A resolution expressing the sense of the Senate that the President of the United States should exercise his Constitutional Authority to pardon posthumously John Arthur "Jack" Johnson for Mr. Johnson's racially-motivated 1913 conviction that diminished his athletic, cultural, and historic significance, and unduly tarnished his reputation.

        [Congressional Bills 108th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. Res. 447 Agreed to Senate (ATS)]

108th CONGRESS
2d Session
S. RES. 447

Expressing the sense of the Senate that the President of the United
States should exercise his Constitutional Authority to pardon
posthumously John Arthur ``Jack'' Johnson for Mr. Johnson's racially-
motivated 1913 conviction that diminished his athletic, cultural, and
historic significance, and unduly tarnished his reputation.

_______________________________________________________________________

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

October 5, 2004

Mr. McCain (for himself, Mr. Hatch, Mr. Kennedy, Mr. Reid, and Mr.
Talent) submitted the following resolution; which was considered and
agreed to

_______________________________________________________________________

RESOLUTION

Expressing the sense of the Senate that the President of the United
States should exercise his Constitutional Authority to pardon
posthumously John Arthur ``Jack'' Johnson for Mr. Johnson's racially-
motivated 1913 conviction that diminished his athletic, cultural, and
historic significance, and unduly tarnished his reputation.

Whereas, Jack Johnson was a flamboyant, defiant, and controversial figure in
American history who challenged racial biases;
Whereas, Jack Johnson was born in Galveston, Texas, in 1878 to parents who were
former slaves;
Whereas, Jack Johnson became a professional boxer and traveled throughout the
United States fighting white as well as black heavyweights;
Whereas, Jack Johnson, after being denied, on purely racial grounds, the
opportunity to fight two white champions was granted an opportunity in
1908 by an Australian promoter to fight the reigning white title-holder,
Tommy Burns, whom Johnson defeated to become the first African American
to hold the title of Heavyweight Champion of the World;
Whereas, Jack Johnson's victory prompted a search for a white boxer who could
beat Johnson, a recruitment effort dubbed the search for the ``great
white hope'';
Whereas, a white former champion named Jim Jeffries left retirement to fight and
lose to Jack Johnson in Reno, Nevada, in 1910 in what was deemed the
``Battle of the Century'';
Whereas, rioting and aggression toward African Americans resulted from Johnson's
defeat of Jeffries and led to racially-motivated murders of African
Americans nationwide;
Whereas, Jack Johnson's relationship with white women compounded the resentment
felt toward him by many whites;
Whereas, between 1901 and 1910, 754 African Americans were lynched, some of whom
were lynched simply for being ``too familiar'' with white women;
Whereas, in 1910 the Congress passed the Mann Act, (18 U.S.C. 2421), then known
as the ``White Slave Traffic Act,'' which outlawed the transportation of
women in interstate or foreign commerce ``for the purpose of
prostitution or debauchery, or for any other immoral purpose'';
Whereas, in October, 1912, Jack Johnson became involved with a white woman whose
mother disapproved of their relationship and sought action from the
United States Department of Justice, claiming that Johnson had abducted
her daughter;
Whereas, Jack Johnson was arrested on October 18, 1912, by Federal marshals for
transporting this woman across State lines for an ``immoral purpose'' in
violation of the Mann Act, only to have the charges dropped when the
woman refused to cooperate with authorities and then married the
champion;
Whereas, Federal authorities persisted and summoned a white woman named Belle
Schreiber who testified that Johnson had transported her across State
lines for the purpose of ``prostitution and debauchery'';
Whereas, Jack Johnson was eventually convicted in 1913 of violating the Mann Act
and sentenced to one year and a day in Federal prison, but fled the
country to Canada and then on to various European and South American
countries, before losing the Heavyweight Championship title to Jess
Willard in Cuba in 1915;
Whereas, Jack Johnson returned to the United States in July, 1920, surrendered
to authorities, served nearly a year in the Federal penitentiary at
Leavenworth, Kansas, and fought subsequent boxing matches, but never
regained the Heavyweight Championship title;
Whereas, Jack Johnson served his country during World War II by encouraging
citizens to buy war bonds and participating in exhibition boxing matches
to promote the war bond cause;
Whereas, Jack Johnson died in an automobile accident in 1946; and
Whereas, in 1954 Jack Johnson was inducted into the Boxing Hall of Fame: Now,
therefore, be it
Resolved, That it is the Sense of the Senate that--
(1) Jack Johnson paved the way for African American
athletes to participate and succeed in racially-integrated
professional sports in the United States;
(2) Jack Johnson was wronged by a racially-motivated
conviction prompted by his success in the boxing ring and his
relationship with white women;
(3) his criminal conviction unjustly ruined his career and
destroyed his reputation; and
(4) the President of the United States should grant a
pardon to Jack Johnson posthumously to expunge from the annals
of American criminal justice a racially-motivated abuse of the
Federal government's prosecutorial authority and in recognition
of Mr. Johnson's athletic and cultural contributions to
society.
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