Jack Johnson

GALVESTON, Texas (AP) — A Texas Gulf Coast home where boxing legend Jack Johnson once lived was heavily damaged by a fire. The blaze caused a wall in the vacant Galveston home to collapse Friday. Fire Chief Mike Wisko told The Galveston County Daily News that the building was in the process of being renovated. As part […]

President Donald Trump claims he may actually pardon Jack Johnson after 105 years — the first African-American world heavyweight boxing champion who was convicted in 1913 for driving his white girlfriend across state lines. Trump said actor Sylvester Stallone – who played the boxer Rocky in several hit movies — is urging Trump to pardon […]

Since 2004, Republican Sen. John McCain has pushed for a posthumous pardon for legendary heavyweight boxer Jack Johnson. The world’s first Black heavyweight champion flaunted his love of the high life and white women during the time of Jim Crow garnering a charge that his great-great niece wants President Donald Trump to pardon. In October […]

  Legendary boxer Jack Johnson is best known to many as the first Black heavyweight champion in the sport. In 1913, Johnson’s arrest for a now outdated law remains a political point of contention as a bi-partisan effort to seek a presidential pardon remains ongoing. In 1913, Johnson violated the Mann Act, a law that […]

HOUSTON (AP) — Relatives and hometown supporters of the nation’s first black heavyweight boxing champion are turning to YouTube (watch on page 2) to convince President Barack Obama to posthumously pardon him of a 1913 conviction for accompanying a white woman across state lines. Jack Johnson, nicknamed the “Galveston Giant” after his Texas hometown, was […]

WASHINGTON (AP) — Lawmakers seeking a presidential pardon for Jack Johnson, the world’s first black heavyweight boxing champion imprisoned a century ago for his romantic relationships with white women, renewed their efforts on Tuesday. Sens. Harry Reid, D-Nev., John McCain, R-Ariz., and William “Mo” Cowan, D-Mass., joined Rep. Peter King, R-N.Y., to reintroduce a resolution […]

WASHINGTON (AP) — Lawmakers seeking a presidential pardon for Jack Johnson, the world’s first black heavyweight boxing champion imprisoned a century ago for his romantic relationships with white women, renewed their efforts on Tuesday. Sens. Harry Reid, D-Nev., John McCain, R-Ariz., and William “Mo” Cowan, D-Mass., joined Rep. Peter King, R-N.Y., to reintroduce a resolution […]