[Congressional Record Volume 161, Number 104 (Tuesday, July 7, 2015)]
[Senate]
[Pages S4797-S4798]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

  SA 2111. Mr. McCAIN (for himself and Mr. Reid) submitted an amendment 
intended to be proposed to amendment

[[Page S4798]]

SA 2089 submitted by Mr. Alexander (for himself and Mrs. Murray) to the 
bill S. 1177, to reauthorize the Elementary and Secondary Education Act 
of 1965 to ensure that every child achieves; which was ordered to lie 
on the table; as follows:

       At the end of part B of title X, add the following:

     SEC. _____. POSTHUMOUS PARDON.

       (a) Findings.--Congress finds the following:
       (1) John Arthur ``Jack'' Johnson was a flamboyant, defiant, 
     and controversial figure in the history of the United States 
     who challenged racial biases.
       (2) Jack Johnson was born in Galveston, Texas, in 1878 to 
     parents who were former slaves.
       (3) Jack Johnson became a professional boxer and traveled 
     throughout the United States, fighting White and African-
     American heavyweights.
       (4) 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.
       (5) Jack Johnson defeated Tommy Burns to become the first 
     African-American to hold the title of Heavyweight Champion of 
     the World.
       (6) 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''.
       (7) In 1910, a White former champion named Jim Jeffries 
     left retirement to fight Jack Johnson in Reno, Nevada.
       (8) Jim Jeffries lost to Jack Johnson in what was deemed 
     the ``Battle of the Century''.
       (9) The defeat of Jim Jeffries by Jack Johnson led to 
     rioting, aggression against African-Americans, and the 
     racially-motivated murder of African-Americans throughout the 
     United States.
       (10) The relationships of Jack Johnson with White women 
     compounded the resentment felt toward him by many Whites.
       (11) Between 1901 and 1910, 754 African-Americans were 
     lynched, some simply for being ``too familiar'' with White 
     women.
       (12) In 1910, Congress passed the Act of June 25, 1910 
     (commonly known as the ``White Slave Traffic Act'' or the 
     ``Mann Act'') (18U.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''.
       (13) 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.
       (14) 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.
       (15) The Mann Act charges against Jack Johnson were dropped 
     when the woman refused to cooperate with Federal authorities, 
     and then married Jack Johnson.
       (16) Federal authorities persisted and summoned a White 
     woman named Belle Schreiber, who testified that Jack Johnson 
     had transported her across States lines for the purpose of 
     ``prostitution and debauchery''.
       (17) In 1913, Jack Johnson was convicted of violating the 
     Mann Act and sentenced to 1 year and 1 day in Federal prison.
       (18) Jack Johnson fled the United States to Canada and 
     various European and South American countries.
       (19) Jack Johnson lost the Heavyweight Championship title 
     to Jess Willard in Cuba in 1915.
       (20) 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.
       (21) Jack Johnson subsequently fought in boxing matches, 
     but never regained the Heavyweight Championship title.
       (22) Jack Johnson served the United States during World War 
     II by encouraging citizens to buy war bonds and participating 
     in exhibition boxing matches to promote the war bond cause.
       (23) Jack Johnson died in an automobile accident in 1946.
       (24) In 1954, Jack Johnson was inducted into the Boxing 
     Hall of Fame.
       (25) Senate Concurrent Resolution 29,111th Congress, agreed 
     to July 29, 2009, expressed the sense of the 111th Congress 
     that Jack Johnson should receive a posthumous pardon for his 
     racially-motivated 1913 conviction.
       (b) Recommendations.--It remains 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.
                                 ______