biography
| name: |
Johnson, Jack
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popular name of John Arthur Jackson, also called Li'l Arthur
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| sex:
| male
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| lived:
| (1878–1946)
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| biography:
| Boxer, the first African-American world champion (1908–15), born in Galveston, Texas, USA. He defeated the Canadian Tommy Burns at Sydney in 1908. His win provoked violent racial prejudice, and a ‘Great White Hope’ was sought to defeat him - the former champion James J Jeffries - whom he knocked out in the 15th round in a fight in 1910. He lost his title in 1915 to Jess Willard. His relationship with one of the two white women he married led to a conviction under the Mann Act for transporting a white woman across state lines for immoral purposes, and he was a fugitive in Europe for seven years. He died in a car accident, and his life became the subject of a Broadway play, The Great White Hope (1968). |
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