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Texas boxer becomes first black world heavyweight champion
On this day in 1910, Galveston native Jack Johnson was recognized as the
heavyweight champion of the world. He had won the Negro heavyweight
championship in 1903. The reigning white champion, Jim Jeffries, refused
to cross the color line, so Johnson had to wait until Jeffries came out of
retirement to fight him in 1910. Johnson left the United States in 1913 to
avoid arrest on charges of violation of the Mann Act. When he returned on
July 20, 1920, he was arrested and jailed at Leavenworth. After his
release he returned to boxing, but without success. He died in an
automobile crash at Raleigh, North Carolina, in 1946.
- Links to Related Handbook of Texas Online Articles
- JOHNSON, JACK
- SPORTS
- Other Texas Day by Day Articles for This Date
- Meusebach resigns as Adelsverein commissioner (1847)
- Legendary Texas architect dies (1982)
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