Jack Johnson, Rebel Sojourner Read online

  THE GEORGE GUND FOUNDATION

  IMPRINT IN AFRICAN AMERICAN STUDIES

  The George Gund Foundation has endowed this imprint to advance understanding of the history, culture, and current issues of African Americans.

  The publisher gratefully acknowledges the generous support of the African American Studies Endowment Fund of the University of California Press Foundation, which was established by a major gift from the George Gund Foundation.

  AMERICAN CROSSROADS

  Edited by Earl Lewis, George Lipsitz, George Sánchez, Dana Takagi, Laura Briggs, and Nikhil Pal Singh

  1. Border Matters: Remapping American Cultural Studies, by José David Saldívar

  2. The White Scourge: Mexicans, Blacks, and Poor Whites in Texas Cotton Culture, by Neil Foley

  3. Indians in the Making: Ethnic Relations and Indian Identities around Puget Sound, by Alexandra Harmon

  4. Aztlán and Viet Nam: Chicano and Chicana Experiences of the War, edited by George Mariscal

  5. Immigration and the Political Economy of Home: West Indian Brooklyn and American Indian Minneapolis, 1945–1992, by Rachel Buff

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  7. Contagious Divides: Epidemics and Race in San Francisco's Chinatown, by Nayan Shah

  8. Japanese American Celebration and Conflict: A History of Ethnic Identity and Festival, 1934–1990, by Lon Kurashige

  9. American Sensations: Class, Empire, and the Production of Popular Culture, by Shelley Streeby

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  16. Emancipation Betrayed: The Hidden History of Black Organizing and White Violence in Florida from Reconstruction to the Bloody Election of 1920, by Paul Ortiz

  17. Eugenic Nation: Faults and Frontiers of Better Breeding in Modern America, by Alexandra Stern

  18. Audiotopia: Music, Race, and America, by Josh Kun

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  23. Playing America's Game: Baseball, Latinos, and the Color Line, by Adrian Burgos, Jr.

  24. The Power of the Zoot: Youth Culture and Resistance during World War II, by Luis Alvarez

  25. Guantánamo: A Working-Class History between Empire and Revolution, by Jana K. Lipman

  26. Between Arab and White: Race and Ethnicity in the Early Syrian-American Diaspora, by Sarah M. A. Gualtieri

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  31. Stranger Intimacy: Contesting Race, Sexuality, and the Law in the North American West, by Nayan Shah

  32. The Nicest Kids in Town: American Bandstand and Segregation in Postwar Philadelphia, by Matthew F. Delmont

  33. Jack Johnson, Rebel Sojourner: Boxing in the Shadow of the Global Color Line, by Theresa Runstedtler

  34. Pacific Connections: The Making of the US-Canadian Borderlands, by Kornel Chang

  35. States of Delinquency: Race and Science in the Making of California's Juvenile Justice System, by Miroslava Chávez-Garcia

  Jack Johnson,

  Rebel Sojourner

  Boxing in the Shadow

  of the Global Color Line

  Theresa Runstedtler

  UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA PRESS

  Berkeley • Los Angeles • London

  University of California Press, one of the most distinguished university presses in the United States, enriches lives around the world by advancing scholarship in the humanities, social sciences, and natural sciences. Its activities are supported by the UC Press Foundation and by philanthropic contributions from individuals and institutions. For more information, visit www.ucpress.edu.

  University of California Press

  Berkeley and Los Angeles, California

  University of California Press, Ltd.

  London, England

  © 2012 by The Regents of the University of California

  Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

  Runstedtler, Theresa.

  Jack Johnson, rebel sojourner : boxing in the shadow

  of the global color line / Theresa Runstedtler.

  p. cm.—(American crossroads; 33)

  Includes bibliographical references and index.

