Jack Johnson, Rebel Sojourner Read online

  This “circus match between two niggers” had served to highlight the vital importance of physical training, and particularly boxing, for the reinvigoration of the French imperial body politic.45 It had provided white French sportsmen with an excellent example of two primitive adversaries, stripped of all weapons, fighting to their maximum ability. Although France now appeared to be in the midst of a sporting renaissance, over the past half century Frenchmen had allowed their scorn for physical activity to make them lose sight of the importance of their muscles. Given the growing threat of war with Germany, boxing seemed to offer young Frenchmen the opportunity not only to revitalize their bodies, but also to acquire the critical skills of concentration, precision, and persistence necessary for survival in the modern world.

  Back by popular demand, the second McVea-Jeannette match took place on the night of 17 April 1909 at the Cirque de Paris. To ensure a definitive result and, hopefully, a more ardent battle, the fight promoters arranged a “match au finish” (fight to the finish) for a purse of thirty thousand francs.46 Guaranteed to test the limits of black physicality, the fight could only end in knockout or submission rather than by referee's decision. Such matches had long been illegal in both the United States and Britain, and even in France white boxers rarely fought under such harsh conditions. The second time around the African American pugilists delivered, treating the audience to an exciting match, which continued for forty-nine rounds until a battered McVea threw in the towel. The arduous fight had lasted so long that many of the spectators had already left for the night by the time McVea surrendered. As Georges Dupuy exclaimed, “The rematch…was not only the most beautiful we have ever seen in France, but perhaps the most terrible and most savage in the history of boxing throughout the world.”47

  For many spectators, white civilization had triumphed over black savagery. Segonzac contended, “I admired Joe Jeannette, the ‘yellow’ black, a learned boxer, more scientific than his pure black brothers.”48 Another Parisian sportswriter juxtaposed Jeannette, the “Greek athlete,” with McVea, “the eldest son of a grand barbarian king.” “In a boxing ring, with rules and care, the art and the energy of Joe triumphed,” he maintained. “In a forest, the instinct of Sam would have overcome.”49 With its ten-second knockdown rule, rests in between rounds, the use of gloves, and the help of trainers, the regulated match had apparently given the more civilized Jeannette a distinct advantage over his primitive opponent. French writer Tristan Bernard forwarded his own anthropological analysis, arguing that McVea's submission had exemplified the “lack of perseverance inherent in the [black] race.” The dark-skinned fighter's inability to go in for the kill stemmed from “a certain timidity” and “habit of subservience” also characteristic of African people.50 In other words, regardless of the black male's superior physique, he still needed the guidance of white civilization.

  In the lead-up to the final McVea-Jeannette match on 11 December 1909, French journalists once again went to great lengths to reassure fans of the fight's legitimacy.51 Throughout the match the “nearly white” Jeannette seemed to have taken on the mantle of civilization, reputedly taunting McVea in the ring by calling him “nigger Sam.” As one sportswriter described, McVea glared at Jeannette, much like the angry son of an African king sneering at an ill-mannered white explorer.52 When the referee declared the thirty-round fight a “match nul” (tie match), cries of protest rent the air since many in the crowd believed that Jeannette should have won by decision.53

  Throughout the 1910s, combats nègres continued to be the mainstay of the Parisian boxing scene, as many French fans jumped at the chance to participate in their own form of colonial ethnography. Paradoxically, while these matches embodied a racialized and gendered critique of the decadence of European modernity, they also provided a metaphorical showcase for the ultimate victory of Western civilization. Although white men apparently could regenerate their bodies through physical activity, black men seemed to be irredeemably inferior in the realms of character, intellect, and culture. Even as men like McVea and Jeannette generated astounding praise and profits during their Parisian sojourn, they quickly discovered the very real limits of French racial tolerance.

  JIM CROW IN PARIS

  Despite all these contradictions, the Parisian sporting press continued to celebrate African American boxers' apparent love of the Tricolor. “All negroes have two countries: America, and then France,” one correspondent declared. He had noticed that an “admirable number of blacks” had found their way to the City of Light.54 “In about twenty years,” he speculated, “we will have in Paris, a whole army corps of adorable, young café au lait, vibrant and robust souvenirs of the champions' visit.” Although the prospect of interracial liaisons and biracial offspring did not seem to disturb this particular journalist, the growing presence of African American men was certainly not welcomed by all.

  The precariousness of black American sportsmen's social position gave them a glimpse of both the best and the worst of French racial politics. Unlike members of the African American intelligentsia, these rough-and-tumble men often experienced the full brunt of European racism. Even though McVea had become a popular “professor” at Grognet's school of boxing, where he instructed French students in the “American method,” his large black entourage quickly became a bone of contention with the school's director.55 Grognet openly despised the “army of negroes” that followed McVea around, calling them both “cumbersome and unpleasant.”56 When the director finally banned “these innumerable ‘coloured men’” from the gym, McVea decided to take his business elsewhere rather than yield to Grognet's discrimination. While Frenchmen enjoyed watching and taking lessons from famed African American fighters, most did not want their social spaces to be overrun with black men.

