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African American culture through sports
African American culture through sports
Racial Discrimination in the Movies
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“Unforgivable Blackness: The Rise and Fall of Jack Johnson,” is a documentary on the first black World Heavyweight Boxing Champion John Arthur “Jack” Johnson. In 1910, after years of trying to challenge white Heavyweight Champions, Jack won the title. The era in which Johnson fought was filled with racial tension and hostility (Film). Fears of the black race gaining control and power were high, and there were numerous efforts to keep blacks oppressed and separated from the white community. When one hears stories of past discrimination and oppression it is natural to compare them to today's society, and speak of past oppression as if they are non-existent. Even though there have been uprisings and revolts among minority groups to gain equality, we can still see many parallels today when comparing to instances of one-hundred years ago.
Jack Johnson began boxing at a young age. He was known for his unique boxing techniques and quickly worked up the ranks until he beat all those who challenged him. Throughout this period he challenged whoever was the World Heavyweight Champion of that time. Each champion denied Jack's requests, stating they would not fight a black man (Film).
Jack Johnson's fighting ability became well known, and he drew huge crowds to his matches. This in turn drew large sums of money for Jack, allowing a lavish lifestyle that many blacks could not obtain at that time. He was known for dressing ostentatiously, countless run-ins with the law, and flaunting his money. He was also know for visiting brothels in the cities he visited and later known for exclusively dating white women; all of whom came from different backgrounds and socioeconomic classes (Film).
Finally in 1910, after years of following and harass...
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When watching a movie such as “Unforgivable Blackness: The Rise and Fall of Jack Johnson,”it is easy to assume we have transcend above malicious acts towards minority groups. We are often unable to see trends of one hundred years ago and apply these same behaviors to those in place today. Although some examples may not be as severe as those in 1910, we can still find behaviors and attitudes that perpetuate ideals of discrimination, racism, sexism, and stereotypes today. Not only do these negative behaviors affect the victims of this, but we also see a trend of passing these ideals on to the next generation. Until we can recognize our short-comings and admit when we as a society have continued these ideals of discrimination, we will continue to be in the endless cycle of discriminating acts and passing these teachings to the next generation.
Randy Roberts, author of the article “Jack Johnson wins The Heavyweight Championship” sheds light on the fight of Jack Johnson with Tommy Burns; he highlights the racial attitude in the twentieth century. Roberts opens his article by mentioning about the concerned whites, as the author proceeds, according to the whites it was a tragic and saddest day of their lives as the race won. Dixie was agitated, firstly, because Booker T. Washington dined at the White House and, secondly, the victory of Jack Johnson. However, blacks rejoiced all over the United States with this news. Roberts mentions about a journalist report, it stated that the genuine satisfaction the blacks experienced with the single victory of Johnson was not being observed in forty years.
In the public eye, the Jeffries-Johnson fight would be a determinant of how the racial path would be paved from there on out. The feud between white and black was beginning to be formed by something that was out of the hands of the majority of both of these races (A Question of Racial Supremacy, 2012). Both sides were beginning to pin their future existence on a boxing match. It is in understanding this that one is able to see just how tense the battle of the races was at this time in history. To lay something so large and make such a massive deal over a boxing match simply because it was between a white man versus a black man speaks volumes in regards to just the type of mindset that both men and women held during this point in time; it is truly incredible. Many began to refer to Jefferies as the “Great White Hope” prior to this fight as he truly was, in their eyes, the only hope that many whites had left when it came to keeping the lead in something that they clung to for so many years. Whites could not stand to be under the pressure of the fact that losing this fight for them would mean defeat. It would mean that the blacks would gain hope and pride of getting a foot in the door of society and little did they know, that is exactly what would
Jack Roosevelt Johnson was born in the very segregated south in Cairo, Georgia around 1919. Jackie grew up loving baseball and knew that is what he wanted to do. About two decades before Jackie was born the MLB was split between white and Negro leagues. Jackie being an African-American, of course played for the Negro Leagues. He strived in this sport. He lead the Negro League with most stolen bases and had a great batting average. Both his statistics and love for the game brought the name Jackie Robinson to the attention of the Brooklyn Dodger's manager Branch Rickey.
Lynching of black men was common place in the south as Billie Holiday sang her song “Strange Fruit” and the eyes of justice looked the other way. On the other side of the coin, justice was brought swiftly to those blacks who stepped out of line and brought harm to the white race. Take for instance Nate Turner, the slave who led a rebellion against whites. Even the Teel’s brought their own form of justice to Henry Marrow because he “said something” to one of their white wives (1). Flashing forward a few years later past the days of Jim Crow and the fight for civil rights, several, but not all in the younger generation see the members of the black and white race as equal and find it hard to fathom that only a few years ago the atmosphere surrounding racial relations was anything but pleasant.
