JOHNSON, Jack.

Inquire · Offered by Peter Harrington

Jack Johnson - in the Ring - and Out. First edition of the first African American world heavyweight champion's autobiography. Jack Johnson (1878-1946), the Galveston Giant, won 80 of the 114 matches he fought, 45 by knockouts. His attempts to fight against white opponents were thwarted by the Jim Crow segregation laws, but in 1908 he finally won the heavyweight world title from Tommy Burns in Australia. Until then, he had held the "world coloured heavyweight" title since 1903. Miles Davis's 1971 album Jack Johnson, considered by many as one of his best, ends with the lines "I'm Jack Johnson. Heavyweight champion of the world. I'm black. They never let me forget it. I'm black all right! I'll never let them forget it!"

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