Trump grants posthumous pardon to first black heavyweight champion Jack Johnson
President Donald Trump has granted posthumous pardon to boxing's first black heavyweight champion, Jack Johnson, more than 100 years after what Trump said many feel was a racially motivated injustice.
Trump was joined by boxer Lennox Lewis and actor Sylvester Stallone as he announced the decision today.
In a statement, he said: "I believe that Jack Johnson is a very worthy person to receive a full pardon, and in this case, a posthumous pardon. So I am taking this very righteous step, I believe, to correct a wrong that occurred in our history and to honor a truly legendary boxing champion."
Johnson, who died in a car crash in North Carolina in 1946, at the age of 68, was convicted by an all-white jury in Chicago in 1913 of violating the Mann Act for transporting a woman across state lines for “immoral purposes.”
According to reports, after the conviction the legendary boxer Johnson skipped bail and fled the country, living in exile, before surrendering and returning to the US in 1920 to serve his one-year sentence.
Jack Johnson, known as the Galveston Giant is a legendary figure in boxing who held the heavyweight champion title from 1908 to 1915. He also crossed over into popular culture decades ago with biographies, dramas, and documentaries following the civil rights era.
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