Jack Johnson Vs Jim Jeffries: July 4, 1910 – 110 Years Later, Still a Work in Progress

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By Marc “Kid Huevos” Livitz

A pair of weeks ago, I penned for our dear and valued RSR readers a quick, honest and somewhat topographic look at a professional boxing contest which took place 82 years ago. While the most ardent fans of the subject could undoubtedly pick out the smaller, however important tidbits of information, the major points were discussed alongside the bout’s paramount relevance of the time. Accordingly, while the 1938 heavyweight championship rematch between Joe Louis and Max Schmeling still holds its weight in terms of good against evil, the prevailing view of the era was more of a nationalistic one in terms of top to bottom. Of course, and as was pointed out in the writeup, the period leading up to World War II was one of severe injustices and unfair laws, directed almost without exception towards the black population.

It also goes without saying that historically native and indigenous groups, in addition to immigrants who didn’t fall into the “white and right” category experienced their own unfair share of respective misery. All things considered and taking into context the current political, racial and socioeconomic climate of the 21st Century in the United States, there’s a prize fight which took place in Reno, Nevada 110 years ago which carried with it at the time many of the same grievances and problems many still experience to this very day.

In 1910, the Chicago Tribune described the world heavyweight championship showdown between champion Jack Johnson and challenger James J. Jeffries as one between ‘The White Man’s Hope and the Black Man’s Peril’. So, depending on whatever view we choose, it’s fair to say that we can essentially walk back the claim that Louis vs. Schmeling II is still most important fight in the history of boxing. Much of what was prevalent in the late 1930’s still exists today. We still have idiots who subscribe to the Nazi ideology, even though that as Americans, Adolf Hitler would’ve wanted them dead as well as the rest of the country and the world, for that matter.

The saddest part of this factual snippet is that we have a president who defends those who carry torches and proclaim the supremacy of the white race. The heart and the mind can often be at odds on matters such as this. A brief explanation is due, so it will be offered with a quote by a French writer and historian from the eighteenth century named Francois-Marie Arouet, who said, “I wholly disapprove of what you say – and will defend to the death your right to say it.” Of course, we know this man by his alias, Voltaire. Free speech in the United States is just that, only Donald Trump didn’t defend the rights of the demonstration by the Nazi twits who marched in Charlottesville, Virginia.

As the “Unite The Right” masses marched with torches ablaze in 2017, Trump defended not their rights, but rather their character when he claimed that there were indeed “very fine people” on both sides of the field. When put in the company of his actions in recent weeks, months and years since he took office, he may have felt right at home in 1910.

On the early morning of July 4 of that year, more than a dozen trains, filled almost exclusively of white males pulled into the station in the little town of Reno, Nevada. Less than two years prior to this, Jack Johnson became the first black heavyweight world champion when he stopped Tommy Burns in the fourteenth round in Sydney, Australia on December 26, 1908 (Johnson was awarded the title on points after local police stopped the contest). Soon thereafter, the call went out for the biggest prize in professional sports to be wrested from Johnson’s hands, demandingly so by a white man.

What’s worse? The fact that so many felt this way 110 years ago or that there are those who, by and large due to the brashness and atavistic demeanor of Donald Trump still view the world through the same tainted lens? We’ll get to how he “helped” Johnson a few years ago in a bit. For now, let’s examine how July 4, 1910 still affects our lives today. As for the bout itself, it was Jim Jeffries who accepted the mantle of the white race to reclaim the heavyweight crown. Ultimately, it would be Jeffries who took it upon himself to unseat the champion, even though he himself hadn’t fought professionally in nearly six years. “The Boilermaker” was enjoying retirement after calling it quits in the late Summer of 1904 with an unbeaten record which included a pair of victories over both “Gentleman Jim” James Corbett and Bob Fitzsimmons.

Famed promoter George “Tex” Rickard billed the contest as “The Fight of the Century” and it would be Rickard himself who refereed the contest despite reported offers to president William H. Taft and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle to carry the honors. For perhaps the best and incomparable look at the life of Jack Johnson and the contest held on Independence Day in 1910, I highly and without any reservation recommend “Unforgivable Blackness”, which premiered on the PBS network in 2005 as part of American filmmaker Ken Burns’ series, “American Lives”.