  The continued influx of black pugilists was forcing French fans to confront the practical problems of living in a multiracial society. Leon Sée of La Boxe et les boxeurs maintained, “Governed by our good hearts, we French have a tendency to consider the Americans veritable tyrants towards the black race in their country. In our total ignorance of the question, we gladly say, ‘A nigger is a man like any other. He has the right to the same consideration as a white.’”57 However, Sée and others were already beginning to rethink the wisdom of their supposedly naive position. “We have not yet suffered of these ‘coloured men' like our neighbors in America,” Sée argued. “Some of us, who, since the invasion of boxing in France, have had dealings with the niggers are obliged to recognize that the [white] Americans are not totally at fault.” Others maintained that the growing popularity of African American prizefighters and performers was a sure sign of France's increasing barbarism rather than its rejuvenation. As Armand Grébauval, a Paris municipal counselor, complained, “It's the Bamboula [a type of West African drum popular among American slaves] that now replaces the bygone tenor, and makes the men run and the women swoon.”58 Black boxers were just one part of the disturbing deluge of black culture into the French capital—one that seemed to be shaking the very foundations of French civilization.

  Back home, some African American sportswriters remained suspicious of France's embrace of black prizefighters. Indianapolis Freeman columnist Billy Lewis maintained that in Paris McVea was not loved “in the best sense.” Instead, “he was in about the same relation to the French public as a bull terrier pup is to a white lady millionaire.” As Lewis explained, “She admires his chubby nose and monkey face in a way, perhaps, because rare—rare in ugliness. She pets him and fondles him; she permits it the liberty of her room, but she does not forget what it is.”59 Lewis cleverly captured the French public's exotic and paternalistic view of men like McVea while also exposing the unequal sexual dynamic between white French women and black boxers. Although the French public seemed to enjoy the African American pugilists currently in their midst, their racial tolerance had yet to be tested. “Of course they do not have our thousands [of black people] to deal with, our millions, many of whom do not present
any too commendable fronts,” Lewis warned. “France has seen us at our best, to put it honestly.”60

  Even at their best, these visiting black American sportsmen only seemed to confirm African inferiority in the eyes of many French spectators. Johnson was known for dressing in elaborate outfits and hobnobbing with the likes of the cubist Sonia Delaunay and the futurist Gino Severini at the Bal Bullier, a popular dance hall among the Parisian avant-garde.61 His late-night jaunts had helped to inspire the dandified image of the roi nègre (nigger king), which emerged as a popular symbol of the inability of Africans to hold positions of political power. In French advertisements the roi nègre, much like Johnson, typically wore a top hat and monocle and carried a scepter. Despite this caricature's pretensions, his grasp of civilization was apparently incomplete, for his oversized feet were usually shoeless and his clothing both garish and ill fitting.62 French sportswriters often poked fun of Johnson's own delusions of grandeur by cloaking him in images of African savagery. To Dispan of La Boxe et les boxeurs, the black champion carried himself like “kaffir royalty.” “He endlessly masticates a piece of chewing gum,” Dispan described, “his rolling eyes so white and ferocious that he seems to be chewing the tough flesh of an insufficiently roasted missionary.”63 While African American boxers attempted to fashion themselves as modern men in the Parisian capital, they found themselves folded into French imperial culture.

  Nevertheless, both the growing presence of black pugilists and the rising popularity of U.S.-style boxing were forcing Parisian fans to contemplate and confront the color line in new ways. French sportsmen became better acquainted with U.S. racial mores through their participation in the commercial culture of boxing. Boxing publications, matches, and other spectacles provided a public forum in which French fans could experience firsthand the “peculiar” venom of U.S. race prejudice. Many of these cultural products were laced with stereotypical images of Jim Crow segregation, and the United States became a convenient foil against which white France could define its own relationship with people of color.

  Although Parisian sports enthusiasts seemed to reject the obvious violence and vehemence of white American negrophobia, questions of race remained integral to the marketing of boxing in France. Banking on the widespread French fascination for black American boxers and U.S. racial politics, Parisian promoters decided to import an American battle royal in March 1909. Brutal and racist affairs, battle royals had become a popular amusement in the United States, providing many African American boxers with their start in the business. Usually a group of four or five blindfolded black boys would enter the ring and engage in a free-for-all fight until there was only one boy left standing. White American spectators would often taunt the boys with racial slurs and throw coins at them while they fought.

