Imageries presented by caricaturist before and after the Johnson-Jefferies fight spoke volumes about white imaginations of race, arguably even more so, than the writings of sport editors, journalists, and even well-acclaimed writers such as Jack London (Burns et al., 2005). Illustrations of Johnson were aligned with the racialized beliefs that black persons were closer to primitive beings, rather than human. Political cartoons of Johnson not only conveyed, but cemented, racial ideologies that positioned blacks, particularly black men, as uncontrollable and unpredictable dark-skinned savages as the greatest threat to the comforts of whiteness and the denigration of white Americans’ well-being. Moreover, the primitive, ape-like savage portrayals of Johnson were further aggrandized by a varying combination of sambo mask features distinguishable by exaggerated lips, buck teeth, and bulging eyes (Wiggins, 1988). No matter the outcome, these images littering newspaper prints served as edifying forces for anti-black racism. These images spoke beyond common analyses of the fight to teach society how one should think and treat black persons. The primary goal was not simply to illustrate Jack Johnson, rather the targeted, unapologetic message was to reinforce black inferiority juxtaposed to white superiority.
By the fights’ end in the fifteenth round, Johnson had firmly retained his title as the world’s heavyweight boxing champion. The onset of black adulation and even white discontent concerning Johnson’s defense of the heavyweight title was soon superseded with a bourgeoning national debate animated by Johnson’s relationship with women, specifically white women. At a time when even the slightest intimation that might arouse white fears of an interracial relationship between a black man and white woman could ignite cries for a lynching (Equal Justice Initiative, 2017), Johnson was quite public about his kinship and intimate relationships with white women. By 1912, Johnson’s relationship with white women was a source of deep disdain, debate, and concern shared across racial lines (Gilmore, 1973).
In early November 1912, the federal government officially charged the champ with violating the Mann Act, which was constituted to halt the transporting of women across state lines for the purposes of prostitution. At the onset of reports across popular media outlets on the charges and circumstances leading to the indictment of Johnson and even throughout court proceedings, the court of public opinion was certain to hand down a guilty verdict if there was any chance to have a vote in the matter. Historians have chronicled numerous accounts of press writings that not only denounced Jack Johnsons’ interpersonal affairs with white women, but also offered insights into how to exercise alternative actions to attend to Jackson-purported misconducts with white women (Gilmore, 1973; Roberts, 2004; Ward, 2010). Thinly veiled threats, coming from Johnson’s home state of Texas, were printed in the Beamont Journal, “The obnoxious stunts being featured by Jack Johnson are not only worthy of but demand, an overgrown dose of Southern Hospitality” (Gilmore, 1973, p. 19).
The onslaught of the emotionally charged public reactions once having learned of Johnson’ affairs was not confined to the south. Many in the north were quite aligned with harsh southern anti-Jack Johnson sentiments and the overwhelming condemnation of his activities with white women. Johnson’s character and purported reflection upon the entire black race was the target of extensive criticism by several leading black press outlets (Ward, 2004). Booker T. Washington said of Johnson in his speech to a crowd gathered at the Detroit YMCA that the champion’s affairs “repudiated by the great majority of the right-thinking people of the Negro race” (Gilmore, 1973). The disapproval and disparaging sentiments of Johnson was shared across a significant cross-section of black Americans (Roberts, 2004). Despite the popularity of the position, not all shared in these persuasions. Public discourse to renounce Johnson was met with strong oppositions to resist critically naïve objections and overtly discriminatory anti-Johnson rhetoric. Many came to his defense by indicating the influence of racism had distorted the judicial proceeding and motivations that sought out a furtive persecution of Johnson (Gilmore, 1973). Nevertheless, as a consequence to his indictment, the verdict of an all-white jury and that of the populist court of public opinion, Jack Johnson was sentenced to and incarcerated for 366 days. By 1913, rise of Jack Johnson’s larger-than-life image that had seemed to over and over again transcend the overt racism of the era was just as vulnerable to American whiteness as any other.
Jack Johnson’s life story is a vital volume within the gospel text of the black freedom struggle. His life’s sermon tells of the way by which he navigated the perplexities of societal values and practices, racialized policy, interpersonal relationships, institutional segregation and discrimination, a public’s embrace and public alienation, all manifested by the hopes and fears of his blackness. Despite the bounds of race that limited not only how to imagine, but how to live out one’s blackness, Jack Johnson was committed to living his life aware of, yet uninspired by the rules of white supremacy. Du Bois is likely to have best captured the enormity of his legacy as he spoke of Johnson, “The reason Jack Johnson was so beset by his own country, a country ironically which had only recently reaffirmed that all men were created equal, was because of his unforgivable blackness” (Burns et al., 2005; Ward, 2004). Thus, Jack Johnson is memorialized in the historical memory of the American dream as an amplifying figure igniting nation’s consternation with race. Within the racial ethos of the present, he is furthermore celebrated today for courageously living his life unapologetically within the crosshairs of social curiosities, criticisms, and a promising hope. Notwithstanding his profession and popularity, Johnson was no more and no less black than any other black person of his era. But the way in which he lived out his blackness was counter to the grain of social and political mores. An early past-century society engulfed by racism deemed Johnson’s affairs to be unforgivable to ever be returned to a sight of favor in a book penned in the ink of anti-black racism. Fortunate for such a society undergoing an arduous sociocultural and sociopolitical struggle to make sense of race and racism in the present era, Jack Johnson focused on telling the story of race and racism through a book entitled by the one-word inscription on his tombstone: The book of Johnson.
Rising Shame of Jim
I chose to open this chapter with Jack Johnson not simply because he is a historical figure in sports history, but he also reveals a part of the history of the American experiment and its intimate relationship with race. His legacy has been largely overlooked in the history books of most American schools today. I would not be shocked to learn that many may be unfamiliar with his athletic feats or his daily affairs that challenged the sociocultural and sociopolitical beliefs and habits of American society attracting blustery clouds of public controversy. Despite this common gap in America’s historical memory as a collective, I would wager that it does not come as a surprise too many to hear of the racism that he endured. Until the mid-twentieth century, American society was engulfed by a particular racial milieu that strangled nearly every facet and institution of American life. The institution of sport was certainly not immune to such racism. Thus, the life and legacy of Jack Johnson offers a window to observe how racial ideology was fashioned and enacted at the intersections of society and sport throughout the early-to-mid-twentieth century. Johnson’s legacy speaks volumes about his perseverance and audacity, his unforgiving grit and courage, his principled defiance, and how we traversed the racial climate of his era. But more so, the reality of the legacy of Johnson is that none of his personal characteristics and strivings, nor the controversies throughout his lifetime can be fully comprehended without a robust understanding of the influence of Jim Crow racism.
Jim Crow was both the midwife and usher of much of Johnson’s boxing journey in sport as well as his life endeavors. This historic form of racism or what has otherwise been referred to as “old fashioned racism” by social scientist was the prevailing ideology grounded by racial domination and exploitation across American society until its waning in the late 1960s (Kinder & Sears, 1981; Sears, 1988). The ideological precepts of Jim Crow racism distinctly targeting African Americans were predicated on (1) an unconcealed bigotry corroborating strict racial segregation and dominance by state-authorized or informal social and political practices across all domains of life and (2) a belief rooted in biology or theological teachings purporting a legitimate categorical inferiority of all non-White people. The dogma of Jim