Joe Louis Joe Louis was born in Alabama on May 13, 1914. He was the son of an Alabama sharecropper, the great grandson of a slave, and the great great grandson of a white slave owner. Joe Louis moved to Detroit as a youngster with his mother. He was the first African American ever to achieve lasting fame and star status in the 20th Century. He did so with boxing, he would capture the hearts of millions of American's, both white and black. This was a time when blacks were being discriminated
On Sept. 1, 1923 Mr. and Mrs. Pierino Marchegiano of Brockton, MA became the proud parents of a lively twelve pound baby boy. The child was named Rocco Marchegiano, but the world would one day know him as the legendary boxer Rocky Marciano. When "bambino Rocco" was 18 months of age, he contracted pneumonia. Although the infection nearly killed him, his exceptionally strong constitution enabled him to survive without impairment. As a pre-teenager, Rocky relished his mother's Italian cooking so