Ranikine’s addresses the light upon the failed judicial systems, micro aggressions, pain and agony faced by the black people, white privilege, and all the racial and institutional discrimination as well as the police brutality and injustice against the blacks; The book exposes that, even after the abolition of slavery, how the racism still existed and felt by the colored community in the form of recently emerged ‘Micro aggressions in this modern world’.
Despite the passing of the Civil Rights Act and Affirmative Action, racism evolved from the blatant discrimination of the 1960s like segregation, to the slightly more passive racism of the 1990s such as unfair arrests/jail time (Taylor). Curtis’ writes three decades after the aforementioned progress and yet, looking back on the 90s, there is an alarming amount of similarities between the two.
Both 20th century examples of repugnant racism in the United States, the provocative stories of Richard Wright and Malcolm “Malcolm X” Little portray the same blatant disregard for African-Americans as less than human: Richard Wright as an African-American who grew up in the extremely racially tense Southern United States, and Malcolm X an Afro-American who grew up in the Northeastern section of the U.S., faced segregation and discrimination, and resorted to a life of crime for money and other pleasures. Both of their situations, direct effects of the prejudice-injected Jim Crow Era, changed each of them to become leaders in their own respects. Both of these men’s experiences and input on
The Rise and Fall of Jack Johnson Ask someone who was one of the first people to break the color barrier in sports and you're almost guaranteed that the answer is Jackie Robinson. Yet almost 40 years earlier there was a black boxer by the name of Jack Johnson, also known as John Arthur Johnson. Most would argue that he was the best heavyweight boxer of his time, having a career record of 79 wins and 8 losses, and being the first black to be the Heavyweight champion of the World. (Jack Johnson (boxer), October 9th, 2006.) Not only was this impressive, but he had to deal with racism and black oppression.
They argue that the accruing of property by figures such as Johnson meant that they literally did not think of themselves as living within a racist society, and that, despite the decline of this freedom, it is a mistake to consider their opinions as an “aberration” in a narrative of inevitable racial exploitation (Breen & Innes, 112). Rather, they claim that to understand such people as such an aberration inevitably leads to a situation in which the real equality of their freedom is
What has changed since the collapse of Jim Crow has less to do with the basic structure of our society than with the language we use to justify it. In the era of colorblindness, it is no longer socially permissible to use race, explicitly, as a justification for discrimination, exclusion, and social contempt. So we don’t. Rather than directly rely on race, we use the criminal justi...
It was not normal for a dark skinned man to play a major league sport. When he started he had to put of with racism and discrimination. But the comments didn’t stop him from becoming the amazing ball player he had become. Jack beat many records and he had an amazing batting average, .349 and a .985 fielding percentage. That amazing first year of playing baseball he had the opportunity to play for the Brooklyn Dodgers. He being the amazing ball player he is, hit 12 home runs and it led them to win the world series. He went to the world series 6 times, which is very impressive. Later on that year he was voted Rookie of the year and he stood out to many people and many people started looking up to him. In 1956 Jackie was traded to the New York Giants and they never let him play so Jackie decided to retire. He retired on January 5,
Boxing in the 1920’s? You better believe it! Jack Dempsey was considered one of the very best in the sport of boxing. He possessed the aggression of a grizzly bear in the ring but the gentle spirit of a teddy bear outside the ring. This drew him into the hearts of many. Due to his extreme popularity he opened the door to public radio. For these reasons, Jack Dempsey was influential to the 1920’s and even to this very day.
In the United States, racial discrimination has a lengthy history, dating back to the biblical period. Racial discrimination is a term used to characterize disruptive or discriminatory behaviors afflicted on a person because of his or her ethnic background. In other words, every t...
The first prominent building block to Stallone’s career began with the simple but noble thought of “I want to be remembered as a man of raging optimism, who believes in the American dream" (Broeske 500-501). Stallone had little money to his name but managed to find his way to a boxing match between Muhammad Ali and Chuck Wepner. The classic match of “Champ vs. Chump” inspired the creation of Rocky Balboa (Broeske 500-501). With the success of the morals and persistence of “Rocky”, the franchise soon became a household name, jump starting Stallone’s fame and future career.
The combination of Muhammad Ali’s three attributes and his success inside the boxing ring began to lay the foundation for his transformation as an athlete into civil rights leader. Ali disregarded the expectations previously placed on black athletes and fought for what he believed to be true. There was insurmountable pressure for Ali to be molded into an idealistic African American athlete and he never surrendered his beliefs. Muhammad Ali started an uprising and significantly altered the image of black athletes. Edwards writes, “Ali is probably the single greatest athletic figure of this century in terms of the black community, largely because he turned around the image of the black athlete (Edwards 204).” Edwards continues by writing, “And