Series, 2005–2005Ended
Unforgivable Blackness: The Rise and Fall of Jack Johnson
IMDb 10.0, 1 season, 2 episodes, 106 min avg., United States of America
The story of Jack Johnson, the first African-American boxer to win a title and his struggle to live as a free man.
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01
Part OneUp next
Jan 17, 2005
Follow Jack Johnson's journey from Texas to professional boxing, where, in Jim Crow America, the heavyweight champion was a "white title." In 1908 he became the first African American to earn the title Heavyweight Champion of the World.
02
Part Two
Jan 18, 2005
When no one could beat Johnson in the ring, the government set out to destroy him in the courts, using his relationships with white women as the excuse to prosecute and send him to jail. Johnson fled to Europe where he remained a fugitive.
Cast
12 credited
Samuel L. Jackson
Narrator (voice)
Keith David
Jack Johnson (voice)
JJ
Jack Johnson
Self (archive footage)
Stanley Crouch
Self - writer
JE
James Earl Jones
Self - actor
BS
Bert Sugar
Self - boxing historian
Gerald Early
Self - writer
JT
José Torres
Self - Former Light Heavyweight Champion
RR
Randy Roberts
Self - biographer
JN
Jack Newfield
Self - journalist
WH
W.C. Heinz
Self - sportswriter
George Plimpton
Self - writer
Details
CreatorKen Burns
WritersGeoffrey C. Ward
GenresDocumentary
StatusEnded
First airedJan 17, 2005
IMDBtt0413615
TMDB16833