  Given the proven popularity of matches involving African Americans, French promoters hoped that the battle royal would catch on and become a regular fixture on Parisian fight cards.64 On the night of 20 March 1909, five black boys of varying shades entered the ring at the Hippodrome, and after a short charade of a fight the darkest boy in the group emerged the winner. The battle royal, however, never became a particular favorite of Parisian fans. As a representative for the local Society of Cinema-Halls named Charles Despland declared, “Let us leave aside, if you will, the ‘Battle Royal' of the niggers.”65 According to Despland, this savage U.S. practice simply did not meet France's higher standards for sporting competition. Although Parisians enjoyed the often-bloody matches of men like McVea and Jeannette, the American battle royal was apparently too boorish for their sophisticated tastes.

  Images of white American barbarism were commonplace in the French boxing scene. Parisian sportswriters often depicted the United States, much like Africa, as a wild and exotic frontier desperately in need of European civilization.66 In recounting his travels to America, Gus Muller of La Boxe et les boxeurs claimed that the “majority of American [boxing] clubs” were not only “free from any decoration” but also “rudimentary” in their construction.67 White American boxing fans appeared to be no better. “The noise of car horns and accordions and the vile outbursts of spectators during the engagements” were enough to drive the Frenchman to distraction. Muller's experiences in the United States had only emphasized his belief in the superiority of “French taste.”

  Muller had been struck by the bloodthirsty nature of an interracial boxing match that he had attended on the outskirts of Denver, Colorado. He recalled the racist milieu in which a white middleweight named Tom Kingsley had fought against an African American challenger named Arthur Collins. “The advertisement of this combat aroused enormous interest throughout the entire area,” Muller described. “Many important bets were placed, and special trams were rented to bring the large and impassioned crowd to the match's location.”68 In the weeks before the fight, spontaneous brawls had broken out between white and black boxing fans as they discussed its probable result. Early on the day of the match, a crowd of about a hundred cowboys, along with a few African Americans, had pressed up against the venue's locked doors. With tensions running high, a gunfight had nearly broken out between a white cowboy and a black fan.

  This interracial violence had followed the throng of men into the boxing arena. During the second round Muller remembered hearing, “Kill that black bastard, Tom! Kill him!” The white cowboys in the stands had immediately drawn their revolvers, shooting them in the air and twirling them on their fingers. By the eighth and final round, full pandemonium had erupted. “It was easy to see that there was going to be some kind of tragedy,” Muller maintained. “Several blacks frightened by the threats had tried to leave; however, unable to find a passageway, about twenty of them had escaped through the windows.”69 A black man was shot dead, and a general melee engulfed the ring as the white cowboys pointed their weapons at the remaining black spectators.

  Although likely embellished, Muller's description of Denver's boxing scene closely followed formulaic French narratives of U.S. racial violence and the brutality of the Western frontier, shaped through their consumption of newspaper reports, popular literature, and moving pictures. A novella of the time titled Les Nègres contre les Peaux-Rouges (The Niggers versus the Redskins) provided French readers with a sensationalized view of racial conflict in the United States.70 As the story went, a young white American named Fred became lost in the woods while riding his horse. He eventually made his way out of the forest and rode to the farm of a family friend in search of help. However, when Fred arrived old man Sadler was nowhere to be found. Sadler's home had been taken over by a band of menacing black men. Recently escaped from a Florida plantation, the black fugitives had made their way across the countryside stealing, massacring, and burning farms. Although the black marauders took Fred hostage, the young man still managed to break free. In the end, a tribe of brave Delaware Indians saved the day by killing all of the escaped African American slaves.

  Not surprisingly, many Parisian sportsmen characterized racism as something that existed outside the political and cultural boundaries of France. These stories of interracial hatred in the United States stood in direct contrast to popular French myths about the nation's noble civilizing mission in Africa and the loyal service of its African tirailleurs. Parisian journalists tended to accuse white Americans of bringing Jim Crow racism to France. They blamed U.S. tourists for forcing French hoteliers and restaurateurs to erect a color line against African American guests.71 In turn, they often showcased examples of white American race prejudice in their accounts of interracial matches in Paris. One French journalist described a colorful scene from a fight between the white American middleweight Harry Lewis and the African American journeyman Bob Scanlon. As Lewis rested in his corner between rounds a white American fan had urged him to “give the darned nigger a good ‘licking.'” Lewis reportedly quipped, “The smell of coons is bad enough, without my wanting to taste ‘em.”72 For many Parisian sportsmen, the prospect of witnessing this interracial friction in the
ring was what drew them to the fights.

  Indeed, interracial matches were big business in Paris, attracting not only European spectators but also visiting Americans, both white and black. French promoters took pride in the fact that they continued to host interracial matches, even after the boxing ring had become increasingly segregated in both the United States and Britain. When McVea fought against the white American Jim Barry in June 1909, French sportsmen threw their support behind the African American, while the white American expatriate colony sided with Barry.73 On the night of the fight the two boxers seemed to have an equal number of fans in attendance. When the referee disqualified Barry, skirmishes broke out in the stands and the municipal guard had to be called in to restore the peace.74 The match provided French sportsmen with a means to differentiate their racial politics from those of their white American contemporaries.