President Donald Trump , Sylvester Stallone standing by his side, today gave a full pardon, posthumously, to Jack Johnson , the country's first black heavyweight boxing champion, In 1913, at the height of the Jim Crow era, an all-white jury convicted Johnson under the Mann Act of transporting a white woman with whom he was involved in a relationship across state lines. Stallone, as well as Sen. John McCain, and Ken Burns were among those who had advocated for a pardon for Johnson, who died in 1946 and whose conviction became a prominent story of racism in the judicial system. He served 10 months in prison. Johnson was the heavyweight champion of the world from 1908-15. Burns documented the fighter's life in Unforgivable Blackness: The Rise and Fall of Jack Johnson. The docu aired on PBS in 2005. Johnson's 1910 "Fight of the Century" against James J. Jeffries inspired the play-turned-movie The Great White Hope. Watch on Deadline Making the announcement this afternoon, Trump noted Congress has supported numerous resolutions supporting Johnson but "no president ever signed it," adding that many "thought it was going to be signed in the last administration, and that did not happen, so it was disappointing… Read full this story
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Donald Trump Pardons Boxing Great Jack Johnson, Punches Barack Obama As Sly Stallone Watches have 372 words, post on deadline.com at May 24, 2018. This is cached page on X-Buy. If you want remove this page, please contact us.