Unforgivable Blackness: The Rise and Fall of Jack Johnson (Book Review‪)‬

Geoffrey C. Ward, Unforgivable Blackness: The Rise and Fall of Jack Johnson. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2004, 475 pages, $25.95. Jack Johnson, one of the greatest heavyweight boxers ever, won the heavyweight title from Tommy Burns in Australia in 1908. That the championship bout took place in Australia indicates that it was not a fight that most Americans welcomed. All previous heavyweight champions, including John L. Sullivan, Jim Jeffries, and even Tommy Burns, had for quite a long time, adopted the policy of not fighting Black men. But Burns eventually broke the rule because of newspaper taunts that he was afraid of Jack Johnson. Moreover, because Bums was always after money, the fight took place, and Johnson easily won.