My Life and Battles: By Jack Johnson

by Christopher Rivers

Overview

African American historian Gerald Early refers to Jack Johnson (1878-1946), the first African American heavyweight champion of the world, as the first African American pop culture icon. Johnson is a seminal and iconic figure in the history of race and sport in America. This manuscript is the translation of a memoir by Johnson that was published in French, has never before been translated, and is virtually unknown. Originally published as a series of articles in 1911 and then in revised form as a book in 1914, it covers Johnson's colorful life and battles, both inside and outside the ring, up until and including his famous defeat of Jim Jeffries in Reno, on July 4, 1910.

In addition to the fights themselves, the memoir recounts, among many other things, Johnson's brief and amusing career as a local politician in Galveston, Texas; his experience hunting kangaroos in Australia; and his epic bouts of seasickness. It includes portraits of some of the most famous boxers of the 1900-1915 era—such truly legendary figures as Joe Choynski, Jim Jeffries, Sam McVey, Bob Fitzsimons, Philadelphia Jack O'Brien, and Stanley Ketchel. Johnson comments explicitly on race and the color line in boxing and in American society at large in ways that he probably would not have in a publication destined for an American reading public. The text constitutes genuinely new, previously unavailable material and will be of great interest for the many readers intrigued by Jack Johnson. In addition to providing information about Johnson's life, it is a fascinating exercise in self-mythologizing that provides substantial insights into how Johnson perceived himself and wished to be perceived by others. Johnson's personal voice comes through clearly-brash, clever, theatrical, and invariably charming. The memoir makes it easy to see how and why Johnson served as an important role model for Muhammad Ali and why so many have compared the two.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780275999643
Publisher:	Bloomsbury Academic
Publication date:	09/30/2007
Edition description:	Translatio
Pages:	152
Product dimensions:	6.14(w) x 9.21(h) x 0.38(d)

About the Author

Christopher Rivers is Professor of French at Mount Holyoke College. He is the author of Face Value: Physiognomical Thought in Lavater, Marivaux, Balzac, Gautier and Zola (1994) as well as a number of articles on 18th and 19th century French literature. He is also the translator and editor of Adophe Belot's 1870 novel, Mademoiselle Giraud, ma femme (2002). He is currently working on a cultural biography of the great French boxer Georges Carpentier.

Jack Johnson was the first African American heavyweight champion of the world and a seminal and iconic figure in the history of race in America.

Table of Contents

Foreword Geoffrey C. Ward ix

Preface xiii

Acknowledgments xvii

Chapter 1 I Enter the World 1

Chapter 2 My First Experience in the Ring 5

Chapter 3 The Tragi-Comic Story of a Black Preacher, a Little Colored Boy, and a Bottle of Gin 9

Chapter 4 I Arrive in Boston 15

Chapter 5 My Beginnings in the Noble Art 19

Chapter 6 I Go into Politics 25

Chapter 7 Joe Choynski Teaches Me What a Knockout Is 29

Chapter 8 I Fight for Beans! 33

Chapter 9 My Old Friend Sam McVey 39

Chapter 10 Two Formidable Opponents: Marvin Hart and Sam Langford 43

Chapter 11 I Make Some New Year's Resolutions 47

Chapter 12 I Go to Australia 51

Chapter 13 I Go Kangaroo Hunting 55

Chapter 14 I Meet Up with Bill Lang and Send Old Man Fitzsimmons Off to Dreamland 59

Chapter 15 In Pursuit of Tommy Burns 63

Chapter 16 I Am Champion of the World! 69

Chapter 17 I Defend My Title 75

Chapter 18 The Boxer as Man of the World 79

Chapter 19 Stanley Ketchel's Terrific Right! 85

Chapter 20 Mr. Jeffries' Pretensions 89

Chapter 21 The Fight of My Life 93

Chapter 22 Who Will Be the Winner? 97

Chapter 23 I Begin Training 101

Chapter 24 I Set up Camp in Reno 105

Chapter 25 The End of Mr. J.J. Jeffries 109

Epilogue 113

Appendix 1 Advertisement from La Vie au Grand Air for the Serialized Johnson Memoir (January 1911) 115

Appendix 2 Chronology of the Life and Battles of Jack Johnson (up to 1915) 117

Notes 123

What People are Saying About This

Joyce Carol Oates

"Of all American boxers, there has been no one like Jack Johnson. Surely this extraordinary man is the most eloquent of all, and, with Archie Moore, the most intelligent. Chris Rivers is to be commended for so capably translating this remarkable document."

Randy Roberts

"Christopher Rivers gives a revealing look at Jack Johnson when he was at the top of his profession. It is Jack Johnson as Jack Johnson wanted the world to see him—proud, humorous, defiant, and not too concerned with literal truth, or why he should scrape and bow to the mundane world of facts. He was, after all, his own creation."

Editorial Reviews

Those interested in boxing history, particularly as it pertains to African Americans, have been treated to a spate of recent books on the social history of the ring. Most center on a major figure—Joe Louis, Tiger Flowers, Battling Siki, Jack Johnson—and the conflicted history of race relations in the US. These books are now joined by a bibliographic curiosity, an autobiography by Johnson (1878-1946) first published in French (surely with the help of a French collaborator working from Johnson's written or dictated words) as Mes Combats (1914). Rivers translated that book as well as articles that appeared in 1911, creating this amalgam autobiography. In a foreword, Geoffrey Ward (Unforgivable Blackness: The Rise and Fall of Jack Johnson, CH, Mar'05, 42-4096) praises the book as a portrait of Johnson as he … wished to be portrayed … : intelligent, proud, extremely gifted, in control, and at the top of his game. Though it should be used with caution, this is a fresh source on Johnson, despite the errors, inconsistencies, and exaggerations of the as-told-to genre. It includes a chronology, photographs, an advertisement for the original work, and endnotes that take up flaws in the original. Recommended. Researchers; discerning fans.” —Choice

“An interesting slice of boxing history.” —SecondsOut.com

“Johnson was the first African American sports icon, under his own methods and on his own terms. His autobiography, an amalgam formed from a series of autobiographical articles for the magazine La vie au grand air in 1911, reveals his finesse in handling his opponents, in and out of the ring, and the mythology necessary to his public identity. His skills included a rare ability to balance self-deprecating humor and supreme self-confidence, and Rivers….captures that balance in this skillful and engaging translation.” —SciTech Book News

From the Publisher