Jack Johnson: My Life and Battles

Jack Johnson (1878 - 1946) was the first black American heavyweight boxing champion of the world and became an iconic figure in the history and race and sport in America. "My Life and Battles" is the translation of Johnson's memoir that was only ever published in French, and which has never before been translated into English, and is virtually an unknown work to boxing fans today. It describes Johnson's colorful life both inside and outside the ring up to and including his famous defeat of Jim Jeffries in Reno, Nevada on July 4th, 1910. He goes on to comment explicitly on race and 'the color line' in boxing and American society in ways that would not have been allowed had the publication been originally destined for the American reading public.