only identified as ‘‘Negro,’’ comments on the threat Jack poses to the community, stating, ‘‘For the Negro today, the opportunity to earn a dollar in a factory should appear to be worth infinitely more than the opportunity of spending that dollar in emulation of Mr. Jack Jefferson.’’

Racial conflict is an outgrowth of these prevailing white attitudes represented throughout the work. In one scene, Clara uses Mrs. Jefferson’s funeral as a forum for protest. She singles out Goldie to express her outrage at whites. When the preacher condones her behavior, one of the participants exclaims, ‘‘Shame on me, shame on alla us, for BEIN de oppressed, an bein it, an bein it!’’ This comment and others move the crowd to engage in a violent struggle, black against white.

Black Identity
The spirit of those behind Jack in his quest for victory is guided by their need to foster some sense of identity. Sackler captures this spirit in the voices of his black characters, using them to comment on the cultural oppression of black America for the sake of white ideals. Such ideals have meant involuntary conformity, assuming a position of inferiority, and a loss of cultural identity for black Americans.

Some characters see championing the white culture as a means of earning their respect. To Jack’s black supporters, his victory represents not only a triumph for the entire black race but also a chance for them to redeem themselves as individuals.

Jack has a different response to the question of black identity. He sees a characteristically undesirable mentality, a ‘‘cullud’’ mentality, among his supporters. Jack demonstrates this idea when he expresses to the group that he doesn’t have to earn or prove his need for self-respect because he already has it. When a young man states, ‘‘Ah be proud to be a cullud man tomorrow,’’ Jack replies, ‘‘Well, country boy, if you ain’t there already, all the boxin and nigger-prayin in the world ain’t gonna get you there.’’ He refutes the belief that his victory represents one for his race, further maintaining that such beliefs constitute ‘‘cullud’’ thinking, beliefs that ultimately limit, rather than foster, achievement. If one thinks ‘‘cullud,’’ then all one will ever do is live inside the box, that is, be ‘‘cullud.’’

Scipio sympathizes with Jack’s views on identity, perhaps more profoundly, stating in his monologue that it’s ‘‘time again to make us a big new wise proud dark man’s world.’’ He sees freedom from oppression in regaining self-respect, as well as self-love, by celebrating his own heritage. ‘‘Learn brothers, learn! Ee-gyp!! Tambuctoo!! Ethiopya!! Red’n goldin cities older den Jeruslem.’’

Interracial Relationships
The issue of interracial relations is a prominent theme within the context of the play. Time and time again, blacks and whites alike challenge Jack and Ellie’s relationship. The controversy begins immediately when Jack is asked to hide his white girlfriend from the unsympathetic eyes of the press. Ignoring Goldie’s requests, Jack asks:

Whut Ah s’pose to do! Stash her in a iddy biddy hole someplace in niggertown an go sneakin over there twelve o’clock at night, carry her roun with me inside a box like a pet bunny rabbit or somethin?

Ellie has to endure the intense scrutiny of others concerning her relationship with Jack. In the Chicago district attorney’s office, her feelings for Jack are repeatedly questioned during an increasingly probing, intensely personal interview. Cameron insists at several points with Ellie that she is lonely, unhappy somehow, in an attempt to explain what he infers is an ‘‘unnatural’’ relationship. He has an agenda. Like other characters, he cannot accept Ellie’s affection for Jack—to him, her feelings aren’t just impossible; they aren’t right. Cameron’s ideas only mirror the sentiments of other characters in the play whose belief systems are challenged by Jack and Ellie’s relationship.

When Jack goes to jail for taking Ellie across the Wisconsin state line, Clara is quick to offer her opinion. She blames the situation on Ellie and is ready to ‘‘smoke her out.’’ What Clara recognizes is Jack’s liability in the affair. When Ellie and Jack are caught together, it is Jack who suffers the arrest rather than his white girlfriend. She questions Ellie’s claim to love Jack when her presence repeatedly compromises his life.

Free Will and Determinism
The catalyst for Jack’s troubles is his demand for autonomy and self-respect as a black man in a racially unjust environment. His insistence on crossing the boundaries of what is socially acceptable to realize personal achievement is a futile endeavor in the context of the racist society of which he is a part. While Jack is struggling to achieve his own personal goals as an athlete, the white power structure is trying to tear him down. Specifically, there are whites that would like to see him lose his title less for an appreciation of boxing than for their own supremacist satisfactions. Goldie is the first to warn Jack he’s in over his head in dating a white woman, stating, ‘‘a white girl, Jack, what, do I have to spell it on the wall for you, you wanna drive them crazy, you don’t wanna hear what happens.’’

Instead of earning the respect of his contemporaries for being a great athlete, he is pursued by them as if his talents are criminal. About to be arrested, Jack questions the credibility of being apprehended outside of his own country. The agent is quick to answer, offering, ‘‘It is perfectly legal once we’ve ascertained where a wanted man is, to request cooperation of the parties in charge there.’’ The reality of Jack’s life is that no matter where he travels to escape the limitations imposed on him by white society, whether Canada or Europe, he can never truly realize freedom and autonomy as a black man.