Born: March 31, 1878, Galveston, TX

Education: Galveston public schools, grade 5

Died: June 10, 1946, Raleigh, NC

Up from poverty, at 6’ 1’’ and 195 pounds, Johnson became the most powerful boxer in the world.

He became the first black heavyweight champion. In 1903 he boasted fifty-four wins and two losses, but his status was unofficial and white heavyweights would not box him. He won the official title in Sydney, Australia (1908) by a fourteenth round knockout of his white opponent. His skill and power in the ring made him a black folk hero. Courageously, he defied Jim Crow, among other transgressions, by dating and marrying white women.

However, the color line derailed his fighting career. For example, he co-starred in “the fight of the century” at Reno (1910). Jim Jeffries, touted as “the Great White Hope,” came out of retirement to stop him. But he defeated Jeffries with a left hook “full on the face” and ignited many racist attacks on blacks. In 1913 Johnson was convicted for violating the Mann Act (1910), which prohibited transporting women across state lines for “immoral purposes.” He fled to France; performed in vaudeville shows; and lost his title in Havana, Cuba (1915). He went to federal prison (1920), after which he did boxing exhibitions, wrote his memoir, and faded into history.