Documentary Review: Unforgivable Blackness: The Rise and fall of Jack Johnson
 By Peter Chhim (June 6, 2005) 
Earlier this year, Ken Burns, the notable filmmaker responsible for many of the best documentaries in recent times, released his latest offering, the provocative, ‘Unforgivable Blackness: The Rise and fall of Jack Johnson”. The protagonist here may not be very familiar to those of the current generation, but rest assured, the impact he had on the politics and culture of early 20th century America was profound.

Johnson was the first Black Heavyweight World Champion in history, and he managed to accomplish this during the “Jim Crow” era, against the wishes of a White establishment that was not ready for integration. Because of this, he became much maligned for his desire to live “free”, in a country not willing to afford him his God given, constitutional rights.

The documentary provides a chronological look at Johnson’s life and times. In it, Burns spoils viewers with excellent archived footage of Johnson, along with still photos and expert commentary from familiar boxing analysts Burt Sugar, Gerald Early, George Plimpton, Jack Newfield and a host of others.

In first seeing Johnson on film, it is quite astonishing to see the level of muscularity, and tone that he displayed. Now, while his technique may be somewhat crude and antiquated by today’s standards, it’s visibly obvious that he was blessed with great natural ability. Nat Fleischer, the founder of the Ring Magazine, referred to Johnson as, “the best Heavyweight of all time”. High praise indeed, especially coming from someone who had seen virtually everyone from Johnson to Tyson.

During his career, Johnson fought primarily on the black circuit against other tough and segregated black boxers. Soon though, his skill and his audacity became too much to contain, and while the word was not readily spoken, the prevailing notion soon turned towards Johnson challenging for the World Heavyweight title. The same title that had existed for well over a century, and that had never been around the waist of a black boxer.

Johnson would eventually win the World Title many years later, although not from the reigning Champion at the time, James Jefferies. Jefferies chose to abdicate his throne rather than fight the worth challenger, because he believed that by giving Johnson the opportunity to fight for the crown, he would be acknowledging that their did not exist a superiority gap between the White and Black race. Which at the time, was a notion that White America tried vainly to hold on too.

In 1908, Johnson would end up easily battering Tommy Burns in Australia to take the title, and with that America’s White supremacists began plotting his coup. Now began the famous search for the, “Great White Hope” to not only recapture the Heavyweight World title, but to also reclaim White America’s racial position as ethnic leader.

When Johnson kept turning these challengers away, a new plot was devised to ensure his downfall. Now came the Mann Act, of which he was charged for transporting women across state lines for the purposes of debauchery and prostitution. The act was originally intended to prevent the commercialization of prostitution, but in the case of Johnson, it was geared towards removing him from the pedestal he worked so hard to reach.

Throughout these and many other events in Johnson’s life, Burns does an absolutely amazing job bringing the viewers into the cinematic fold.

With excerpts spoken from Johnson’s manuscripts, Johnson himself is able to walk us through the times he was facing, and it provides a revealing look into how unjust and un-accepting the culture was at the time.

Accompanying the film is a very good soundtrack highlighted by Miles Davis. Davis’s deliberate blues properly reflects the mood of the film, and fits, forgive the pun, like a glove.

Finally, throughout the nearly 4-hour documentary, there are so many notable anecdotes and interesting facts from Johnson’s life that I couldn’t possibly incorporate them all into such a short piece. But, rest assured, once you’ve been introduced to Jack Johnson, and you’re immersed into whom the man was, and how he chose to live his life, you will begin to realize that his importance to the social and cultural development of the country was profound. Make no mistake; Jack Johnson was a marvelous fighter, but that wasn’t what made him great, it was his desire to rightly challenge the conscious of the country, and win. In closing, perhaps the film’s creator best captured Johnson’s importance and his place in history,

"Johnson's story is more than the story of a tremendous athlete, or even one who broke a color line," said Ken Burns. "It is the story of a man who forced America to confront its definition of freedom, and that is an issue with which we continue to struggle."
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