Arrested in 1912 for violating the White-Slave Traffic Act, Johnson was the first black man to fight for and win the world heavyweight championship; he continues to retain tremendous symbolic significance for those who care about racial equality
Being pardoned by the president of the United States is a big deal. Even though it happened posthumously for Jack Johnson, the world’s first black heavyweight champion, boxing fans all over the world celebrated.
Those fans as well as historians, sociologists, and everyone who loves a good tale will be gratified to read the newly published biography by Adam J. Pollack titled Black Man vs. The World: Jack Johnson’s Trials, Tribulations, and Triumphs, a thorough and detailed immersion into Johnson’s struggles, victories, and significance to whites and blacks throughout the world.
The book recounts Johnson’s life and fights based on multiple local next-day primary sources, archival documents, and hundreds of rare photographs, cartoons, and advertisements. Pollack follows Johnson’s path from a struggling poverty-stricken youth to a contender battling against the color line, lobbying for a title shot he had earned, to the world heavyweight championship itself, his reign, and the monumental efforts to find a white fighter capable of defeating him.
Throughout the book, print and photographic excerpts from both black- and white-owned newspapers offer a plethora of perspectives and context about race both in and out of the ring. The book chronicles racial incidents, lynchings, riots, analysis of the significant racial impact of Johnson’s achievements, religious and racial objections and arguments, legal battles, and obstacles Johnson and the sport of boxing faced, including fight film bans. It also includes Johnson’s criminal trial for violating the White-Slave Traffic Act based on the actual trial transcript, as well as his battle for the right to defend his crown in England, which Winston Churchill and others prevented.
Pollack comments, “I often have found that boxing books lack the detail, thoroughness, authenticity, and multiple perspectives from primary sources that I seek. As far as Jack Johnson goes, I wanted to fill the holes in history and answer my unresolved questions. This book offers a fresh, unique, and thorough perspective regarding Jack Johnson’s life, boxing career, and the world in which he lived.”
Black Man vs. The World is a revised and condensed version of In the Ring with Jack Johnson with parts I and II combined.
Author: Adam J. Pollack is a boxing judge and referee, attorney, and member of the Boxing Writers Association of America. He has authored several books on boxing, including his “In the Ring” series.
