By Lee A. Daniels

The latest round to right an injustice and accord Jack Johnson, the first black heavyweight champion, his proper place in American history opened this month when Senator John McCain, (R-AZ) and Representative Peter King, (R-NY) introduced legislation seeking his posthumous pardon.

Johnson, whose talent for provoking controversy matched his extraordinary boxing skill, was convicted in 1913 of violating the Mann Act. The federal law, which was ostensibly aimed at prostitution, made it a crime to take women and girls across state lines for “immoral purposes.” In fact, however, it was heavily used to try to prevent or punish blacks and whites involved in interracial romantic relationships.

Johnson’s superiority in the ring, his refusal to bow to the racist conventions of the day, and especially his relationships with white women, enraged many whites and led to the trumped-up charges against him. He fled the U.S. after his conviction and his boxing career essentially fell apart. Johnson returned to the country in 1920, and served a year and a day in the federal penitentiary at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas. As irrepressible as ever, he gave several boxing exhibitions while there.

For several years, McCain and King have been at the head of an informal coalition of attorneys, activists and others across the country urging a presidential pardon for Johnson. The two legislators, life-long boxing enthusiasts, first introduced a pardon resolution in the Congress in 2004. President Bush left office without signing a pardon for Johnson. Advocates of a pardon clearly are hoping that the Obama administration will be more sympathetic. Early this month, in honor of Johnson’s March 31 birthday, they re-introduced a pardon resolution.

Senator McCain said, “This resolution to pardon Jack Johnson would not right this injustice, but it would recognize it, and shed light on the achievements of an athlete who was forced into the shadows of bigotry and prejudice.” He added that taking “such actions would allow future generations to grasp fully what Jack Johnson accomplished against great odds and appreciate his contributions to society unencumbered by the taint of his criminal conviction.”

King called Johnson “a trailblazer in the sport of boxing … Despite the accusations, he became a heavyweight legend and paved the way for future African-American athletes.” Noting that Johnson won the heavyweight title in 1908 and held it until 1915, King said “it’s time we restore his reputation with a pardon that is long overdue.”

Attending the news conference at the Capitol in Washington were Ken Burns, the film-maker whose 2005 documentary, “Unforgivable Blackness: The Rise and Fall of Jack Johnson,” did much to bring Johnson’s story to wide public notice; and members of Johnson’s family.

In later years, Johnson continued to live a full life. Among other things, he at one time owned the Harlem club that later in the decade became the famed Cotton Club. He died in a car crash in 1946.

Read “Jack Johnson: Unbelievable Blackness”

Lee A. Daniels is Editor-in-Chief of TheDefendersOnline and Director of Communications for the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, Inc.

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