Unforgivable Blackness: The Rise and Fall of Jack Johnson
2005·1 seasons · 2 episodes·Series
Documentary
Synopsis
The story of Jack Johnson, the first African-American boxer to win a title and his struggle to live as a free man.
Episodes
Season 11
Part OneFollow Jack Johnson's journey from Texas to professional boxing, where, in Jim Crow America, the heavyweight champion was a "white title." In 1908 he became the first African American to earn the title Heavyweight Champion of the World.111m2
Part TwoWhen no one could beat Johnson in the ring, the government set out to destroy him in the courts, using his relationships with white women as the excuse to prosecute and send him to jail. Johnson fled to Europe where he remained a fugitive.102m
Part OneFollow Jack Johnson's journey from Texas to professional boxing, where, in Jim Crow America, the heavyweight champion was a "white title." In 1908 he became the first African American to earn the title Heavyweight Champion of the World.111m2Part TwoWhen no one could beat Johnson in the ring, the government set out to destroy him in the courts, using his relationships with white women as the excuse to prosecute and send him to jail. Johnson fled to Europe where he remained a fugitive.102mCast
Jack JohnsonSelf (archive footage)
James Earl JonesSelf - actor
Bert SugarSelf - boxing historian
José TorresSelf - Former Light Heavyweight Champion
Randy RobertsSelf - biographer
Jack NewfieldSelf - journalist
W.C. HeinzSelf - sportswriter