  ISBN 978–0–520–27160–9 (cloth, alk. paper)

  1. Johnson, Jack, 1878–1946. 2. Boxers (Sports)—

  United States—Biography. 3. African American

  boxers—Biography. 4. Boxing—United States—

  History. 5. Racism in sports. 6. United States—

  Race relations—History. I. Title.

  GV1132.J7R86 2012

  796.83092—dc23 2011027435

  [B]

  Manufactured in the United States of America

  20 19 18 17 16 15 14 13 12

  10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

  In keeping with its commitment to support

  environmentally responsible and sustainable printing

  practices, UC Press has printed this book on Cascades

  Enviro 100, a 100% post consumer waste, recycled,

  de-inked fiber. FSC recycled certified and processed

  chlorine free. It is acid free, Ecologo certified, and

  manufactured by BioGas energy.

  Dedicated to Lolo Pacifico

  and Lola Dalmacia Garcia

  Stories of your courage, tenacity, generosity,

  and resourcefulness in the face of adversity

  continue to inspire me.

  Contents

  List of Illustrations

  Acknowledgments

  Preface. Sparring Nations, Global Problem

  Introduction: Jack Johnson, Rebel Sojourner

  1 Embodying Empire: Jack Johnson and the White Pacific

  2 White Censors, Dark Screens: The Jeffries-Johnson Fight Film Controversy

  3 Jack Johnson versus John Bull: The Rise of the British Boxing Colour Bar

  4 The Black Atlantic from Below: African American Boxers and the Search for Exile

  5 Trading Race: Black Bodies and French Regeneration

  6 Viva Johnson! Fighting over Race in the Americas

  7 The Empire Strikes Back: The “French Jack Johnson” and the Rising Tide of Color

  Epilogue: Visible Men, Harmless Icons

  Notes

  Bibliography

  Index

  Illustrations

  1. Peter Jackson, heavyweight champio
n of Australia and England

  2. Jack Johnson in Australia

  3. Jack Johnson with the Coloured Progressive Association in Sydney

  4. “A Man and a Brother”

  5. Painting of Tommy Burns versus Jack Johnson

  6. Jack Johnson in the ring with Jim Jeffries

  7. “The Kaffir House Boy”

  8. Jack Johnson and Bombardier Billy Wells

  9. “Snowy Baker's Search for an Aboriginal Hope”

  10. Jack Johnson and his wife Lucille embarking on a vessel

  11. “The Dark Side of the White Hope Problem”

  12. Sam McVea

  13. “Après le match—Sen-Sen chewing gum”

  14. “Johnson Fifi!”

  15. “'The Count' that made Jess Willard Cowboy Champion of the World”

  16. Promotional photograph of Battling Siki

  17. Georges Carpentier on the canvas in a fight with Battling Siki

  18. Jack Johnson in retirement

  19. Senator John McCain asks for a posthumous pardon of Jack Johnson

  Acknowledgments

  This project has truly been a journey, from idea, to prospectus, to dissertation, to book. Along the way I have compiled a very long list of people and organizations to thank for their contributions to my work and my life.

  My own journey to academia followed a route that was far from traditional. Before returning to school to study for a PhD, I spent several years working as a professional dancer, model, and actress in Toronto. Although I loved the energy and camaraderie of working with other performers (especially all my friends in the Raptors Dance Pak), I decided to go back to school for radio and television production at Ryerson University in the hopes of establishing a more lucrative and “legitimate” career on the other side of the camera. Realizing that I lacked the passion for media production, I dropped out of Ryerson and spent a year working in the public relations department of what was then CTV Sportsnet (now Rogers Sportsnet). In many respects this book is a logical outgrowth of these experiences. Working in the world of professional sport and entertainment has been an important source of insight when it comes to exploring representations of race and gender in popular culture. Part of my goal in reexamining Jack Johnson's story is to take seriously the political conversations stemming from this world. This book honors the many vibrant people who were central to this part of my life, including Greg and Chris Johnson, who introduced me to the sport of boxing.

