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04/05/2005 Archived Entry: "LABOR, BOXERS AND LAWMAKERS FIGHT FOR JACK JOHNSON PARDON"
LABOR, BOXERS AND LAWMAKERS FIGHT FOR JACK JOHNSON PARDON
Group Calls Upon President Bush to Pardon First Black Heavyweight Champion
(Washington, D.C.) – Lawmakers, labor unions and professional boxers will join together on Wednesday, April 6, on Capitol Hill to call on the Bush administration to issue a full pardon for former Heavyweight Champion Jack Johnson.
As the first African American heavyweight champion of the world, Johnson earned the respect of fighters and fans alike for his courage and determination both inside and outside the ring. During the height of Johnson’s career, he was convicted under the Mann Act in 1913 for transporting a white woman across state lines. Although the arbitrary nature of his conviction is well documented in history, it has served to push his legacy to near obscurity.
Acclaimed filmmaker Ken Burns brought Johnson’s story to the American public with his groundbreaking documentary, Unforgivable Blackness: The Rise and Fall of Jack Johnson, which aired on PBS in January 2005.
