Johnson spent some of his time in exile defending his heavyweight title but was defeated by white boxer Jess Willard in a bout in Cuba in 1915. Though none passed, the attempts illustrate how preoccupied the nation was with Johnson’s interracial relationship and his supposed “crime.” Gilmore notes that, as a result of the case’s notoriety, lawmakers introduced bills to ban marriage between black and white people in multiple states. He went to Canada with Cameron, then fled to Europe and lived abroad for seven years. Schreiber’s testimony, along with Johnson’s recent marriage to Cameron, convinced the jury that he’d run afoul of the Mann Act and taken her across state lines for “immoral purposes.” An all-white jury convicted him and he was sentenced to a year and a day in prison.ĭefiant, Johnson refused to serve his sentence. They dropped the case temporarily, but not before the public caught wind of it.Īs historian Al-Tony Gilmore writes, the public felt that “the champion was such a bad character that it was their obligation to destroy him by any means available.” Prosecutors soon hit on another excuse to enforce the act: Johnson’s past relationship with Belle Schreiber, a white prostitute who agreed to testify against him. Then, prosecutors found out Cameron had been a prostitute, which undermined her credibility as a witness. There was just one problem-Cameron, who was in love with Johnson, refused to say anything that incriminated him. As Chicago police arrested him for kidnapping, federal prosecutors assembled a grand jury to investigate his relationships with white women. Though Johnson was in a consensual relationship with Cameron and would soon marry her, prosecutors used the accusation as a pretext. Then, in 1912, prosecutors got their chance to enforce the Mann Act when Lucille Cameron’s mother accused Johnson of kidnapping her daughter and transporting her across state lines. This behavior had long rankled those who thought an African-American man should know his “place” and stay in it-and Johnson’s open relationships with white women were considered a slap in the face to racial norms. It also made law enforcement take a closer look at Johnson, who was known for his flamboyant behavior and lavish spending. Jeffries, in a highly publicized bout in 1910, it triggered race riots. When he beat a white boxer, undefeated heavyweight champion James J. Johnson, then one of the most famous black men in the United States, was one of the law’s first victims. The popular tract warned parents about the supposed dangers of living or working in cities, taking public transportation alone, visiting ice cream parlors or restaurants, and congregating in dance halls, which one essayist called “truly the ante-room to hell itself.” This supposed sex trade was characterized as a “curse to humanity” in books like Fighting the Traffic in Young Girls: Or, War on the White Slave Trade. Reformers worried that women who appeared in public without men were being forced into prostitution by gangs who trafficked in young girls. President Donald Trump holds a signing Executive Grant of Clemency for boxer Jack Johnson in the Oval Office of the White House on May 24, 2018.Īs women gained more autonomy at the end of the 19th century, the concept of “white slavery” sparked a public panic. Though it’s been significantly amended since 1910, the law, which was also used against figures like Chuck Berry, is still on the books. Rooted in fears of women’s growing mobility and racist characterizations of the sexual appetites of non-white men, the law was designed to protect women against the supposed scourge of “white slavery,” a term used to refer to sex trafficking in the early 20th century. Also known as the White-Slave Traffic Act of 1910, the law was invoked over and over again to punish black men for their relationships with white women-affairs that challenged the racial status quo. Johnson wasn’t the only person affected by the Mann Act. The pardon took place during an Oval Office ceremony during which Trump referred to Johnson as enduring “what many view as a racially-motivated injustice.” President Obama’s administration had considered pardoning Johnson, too, but declined to do so due to allegations he physically abused women. Now, 72 years after his death, President Trump has pardoned Johnson. Accused of violating the Mann Act, which forbade transporting a woman across state lines for “immoral purposes,” Mann’s relationships with white women got him in trouble with the law. But in 1912, Jack Johnson became something else: a wanted man. He was known as the Galveston Giant-a boxer who fought his way toward the first world heavyweight title held by an African-American.
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