Object Details
- Artist
- Paul Thompson, active early 20th century
- Sitter
- Jack Johnson, 30 Mar 1878 - 10 Jun 1946
- Exhibition Label
- Born Galveston, Texas
- Jack Johnson became the first African American to earn boxing’s heavyweight title in 1908. Known for a style that combined power, balance, and loose- ness, Johnson’s victory made him a hero to the Black community but sparked outrage among many others who found it impossible to accept a Black man as champion.
- Defying Jim Crow segregation, Johnson married white women three times and opened a restaurant and night club. Accused of accompanying a white woman over state lines in 1913, he fled the United States. Seven years later, he turned himself in to the police and served ten months in prison. In June 1946, angry at being refused service in a diner because of his race, Johnson lost control of his speeding convertible and died. President Donald Trump granted Johnson a posthumous pardon, in 2018, for what historians have long recognized a racially motivated false conviction. Today, Johnson is recognized as one of the greatest boxers in U.S. history.
- Nacido en Galveston, Texas
- En 1908, Jack Johnson pasó a ser el primer boxeador afroamericano que ganó el título de peso completo. Famoso por combinar potencia, equilibrio y agilidad, con esta victoria se convirtió en héroe de la comunidad negra, pero provocó la ira de muchos que no podían aceptar un campeón de color.
- Desafiando las leyes segregacionistas, Johnson se casó tres veces con mujeres blancas y abrió un restaurante y club nocturno. En 1913, acusado de cruzar fronteras estatales junto a una mujer blanca, abandonó Estados Unidos. Tras siete años regresó, se entregó a la policía y cumplió 10 meses de cárcel. En junio de 1946, indignado porque le negaron servicio en una cafetería a causa de su raza, Johnson murió al perder control de su veloz auto desca- potable. El presidente Donald Trump le concedió un indulto póstumo en 2018 por lo que la historia considera desde hace mucho una condena falsa por motivos raciales. Hoy Johnson es reconocido como uno de los mejores boxeadores de EE.UU.
- Credit Line
- National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution
- c. 1910
- Object number
- NPG.97.100
- Restrictions & Rights
- CC0
- Type
- Photograph
- Medium
- Gelatin silver print
- Dimensions
- Image/Sheet: 18.9 × 14.3 cm (7 7/16 × 5 5/8")
- Mat: 45.7 × 35.6 cm (18 × 14")
- See more items in
- National Portrait Gallery Collection
- Location
- Currently not on view
- National Portrait Gallery
- Topic
- Exterior\Cityscape
- Jack Johnson: Male
- Jack Johnson: Sports\Athlete\Boxer
- Portrait
- Record ID
- npg_NPG.97.100
- GUID (Link to Original Record)
- http://n2t.net/ark:/65665/sm4f885cbe1-5363-40fd-86f4-4f61c8760d88
