BHS Day 6: Jack Johnson

Since Sundays are usually designated for football around these parts (and today being Super Bowl Sunday!), I thought it would be fitting to focus on the achievements of African-Americans in different sports on this day. This field was particularly difficult to narrow down, but I'm satisfied with the folks I chose this time around and I hope you will be too. On to today's Spotlight!

Source

Name: Jack Johnson, 1878-1946
Profession: Boxer
Why is the Spotlight on him today? For his accomplishments in the boxing industry and for being the first African-American heavyweight boxing champion
Accomplishments:
--First Black heavyweight boxing champion
--One of the most popular and photographed celebrities of his time
--Has a fight in the National Film Registry
--Was a groundbreaker in both public interracial romances and questioning the place of Blacks in mainstream society
--Was the reason behind the creation of the term "Great White Hope" as it related to boxing and is the subject of a movie by the same name
--Helped to bring awareness to the political and racial inequality in the boxing and sports industry
--Was the first African-American boxing champion to take on White heavyweights 
--Posthumously inducted into the International Boxing Hall of Fame in 1990
Further reading links:
Wikipedia | PBS | 

I'm not even going to bother saying it today; you already know what this first sentence should be. When you think about boxing pioneers these days, most people think of Ali, Frazier, or Leonard. But if you go back to who their trendsetters were, we go back to people like Jordan and Jack Johnson. Jack's story is definitely worth the read; this guy was a serious trailblazer and his life was really exciting to study. I hope you enjoyed today's post and I'll see you tomorrow!