Arthur John (Jack) Johnson (1878 -1946) was the first black, and first Texan, to win the heavyweight boxing championship of the world.
             Johnson was born in Galveston on March 31, 1878. He was the second of six children of Henry and Tiny Johnson. Henry was a former slave and his family was poor. After leaving school in the fifth grade, Johnson worked odd jobs around South Texas. He started boxing as a sparring partner and fought in the "battles royal," matches in which young blacks entertained white spectators who threw money to the winner. I think that Johnson never realized that these men just wanted the young Negroes to fight so they could have fun. To my point of view, the white men knew that some day one African American was going to make it big and they just wanted to belittled them as much as possible so they would feel left out and no where to go. White men put barriers in front of great African Americans and the ones who overcame them were champions and great men to the African American history and people.
             Johnson turned professional in 1897 following a period with private clubs in Galveston. His family's home was destroyed by the great hurricane of 1900. A year later he was arrested and jailed because boxing was a criminal profession in Texas. He soon left Galveston for good. I think that he wanted to get away from the white people who had harmed him and didn't want him to be a profesional like he became. Johnson was a glamour tall black man and white females followed him around because they knew that he was way out of their league. Johnson believed that he could do anything thing he wanted just because he was "Jack Johnson".
             He fought Bob Fitzsimmons, the ex-heavyweight champion in 1906 and knocked him out. But the boxers who succeeded Fitzsimmons refused to fight Johnson because of his color. Instead, another white boxer, Tommy Burns, fought Marvin Hart and
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