Unforgivable Blackness: The Rise and Fall of Jack Johnson
by Geoffrey C. Ward
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Book Summary Information
Author: Geoffrey C. WardEdition: Paperback
Audio: English (Original Language); English (Unknown); English (Published)
Published: 2006-01-03
ISBN: 0375710043
Number of pages: 544
Publisher: Vintage
Book Reviews of Unforgivable Blackness: The Rise and Fall of Jack Johnson
Book Review: Unforgivable Blackness or Unforgiveable whiteness?
Summary: 3 Stars
In the introduction, the author notes that Johnson's only sin was that "he took orders from no one and resolved to live as if color did not exist;" that is, as if the U.S. were a colorblind society. This of course was Jack Johnson's cardinal "no, no." One cannot do that even today in what remains a profoundly racist society. These characteristics of seeking dignity and independence from whites, even today with "our black President," will still get blacks into a great deal of trouble. And while there are a lot of things bad that one can say about Jack Johnson's personal habits - he was a bon vivant, spent lavishly, in short, lived as if there were no tomorrow -- he was, at his core, and despite his many shortcomings, still a human being bent on living a full and trouble-free life of dignity.
As this book notes he was not the first nor would he be the last black athlete (or black man) to suffer from the disease of seeking his full measure of dignity in a racist "white man's world." For those reviewers who attribute this episode solely to the racism of the times (1908-1915), one only need recall that even those who towed the lines of racist conventions to a "tee" such as the nine times U.S. gold medal champion Jessie Owens, still suffered as many, if not even more indignities than did Johnson. Owens, for instance, in the most embarrassing and ignominious of exhibitions ended his career in a foot race against a thoroughbred race horse, unable after all of the glory he bestowed upon the U.S. -- with Adolph Hitler looking on --unable to get a job in the U.S. that would enable him to care for his family.
Similarly, for Joe Louis, who beat Max Schmeling in the famous "Fight of the Century," who served in the U.S. Navy and later gave millions in purses to the war cause, was nevertheless hounded by U.S. tax authorities until he was both "broken" and broke. Even his opponent, Max Schmeling was given a U.S. Coke cola concession and distribution that made him a wealthy man, while Louis died as a "greeter" at Caesar's Palace in Las Vegas.
The same was true of 1960 Olympic champion, Cassius Clay. When he became Muhammad Ali, he was brutally penalized mostly for rejecting Christianity and becoming a Muslim. As a result, he was forced into professional exile during the prime of his fighting years because ostensibly he chose the dignity of his religious beliefs over going to war to kill for his country. One could add to this list Ruben "Hurricane Carter," who, arguably, was arrested on trumped up charges and spent time in prison because he sought and expressed the kind of dignity and respect normally reserved only for whites in American society. And these are just the stories of those black boxers who had distinguished themselves as "so-called" American national heroes -- those more or less in the same orbit, if not exactly in the same class as Jack Johnson.
And while this is a good biography of Johnson, it is not a great one. Too many details of his background are missing, and are told only from the vantage point of an "outsider." One never gets the part of the Jack Johnson's story that is not just a "white newspaper tinged version of the reality of the man inside the black buck's skin.
Meaning no disrespect to the author, black subjectivity is missing entirely from this picture. Johnson is little more than a one-dimensional "object" of white scorn. From this vantage point, no matter how skilled a biographer, it is difficult to bring such a caricature fully to life. I watched the PBS documentary that was based on this book and was left with the very same feeling: White writers and screenwriters, including the great Ken Burns, do not seem to get it: Blacks are just not "miniature" white people. There is such a thing as black subjectivity. There is also a humanity that lives in that subjectivity.
The point being that after reading this book I still wondered what the "real" Jack Johnson was like when he was not being chased around the globe by angry white men for screwing and marrying white women?
Three Stars
Summary of Unforgivable Blackness: The Rise and Fall of Jack Johnson
In this vivid biography Geoffrey C. Ward brings back to life the most celebrated - and the most reviled - African American of his age.Jack Johnson battled his way out of obscurity and poverty in the Jim Crow South to win the title of heavyweight champion of the world. At a time when whites ran everything in America, he took orders from no one and resolved to live as if color did not exist. While most blacks struggled simply to exist, he reveled in his riches and his fame, sleeping with whomever he pleased, to the consternation and anger of much of white America. Because he did so the federal government set out to destroy him, and he was forced to endure prison and seven years of exile. This definitive biography portrays Jack Johnson as he really was--a battler against the bigotry of his era and the embodiment of American individualism.
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