Unforgivable Blackness: The Rise and Fall of Jack Johnson

In this vivid biography Geoffrey C. Ward brings back to life the most celebrated -- and the most reviled -- African American of his age.

Jack Johnson battled his way out of obscurity and poverty in the Jim Crow South to win the title of heavyweight champion of the world. At a time when whites ran everything in America, he took orders from no one and resolved to live as if color did not exist. While most blacks struggled simply to exist, he reveled in his riches and his fame, sleeping with whomever he pleased, to the consternation and anger of much of white America. Because he did so the federal government set out to destroy him, and he was forced to endure prison and seven years of exile. This definitive biography portrays Jack Johnson as he really was--a battler against the bigotry of his era and the embodiment of American individualism.

Author: Geoffrey C. Ward
Publisher: Vintage
Published: 01/03/2006
Pages: 544
Binding Type: Paperback
Weight: 1.14lbs
Size: 8.10h x 5.24w x 1.06d
ISBN: 9780375710049

Review Citation(s):
New York Times 02/12/2006 pg. 24

About the Author
Geoffrey C. Ward won the National Book Critics Circle Award in 1989. With Ken Burns, he is coauthor of The Civil War and Jazz. He lives in New York City.