Recently, Galveston paid tribute to the first African American world heavyweight boxing champion, Jack Johnson. A life-size bronze statue of the “Galveston Giant” is the cities latest attempt to reclaim recognition for an icon since turning its back on him a century before. Named in his honor, the Jack Johnson Park will be a reminder of cultural differences and bigotry of an earlier time. However, Galveston hopes the park and statue will help residents and visitors right a wrong and pay tribute to one of their own. Austin sculptor, Adrienne Isom, created the statue which was well overdue.
Galveston has long wrestled with its relationship with the dockworker turned fighter who grew up at 8th and Broadway and went on to break down cultural barriers 50 years before the Civil Rights Movement.
Mr. Casey Cutler came up with the idea for Jack Johnson Park, inspired by the late Johnny Valentine, the longshoreman who advocated for Jack Johnson Boulevard and the Menard Park statue. When the Galveston Housing Authority sought public input on the rebuilding of the Magnolia Homes public housing development, which had been destroyed by Hurricane Ike, Mr. Cutler, who lived near there for 30 years, promoted adding green parkland to the plan.
Several efforts have been made by Galveston to pay tribute to the boxer. In the late 1980s, a statue was erected in Menard Park, but it was impressionistic and hard to identify as Mr. Johnson, and was razed after being damaged by the elements and riddled with bullets by vandals. Also, 41st Street was renamed Jack Johnson Boulevard as well as the artist, Earl Jones, carved an image of Mr. Johnson from the stump of a tree ravaged by Hurricane Ike in 2008.
Jack Johnson, who became the first black heavyweight boxing champion in the world in 1908, was an American sports personality of his era. His success in the ring started a worldwide search, for a “great white hope” to defeat him. He gained admirers and detractors all over the world and became one of the best known men of the early twentieth century.
At the age of 12, Johnson was determined to leave his hometown of Galveston, Texas, and see the world, especially New York City. This proved difficult. He jumped a freight train, but was discovered, beaten, and thrown off. He jumped a boat, but ended up in Key West and worked as a fisherman. Finally, he hopped a freighter, worked as a cook on board, and finally reached New York. From there he went to Boston, where he worked in a stable, then returned to Galveston, where he became a dockworker at the age of 13.
Johnson soon outgrew Galveston and began to travel as well as box for food and lodging. He was 17 years old when he fought a man named “Klondike” and lost. Johnson claimed that the loss marked the time when he decided he could make a living as a fighter.
Johnson made his debut as a professional November, 1897, in Galveston, when he knocked-out Charley Brooks in the second round of a 15-round bout for the Texas State Middleweight Title.
Johnson’s skill as a fighter and the money that it brought made it impossible for him to be ignored by the establishment. His boxing style was very distinctive. He developed a more patient approach, playing with his opponents, often carrying on a conversation with ring-siders at the same time as he was fighting. Johnson would begin cautiously, slowly building up over the rounds into a more aggressive fighter. When annoyed, he often fought to punish his opponents rather than knock them out. He avoided their blows and struck with swift punches.
In 1910 out of retirement and given the title of the “great white hope”, James Jeffries, was unable to defeat Jack Johnson. Though black and white boxers often matched up, heavyweight championship remained a “whites only” proposition. A black man challenging a white, let alone defeat him, was simply too inflammatory to consider. However, on a specially built stage in Reno, Nevada, Johnson and Jeffries fought the “battle of the century.” A fight that was originally scheduled for 45 rounds lasted only 15. After being sent to the floor for the first time in his career, Jeffries quit rather than suffer the humiliation of a knockout.
Johnson was inducted into the Boxing Hall of Fame in 1954, and listed on the International Boxing Hall of Fame and the World Boxing Hall of Fame. In 2005, the United States National Film Preservation Board deemed the film of the 1910 Johnson-Jeffries fight “historically significant” and put it in the National Film Registry.
Galveston, Texas, residents and tourists can visit and reflect on an earlier time in history that provides a glimpse of perseverance a half a century before the Civil Rights Movement.
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