Jack Johnson

Description

A few words about the artwork from the artist Jaxon Northon. “John Arthur Johnson (March 31, 1878 – June 10, 1946), nicknamed the Galveston Giant, was an American boxer who, at the height of the Jim Crow era, became the first African American world heavyweight boxing champion. He fought ‘the fight of the century’ vs. Jim Jefferies on July 4, 1910, at a ring built just for the occasion on East 4th street in downtown Reno. Johnson dominated the fight. The fight became an allegory for racism in America and set off race riots that evening all across the United States. In all, riots occurred in more than 25 states and 50 cities. At least twenty people were killed, and hundreds more were injured. On October 18, 1912, Johnson was arrested because his relationship with Lucille Cameron (a white woman who later became his wife) violated the Mann Act against “transporting women across state lines for immoral purposes”. Johnson was convicted by an all-white jury in June 1913, even though the incidents used to convict him took place before the passage of the Mann Act. He was sentenced to a year and a day in prison. He fled the country for 7 years. Johnson returned to the U.S. on July 20, 1920. He surrendered to federal agents at the Mexican border and was sent to Leavenworth penitentiary to serve his sentence in September 1920. He was released on July 9, 1921. Johnson was posthumously pardoned on May 24, 2018 (coincidentally while I was painting this painting) Jack Johnson fought, literally and figuratively, to become one of the most powerful men on the planet who did what he wanted to do with grace and poise while daring any man to try and stop him in a time when almost all of white America tried to stop him.”