[Congressional Record Volume 155, Number 116 (Wednesday, July 29, 2009)]
[House]
[Pages H9036-H9037]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
JOHN ARTHUR ``JACK'' JOHNSON POSTHUMOUS PARDON
Mr. JOHNSON of Georgia. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that the
Committee on the Judiciary be discharged from further consideration of
the concurrent resolution (S. Con. Res. 29) expressing the sense of the
Congress that John Arthur ``Jack'' Johnson should receive a posthumous
pardon for the racially motivated conviction in 1913 that diminished
the athletic, cultural, and historic significance of Jack Johnson and
unduly tarnished his reputation, and ask for its immediate
consideration in the House.
The Clerk read the title of the concurrent resolution.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the
gentleman from Georgia?
Mr. JACKSON of Illinois. Mr. Speaker, I reserve the right to object.
While it is not my intention to object to the bill, I wanted to thank
Representative Peter King for introducing this legislation in the
House, and I was honored to join him as a cosponsor of this bill.
Mr. Speaker, Jack was the first African American to win the world
heavyweight boxing championship and was a trailblazer. After defeating
Tommy Burns and winning the world heavyweight boxing title in 1908,
resentment grew as his wins continued and his flamboyant behavior
unfairly earned him the disdain of many. In fact, it was his
interracial relationships that led to his arrest on charges of
violating the Mann Act's prohibition against ``transporting women
across State lines for immoral purposes.''
Mr. Speaker, I felt compelled to come back to this floor because one
of the chief advocates of this legislation is the late Vernon Forrest
who came to this Congress 3 years ago, met with Members of the Congress
in the House, met with Senator McCain in the Senate, we had a press
conference in the ``swamp'' to support this posthumous legislation on
behalf of the late Jack Jackson. Vernon Forrest in Atlanta was shot
this week 8 times in the back, and he will be memorialized, I believe,
later this week or sometime this weekend.
I wanted to say on behalf of a grateful Nation and grateful Congress
to the Forrest family how grateful we were for his conscientiousness,
for his willingness to fight for something bigger than himself, and for
the extraordinary legacy that he has left us all.
I want to thank the Judiciary Committee and Representative Peter King
for their extraordinary leadership in bringing this very timely bill to
the Congress. And, as Ken Burns states, Jack Johnson's story was
``about freedom and one black man's insistence that he be able to live
a life nothing short of a free man.''
Mr. Speaker, I withdraw my reservation and urge the immediate passage
of S. Con. Res. 29.
[[Page H9037]]
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the
gentleman from Illinois?
There was no objection.
The text of the concurrent resolution is as follows:
S. Con. Res. 29
Whereas John Arthur ``Jack'' Johnson was a flamboyant,
defiant, and controversial figure in the history of the
United States 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 and
African-American heavyweights;
Whereas after being denied (on purely racial grounds) the
opportunity to fight 2 White champions, in 1908, Jack Johnson
was granted an opportunity by an Australian promoter to fight
the reigning White title-holder, Tommy Burns;
Whereas Jack Johnson defeated Tommy Burns to become the
first African-American to hold the title of Heavyweight
Champion of the World;
Whereas the victory by Jack Johnson over Tommy Burns
prompted a search for a White boxer who could beat Jack
Johnson, a recruitment effort that was dubbed the search for
the ``great white hope'';
Whereas in 1910, a White former champion named Jim Jeffries
left retirement to fight Jack Johnson in Reno, Nevada;
Whereas Jim Jeffries lost to Jack Johnson in what was
deemed the ``Battle of the Century'';
Whereas the defeat of Jim Jeffries by Jack Johnson led to
rioting, aggression against African-Americans, and the
racially motivated murder of African-Americans nationwide;
Whereas the relationships of Jack Johnson with White women
compounded the resentment felt toward him by many Whites;
Whereas between 1901 and 1910, 754 African-Americans were
lynched, some for simply for being ``too familiar'' with
White women;
Whereas in 1910, Congress passed the Act of June 25, 1910
(commonly known as the ``White Slave Traffic Act'' or the
``Mann Act'') (18 U.S.C. 2421 et seq.), 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 Department of Justice, claiming
that Jack Johnson had abducted her daughter;
Whereas Jack Johnson was arrested by Federal marshals on
October 18, 1912, for transporting the woman across State
lines for an ``immoral purpose'' in violation of the Mann
Act;
Whereas the Mann Act charges against Jack Johnson were
dropped when the woman refused to cooperate with Federal
authorities, and then married Jack Johnson;
Whereas Federal authorities persisted and summoned a White
woman named Belle Schreiber, who testified that Jack Johnson
had transported her across State lines for the purpose of
``prostitution and debauchery'';
Whereas in 1913, Jack Johnson was convicted of violating
the Mann Act and sentenced to 1 year and 1 day in Federal
prison;
Whereas Jack Johnson fled the United States to Canada and
various European and South American countries;
Whereas Jack Johnson lost 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, and served nearly a year in
the Federal penitentiary at Leavenworth, Kansas;
Whereas Jack Johnson subsequently fought in 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 by the Senate (the House of Representatives
concurring), That it is the sense of Congress that Jack
Johnson should receive a posthumous pardon--
(1) to expunge a racially motivated abuse of the
prosecutorial authority of the Federal Government from the
annals of criminal justice in the United States; and
(2) in recognition of the athletic and cultural
contributions of Jack Johnson to society.
The concurrent resolution was concurred in.
A motion to reconsider was laid on the table.
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