Before Cassius, Before Joe, There Was Jack

They searched the globe for the Great White Hope, who would bring him down, they crafted the infamous Mann Act just to trap him, they made assassination attempts on his life, they resurrected the KKK in response to his presence, while the world's most respected publications and authors bombarded him with a steady stream of racist slurs. And yet he stood proud in the face of this wild, blind hatred.

Jack Johnson was a black man who became Heavyweight Champion of the World in 1908. He was the first to even be offered the chance. In an era when the President endorsed Jim Crow laws, he was cocky, clever and unflinchingly couragous. He made more money in a night then most men made in a year, which he splurged on costly racecars, fine clothes, large houses in white neighborhoods, and expensive white prostitutes. In the age of Racial Purity, when black men who even winked at white women commonly ended up dead, Jack had very public affairs with white women, marrying 3 in his lifetime.