1908: Jack Johnson became first Black heavyweight boxing champion

Dec. 26, 1908

Pro boxing pioneer Jack Johnson defeated Tommy Burns, becoming the first Black heavyweight boxing champion. 

Johnson grew up in Galveston, Texas, where “white boys were my friends and pals. … No one ever taught me that white men were superior to me.” 

After quitting school, he worked at the local docks and then at a race track in Dallas, where he first discovered boxing. He began saving money until he had enough to buy boxing gloves. 

He made his professional debut in 1898, knocking out Charley Brooks. Because prizefighting was illegal in Texas, he was occasionally arrested there. He developed his own style, dodging opponents’ blows and then counterpunching. After Johnson defeated Burns, he took on a series of challengers, including Tony Ross, Al Kaufman and Stanley Ketchel. 

In 1910, he successfully defended his title in what was called the “Battle of the Century,” dominating the “Great White Hope” James J. Jeffries and winning $65,000 — the equivalent of $1.7 million today. 

Black Americans rejoiced, but the racial animosity by whites toward Johnson erupted that night in race riots. That animosity came to a head when he was arrested on racially motivated charges for violating the Mann Act — transporting a woman across state lines for “immoral purposes.” 

In fact, the law wasn’t even in effect when Johnson had the relationship with the white woman. Sentenced to a year in prison, Johnson fled the country and fought boxing matches abroad for seven years until 1920 when he served his federal sentence. 

He died in 1946, and six decades later, PBS aired Ken Burns’ documentary on the boxer, “Unforgivable Blackness: The Rise and Fall of Jack Johnson,” which fueled a campaign for a posthumous pardon for Johnson. That finally happened in 2018, when then-President Donald Trump granted the pardon. 

To honor its native son, Galveston has built Jack Johnson Park, which includes an imposing statue of Johnson, throwing a left hook. 

“With enemies all around him — white and even Black — who were terrified his boldness would cause them to become a target, Jack Johnson’s stand certainly created a wall of positive change,” the sculptor told The New York Times. “Not many people could dare to follow that act.”