  When I finally arrived at Yale University in 2001, I launched into my studies with purpose and gusto. I have been blessed with the continued support of my graduate mentors, for whom I have the utmost admiration and respect. My dissertation director, Matthew Frye Jacobson, believed in this project even before I did, and his enthusiasm for each draft helped to sustain me through the difficult task of writing. Even when I visited his office, lost in a sea of ideas or drowning in the paperwork of the job market, he helped me chart a course for completion and success. Glenda Gilmore, who always inspired me with her encyclopedic knowledge of African American history, has graced this project with her incredible eye for detail, her love of good writing, and her chronological rigor. Seth Fein, one of the most brilliant historians I have come across, has been an invaluable resource for both unconventional ideas and practical advice. Finally, working with me in the prospectus phase of this project, Paul Gilroy was a fount of theoretical ideas and a wealth of contextual information on European race relations.

  African American studies and History at Yale were great departmental homes. Alongside my dissertation committee, I had the pleasure of working with inspiring professors like Jennifer Baszile, David Blight, Hazel Carby, Jonathan Holloway, and Michael Mahoney. The staff members in both departments saved me countless times. Colleagues Jay Driskell, Sarah Haley, Jana Lipman, Shana Redmond, Anita Seth, Melissa Stuckey, and the rest of the GESO Organizing Committee sustained me through some very tough times. They hold me to a very high standard as a scholar and a person; I strive to be as strong in my convictions as they are.

  I could not have completed such a far-reaching, transnational, and multilingual project without the financial support of a number of institutions. Funds from the Beinecke Library, the Yale Center for the Study of Globalization, the Gilder Lehrman Institute, the Organization of American Historians, and the Yale Center for International and Area Studies made my archival research possible, even as the value of the U.S. dollar plummeted. Other long-term awards kept me afloat over the years, including the Canadian Social Science and Humanities Research Council Doctoral Fellowship and Yale's Leylan Fellowship.

  As an assistant professor at the University at Buffalo, a new set of resources opened up to me. The UB Humanities Institute, under the direction of Tim Dean, granted me a faculty fellowship, which along with my junior leave made it possible to quickly transform my dissertation into a book without having to compromise my vision. UB also provided start-up funds that allowed me to continue my work at the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, to buy much-needed secondary sources, to hire professional researcher Jeannine Baker for work in the State Library of New South Wales, and to hire UB Caribbean studies graduate student Ernesto Mercado to help translate some of my Spanish sources. (A special thanks to Jeannine and Ernesto for all their hard work behind the scenes.) Assistance from the Julian Park Publication Fund enabled me to purchase the reproduction rights for the images in this book.

  Since I spent much of my time researching abroad, I want to thank all those who helped make London and Paris my homes away from home. I am grateful to all the helpful staff at the Bodleian Library's John Johnson Collection in Oxford, the British Library's Newspaper Collection in Colindale, the National Archives in Kew, and also to Josiane Gandois at the Bibliothèque nationale de France for helping me get permission to see La Boxe et les boxeurs. Outside the library, Jeanefer Jean-Charles, Mark Hartley, and the entire Jean-Charles family—especially my English “mum,” Mary, who taught me what it was like to be a St. Lucian immigrant in the 1950s—made my times in London some of the best of my life. They opened their hearts and homes to me, and even included me in their family activities. In Paris, Kader and Siham Bourhim let me stumble over my French words while continuing to invite me over for fabulous Moroccan mint tea. I will always remember our many conversations about race, cultural differences, politics, and the meaning of life (No6ra!). Naomi Hewitt-Couturier and her fashionable “amis internationals” let me tag along to all the hottest places in Paris, while Sara White Wilson inspired me with her artistic vision and wonderfully dry sense of humor.

  This labor of love also required visits to various archives in the United States. The supportive staff at the Schomburg Center, the Library of Congress, and the National Archives in College Park helped me to navigate their holdings. Thanks to Larry Reynolds, my roommate and confidante in Adams Morgan, for offering me advice and support during one of the most tumultuous summers of my life.