Back on that hot July afternoon in 1910, Jack Johnson beat the white off of Jim Jeffries. The son of a former slave, “The Galveston Giant” steamrolled over his opponent with a merciless thumping until the bout was stopped in round 15. A solid right uppercut was followed by several unanswered left hooks, which sent Jim through the ropes and onto his knees. He rose to his feet, only to have the champion deck him across the face once more with a swinging left. In order to save their pasty white, fallen hero from further humiliation, especially in the form of a knockout, Jeffries’ corner halted the action.

As the near exclusively white male fans filed out of the makeshift arena in disgust and disappointment, Tex Rickard declared Johnson the winner, who himself had to be surrounded by his handlers for protection. At the time, there was no shortage of individuals who would’ve gone to the electric chair or gallows happy, provided they weren’t acquitted, given the standards of the day, if they’d capitalized on a chance to kill Jack Johnson.

After the victory, he was after all, the undisputed (think lineal) heavyweight champion of the world. The fallen Jeffries conceded, “I could never have whipped Johnson, even at my best. I couldn’t have reached him in a thousand years.” The defeat would be the only one on his boxing resume and he retired for good after the contest with a record of 19 wins, 16 of which were by knockout against one loss and two draws. Sadly and even sadder still, expectedly, there would be repercussions to Johnson’s victory.

As soon as Jack boarded a train bound for Chicago with more than $65,000 in cash (about $1.6 million today), riots broke out all over the country, mostly between angry whites and celebratory blacks. Given the way that Johnson had famously thumbed his nose at the establishment with the riches he’d earned over the years, many black Americans sadly paid the price for the happy news of Jack’s win. There were countless murders and scenes of outright chaos throughout the land. Unlike the voices of various types of resistance of the time, such as Booker T. Washington and W.E.B. DuBois, Jack Johnson was neither/nor. He famously chin flicked the establishment and not only crossed the color line, but for all intents and purposes, peed on it. Jack picked up as many white women as he pleased and even married a few. This didn’t sit well with the men in charge, so they came up with ways to make him pay for it and later in his life, Johnson would spend some time in prison for violating what was known as the Mann Act.

The star witness at the time, Belle Schrieber, testified that Jack had transported her to various places for immoral purposes. Johnson refuted this as best he could, yet the all-white jury (certainly not of his peers) found him guilty. The goal was to pin the Texas-born champion as the example as to why whites and blacks should keep their distances from each other, to put it lightly. After he was sentenced to one year and one day in Federal prison, Jack skipped town and headed first to Canada, then Europe.

He knew and was the first to admit that his only true crime was having beaten Jim Jeffries on July 4, 1910. Not long after he got there, the breakout of World War I meant Jack’s chances to make money there had evaporated. In April of 1915, Jess Willard knocked out Jack Johnson in the 26th round in Havana, Cuba and did what Jim Jeffries couldn’t and for whom desired it the most. Johnson would ultimately bounce from England and then to Spain. He even enlisted in the armed services for a short time in the Great War and tried to use this as leverage to get himself pardoned. It didn’t satisfy the U.S. Government, nor was he allowed to attend his mother’s funeral. He and wife Lucille Cameron settled on Mexico, yet he longed to return home.

Johnson finally did so after close to seven years on the run in July of 1920. He was immediately taken into federal custody, although he lived a very lenient existence inside until he was released from Leavenworth one year later. He fought eleven more times, got married once more and even campaigned for Franklin Roosevelt. Still, he wasn’t Joe Louis by any means, at least not by his own standards in the boxing game. While Louis was instructed to keep his distance from white women remain solid and stoic in victory, Johnson was the exact opposite in his time.
The Louis camp rejected Jack’s request to be Joe’s trainer, after which he successfully predicted that Max Schmeling would stop Joe Louis in their first meeting in 1936. John Arthur “Jack” Johnson died on June 10, 1946 after a fatal car accident in North Carolina. He was inducted into the International Boxing Hall of Fame in 1990 and finished with a record of 54 wins (34 by KO), eleven losses and seven draws.

Two years ago, Donald Trump signed a posthumous pardon for Johnson. Lastly, should you ever fancy a trip to Galveston, Texas, whether it’s to sit on the beach or perhaps board a cruise ship, then do yourself a favor. In addition to a street being named after the famous champion known as “The Galveston Giant”, there’s also a small park dedicated in his honor, complete with a statue, which sits on the grounds of what was the first black high school in Texas.

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