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Biography of Jack JohnsonName: Jack JohnsonBirth Date: March 31, 1878 Death Date: June 10, 1946 Place of Birth: Galveston, Texas, United States Nationality: American Gender: Male Occupations: boxer Jack Johnson Jack Johnson (1878-1946) became the first African American heavyweight champion after winning the crown from Tommy Burns in Sydney, Australia on December 26, 1908. As a result of this victory, he became the center of a bitter racial controversy with the American public clamoring for the former white champion, Jim Jeffries, to come out of retirement and recapture the crown.Jack Johnson, who became the first black heavyweight boxing champion in the world in 1908, was the preeminent American sports personality of his era, a man whose success in the ring spurred a worldwide search, tinged with bigotry, for a "Great White Hope" to defeat him. Handsome, successful, and personable, Johnson was known as much for his exploits outside of the ring as for his boxing skills. He married three white women in a time when such interracial unions resulted in denunciations of him from the floor of the United States Congress. He made …showed first 150 words…
…showed last 150 words…Heathrow Airport openedThe United States granted independence to the PhilippinesHarry S Truman was the president of the United StatesThe times:1830-1914: Industrial Revolution1914-1918: World War I1939-1945: World War IIJohnson's contemporaries:Harry Houdini (1874-1926) American magicianCarl Jung (1875-1961) Swiss psychologistAlbert Einstein (1879-1955) German physicistDwight D. Eisenhower (1890-1969) American presidentAgatha Christie (1890-1976) British writerBabe Ruth (1895-1948) American baseball playerJoe Louis (1914-1981) American boxerSugar Ray Robinson (1920-1989) American boxerRobert Dole (1923-) U.S. senatorAlan Shepard (1923-) American astronautSelected world events:1892: Ellis Island opened1901: Nobel prizes were created1920: The world's first radio station went on the air1920: The National Football League was founded1921: Insulin was developed by Frederick G. Banting and Charles H. Best1923: The first sound motion picture was shown1937: Joe Louis became the heavyweight champion of the world1939: Lou Gehrig retired from baseball1946: The Cold War began Further Reading booksJohnson, Jack, Jack Johnson, In the Ring and Out, Proteus Publishing, 1977.periodicalsEbony, April 1994, pp. 86-98.Newsweek, June 24, 1946, p. 90.New York Times, June 11, 1946, p. 1; June 12, 1946, p. 20. |