  During the writing stage, many people listened to and read parts of my evolving manuscript. My participation in panels at the annual meetings of the American Studies Association, American Historical Association, the Collegium of African American Research, the Organization of American Historians, and the Popular Culture / American Culture Association forced me to write faster and think more clearly. I also spoke at the following venues: the Race and Africana Studies Conference at the University of Connecticut; the Telling Stories Graduate Symposium at the University of Toronto; the Edward Bouchet Seminar Series, organized by Yale's Office for Diversity and Equal Opportunity; the Gill Lecture Series at Tufts University; and the UB Humanities Institute Scholars at Muse series at the Albright-Knox Art Gallery.

  My graduate school colleagues were some of my most dedicated and exacting readers. My writing groups at Yale provided conceptual frameworks, constructive criticism, and life advice. Special thanks to Adam Arenson, Amanda Ciafone, Gretchen Heefner, Brandi Hughes, Lisa Pinley Covert, Camilla Schofield, Jenifer Van Vleck, a
nd Helen Veit. I am especially grateful to Jana Lipman for being both a close friend and the closest reader of my dissertation. I cannot say enough how much her fellowship and intellectual exchange have shaped this project.

  Writers and scholars from across the academy and beyond were also generous with their time and expertise. Adrian Burgos Jr. first encouraged me to write a project that involved boxing. Through her work on the 1968 Olympics, Amy Bass showed me that it was possible. Christopher Rivers gave me important leads in the French press. Patrick McDevitt offered advice about British sources. John Maynard introduced me to the Coloured Progressive Association of New South Wales and shared their photo with me. Matthew Guterl and Vivian Halloran encouraged my analysis of popular culture and black trans-nationalism. Satadru Sen helped me find Indian articles on Johnson, while Paul Kramer pointed me toward relevant Philippine newspapers. Andrew Offenburger not only offered keen advice about the history of race in South Africa, but he also volunteered to do microfilm searches in the bowels of Sterling Library. Johnson's most recent biographer, Geoffrey Ward, shared helpful leads over the course of this project.

  My UB colleagues in American studies, Global Gender studies, African and African American studies, and History supported my work, even in the midst of the chaos and retrenchment caused by the economic crisis and ensuing budget cuts. Carole Emberton, Theresa McCarthy, and Cynthia Wu have sustained me intellectually and emotionally during moments of existential crisis and job-related stress. Alexis De Veaux has been a source of wisdom and inspiration. Theresa McCarthy and the members of the Haudenosaunee-Native American Studies Research Group have taught me everything that I know about Indigenous studies and have inspired me to learn more. Students in my undergraduate and graduate seminars at UB have forced me to push beyond my own provincialisms and to better articulate my sometimes scattered and inchoate thoughts. They have all put their mark on this book, and on my life.

  UB's Baldy Center for Law and Social Policy has been another important intellectual home. Through its funding of the Buffalo Seminar on Racial Justice, the Baldy Center has supported my dream of fostering a transnational community of scholars interested in questions of race, empire, diaspora, and indigeneity. It sponsored our symposia, “Building Connections” (spring 2008) and “Thinking beyond the Nation-State” (fall 2009), which brought together academics and community members from both sides of the U.S.-Canada border. The Baldy Center also funded a workshop for my book manuscript. I am grateful to Carl Nightingale and Rebecca French for their help in organizing and convening this workshop. Two outside experts, Kevin Gaines and Tracy Denean Sharpley-Whiting, offered insightful critiques. Other UB faculty from across several disciplines also challenged me to clarify the intellectual and political stakes of my work, including Ellen Berrey, Susan Cahn, Keith Griffler, David Herzberg, Peter Hudson, Carine Mardorossian, Patrick McDevitt, Ramón Soto-Crespo, Kari Winter, and Jason Young.