison team, which happened to be known as the Booker T. Washingtons. After his release in 1921, he fought seven more times spread over four countries. When his competitive career finally ended with a knockout of Big Bill Hartwell in Kansas City in 1928, he was nearly 50 years old and all but forgotten. "He would spend the rest of his life struggling to stay within the spotlight that gave his life meaning," Ward writes. "With time, that struggle would become more and more difficult. . . . Increasingly, Jack Johnson was old news." He died as he lived, at top speed, slamming his Lincoln Zephyr into a telephone pole in North Carolina in 1946.

Was Johnson the best prizefighter of the last century, as some experts maintain, or an undersized, overrated heavyweight who beat few rivals in their primes? Should he be considered a civil rights pioneer or merely a fast-living scofflaw who paid a greater price for his indiscretions because of his skin color? If Ward has an opinion on these matters, he doesn't let on, but he has drawn a portrait of a fascinating figure, whose oversized personality fills every page. The interpretative history can wait for someone else.

Reviewed by Bruce Schoenfeld
Copyright 2004, The Washington Post Co. All Rights Reserved.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 512 pages
• Publisher: Knopf (October 26, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0375415327
• ISBN-13: 978-0375415326
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6.7 x 1.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars See all reviews (22 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #295,435 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

  Popular in this category: (What's this?)

  #72 in

  Books > Sports > Individual Sports > Boxing

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

18 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars The Rise and Fall of Jack Johnson, March 26, 2005

By	C. Baker "[e-mail]" (Washington, DC) - See all my reviews (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

In the introduction to his biography of Jack Johnson, Geoffrey C. Ward indicates that his primary source was newspaper articles. And indeed, this biography reads much like a very long newspaper account of the life of Jack Johnson. This isn't good or bad, but an apt description of what it is like reading this biography. In fact, Ward has done a commendable job in weaving what he had to work with into a very readable, informative, and enjoyable work.

Jack Johnson was the boxing world heavyweight champion from 1908-1915. And he was the first black heavyweight champion, which dominates the story of his life inside the ring and out. Johnson became heavyweight champion at a time when boxing was just barely out of the bare knuckle era, and while more organized as a sport, was still a rough and tumble and often illegal activity. Boxing, even as it is today, was often surround by unsavory characters. During that era throwing fights for money or to set up matches wasn't uncommon. Johnson learned his craft literally starting from the bottom up in local tough man or boxing contests and his skills eventually lead him to the top of his sport.

What make Johnson's story so interesting are two things - race and his profligate lifestyle. Race played a key role in his life even though he himself ignored race and didn't let it interfere with how he behaved or what he did. He often sported white women on his arm and eventually married a white woman, and did not defer to anyone, black or white. This made him an even more incendiary figure for the race conscious press and America at the time. Many white heavyweights wouldn't fight Johnson - most notably Jim Jefferies who held the title at a time when Johnson was the obvious deserving opponent for a shot at the champion. Eventually Jefferies retired and "conferred" his title on Tommy Burns, a bulked up white middleweight. Johnson chased after Burns and through the pressure of the press he eventually landed his title shot and dominated his lesser opponent, winning the heavyweight championship of the world.

This eventually lead to one of the most pivotal heavyweight boxing matches in history - and certainly the most pivotal fight of Johnson's career - a match with former heavyweight champion Jim Jefferies. Jefferies was obviously reluctant to come out of retirement to fight the new champion but pressure from friends and many in the press and boxing world, who didn't want to see a black man hold the championship, more or less forced his hand. The fight eventually took place on July 4, 1910 in Reno, New Mexico. Thousands were in attendance but millions throughout the country waited for the result. Johnson dominated Jefferies through much of the fight, eventually knocking him out in the 15th round. Johnson's win legitimized his title as heavyweight champion. Unfortunately, it also touched off violence against blacks throughout the country.

Jefferies utter defeat also lead to a search for a "great white hope" to defeat Johnson. Eventually, Johnson was beaten by a huge but less skilled Jess Willard in Havana, Cuba on April 5, 1915. Johnson probably lost as much because of age, he was around 37 at the time, and the rather unfortunate events in is life from the time of the Jefferies victory to his match against Willard in Cuba. During that time he appears to have spent most of his money, married a white woman who eventually committed suicide, and married another white woman against the violent protests of her family. This led, in a rather convoluted way, to his fleeing the country with his new wife in tow after being brought up on charges of violating the Mann Act. During all this time, and the only reason to mention the ethnicity of his wives, was the vilification Johnson received in the press across America and the hatred he engendered among some, including those in law enforcement, who wanted to bring him down. Thus, Johnson had to go through convoluted negotiations and travel arrangements to even defend his title again Willard in Cuba. Eventually, Johnson decided to come back to America but had to face a jail sentence, which he served. After getting out of jail, broke because he spent most of his money, he mostly earned a living through boxing exhibitions and similar activities.

Johnson's lifestyle some would call raucous. He made a lot of money for his era and he spent it freely on clothes, cars, and the women he kept as companions some of which were prostitutes or former prostitutes. One can look up to Johnson for not letting racism stand in the way of living his life the way he wanted to live it and kowtowing to no one. One could also look askance as his philandering, spendthrift way of life, but who are we to really judge? Undoubtedly Johnson brought some of his problems on himself. Also undoubtedly he was treated unfairly because of the era in which he lived in. Had Johnson lived today he might get some negative press, but more likely he would have a legion of fans who willing to overlook some of the things he did in his private life.

Cars were relatively new invention in early 1900's and Johnson loved cars and bought several of them. He often liked to drive fast. This too eventually caught up with him as, while speeding, he swerved to miss a truck and rammed his car into a tree. He died in 1946 after an adventurous 68 years.

Note this book is the companion to Ken Burn's documentary of the life of Jack Johnson using the same title. I have not viewed the documentary yet but plan to.

16 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Title Says It All, December 2, 2004

By	John Matlock "Gunny" (Winnemucca, NV) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

The title, all by itself, sums up Jack Johnson's life. Born in Texas in 1878, only 13 years after the end of the Civil War, in the heyday of the Klu Klux Klan he emerged as an early day Mohammed Ali. As a fighter he was probably the best of his time. As a flamboyant character outside the ring he seemed deliberately out to tweak the noses of the white (and some of the black) establishment.

And if he excelled in the ring, he truly triumphed at nose tweaking. He told outlandish stories. He attracted women of all races as he traveled from city to city and country to country. And as he took on all comers in the prize ring, he took on all comers among the ladies as well. This was enough, at that time in the South, to get him lynched.

One of his episodes with a young lady resulted in him being convicted of the Mann act. This act made it illegal to transport womes across state lines for amoral purposes. Originally intended as a way to stop prostitution (who were they kidding), it was also applied in mixed race situations against the negro man. Eventually this gave him nearly a year in federal prison.

Extensively researched, this is a brilliant biography of a most colorful character, who if he'd been white would have been a hero.

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Insightful and rich, December 1, 2004

By	G. P. Keim (Brooklyn, NY United States) - See all my reviews

Admittedly I'm a bit of a boxing fan so the life of Jack Johnson holds some interest for me. And while Johnson's career and his fights are well-presented, the real genius of Ward's book comes in the way he eloquently fills in the blanks of an amazing man who lived the life he wanted with all of society trying to prevent him from doing just that. I'd hate to see this book get relegated to sports sections in book stores when it so clearly is a well-written, remarkable biography about a groundbreaking man that everyohne should read.