The Great White Hope | Historical Context
Jack Johnson, Heavyweight Champion of the World
The Great White Hope is a work of fiction based on a historical figure, a black American prizefighter named John Arthur ‘‘Jack’’ Johnson. Not unlike Sackler’s fictional Jack Jefferson, Johnson aggravated white America by refusing to behave in a passive, submissive fashion expected of blacks at that time. In 1908, he traveled to Sidney, Australia, to fight and defeat Tommy Burns and became the first black Heavyweight Champion of the World. Public outrage and disbelief over the victory were catalysts for the match...
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