1878-1946
Boxing Champion

Son of a Former Slave.

Jack Johnson, the first African American heavyweight champion, was born in Galveston, Texas, the son of Henry and Tina Johnson. His father, a former slave, worked as a porter and a janitor. Despite their lack of formal education, Johnson's parents encouraged their six children to pursue learning and provided a stable, religious home life for them. Johnson completed the fifth grade in elementary school before going to work in the cotton fields and assisting his father as a janitor. He later worked as a stevedore at the Galveston shipyards and as a stable boy in a carriage shop. Walter Lewis, his boss at the carriage shop, was a former prizefighter who taught Johnson how to box. He honed his skills in the "battle royals," degrading staged fights between black youths, and in private clubs before entering the professional...