Pardon Requested For First Black Heavyweight Champ
by TChris
Jack Johnson, the first black heavyweight boxing champion, was arrested in 1912 for violating the Mann Act, a federal law that criminalizes the interstate transportation of women for immoral purposes. Johnson served ten months in jail. Documentary maker Ken Burns is convinced that Johnson was punished for having a consensual relationship with a white woman.
Johnson ... defeated challenger Jim Jeffries, who had come out of retirement as the "Great White Hope" to try to beat the black man. Johnson's victory, in an era when Jim Crow laws and segregation ruled, sparked race riots in parts of the country.
Burns is joined by Sens. John McCain and Orrin Hatch, as well as civil rights leaders, in a bid to obtain a presidential pardon for Johnson, who died in 1946.
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