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John Arthur "Jack" Johnson (March 31, 1878 – June 10, 1946), nicknamed the Galveston Giant was an American boxer, who—at the height of the Jim Crow era—became the first African American world heavyweight boxing champion (1908–1915). Johnson was faced with much controversy when he was charged with violating the Mann Act in 1912, even though there was an obvious lack of evidence and the charge was largely racially based. In a documentary about his life, Ken Burns notes that "for more than thirteen years, Jack Johnson was the most famous and the most notorious African-American on Earth".〔Ken Burns, ''Unforgivable Blackness''〕〔(【引用サイトリンク】title=Unforgivable Blackness . Sparring . Johnson's Rise - PBS )〕 ==Early life== Johnson was born the third child of nine, and the first son, of Henry and Tina "Tiny" Johnson, two former slaves who worked blue collar jobs as a janitor and a dishwasher to support their children and put them through school. His father Henry served as a civilian teamster of the Union’s 38th Colored Infantry, and was a role model for his son. As Jack once said, his father was "The most perfect physical specimen that he had ever seen," although his father was only and left with an atrophied right leg from his service in the war.〔Ward, Geoffrey C. Unforgivable Blackness: The Rise and Fall of Jack Johnson. New York:〕 Growing up in Galveston, Texas, Johnson attended five years of school and was known as a bright, talkative, and energetic kid.〔Ward, Geoffrey C. Unforgivable Blackness: The Rise and Fall of Jack Johnson. New York: A.A. Knopf, 2004. Print.PG20.〕 Like all of his siblings, Jack was expected to work to keep the family going while he was growing up. He helped sweep classrooms to ease the work for his father, and he worked for the local milk man before school, taking care of the horses while the milk man got off to make deliveries. For this work he was paid 10 cents and a red pair of socks, which his boss had a seemingly endless supply of, every Saturday.〔 Although Jack grew up in the South, he said that segregation was not an issue in the somewhat secluded city of Galveston, as everyone living in Galveston’s 12th Ward was poor and went through the same struggles.〔Ward, Geoffrey C. Unforgivable Blackness: The Rise and Fall of Jack Johnson. New York: A.A. Knopf, 2004. Print.PG.21〕 Johnson remembers growing up with a "gang" of white boys, in which he never felt victimized or excluded. Remembering his childhood, Johnson said, "As I grew up, the white boys were my friends and my pals. I ate with them, played with them and slept at their homes. Their mothers gave me cookies, and I ate at their tables. No one ever taught me that white men were superior to me."〔 Jack carried this mentality to his boxing career, as he would not be intimidated to fight any man, no matter their race. During his days as a child Johnson was a frail young boy and not much of a fighter, as he grew up under the protection of his two older sisters until he was twelve years old.〔Ward, Geoffrey C. Unforgivable Blackness: The Rise and Fall of Jack Johnson. New York: A.A. Knopf, 2004. Print.PG21〕 Jack was usually able to avoid quarrels until he was twelve years old, and was confronted by a boy who hit him on the jaw. About to run away from the quarrel Johnson remembers Grandma Gilmore, or his mother (the story varies by whomever tells it), who told him, "Arthur, if you do not whip Willie, I shall whip you".〔Ward, Geoffrey C. Unforgivable Blackness: The Rise and Fall of Jack Johnson. New York: A.A. Knopf, 2004. Print.PG23〕 After winning the fight, Johnson developed a new mentality, and toughness to carry with him through his life. After Johnson quit attending school, he began a job working at the local docks, soon discovering that he hated it. He made several other attempts at working other jobs around town, until one day he made his way to Dallas, finding work at the race track exercising horses. Jack stuck with this job until he would find a new apprenticeship for a carriage painter by the name of Walter Lewis. Lewis, who had a passion for boxing, enjoyed watching friends spar, and although boxing was somewhat new to Johnson, he began to learn how to hit hard and strong.〔 Johnson later claimed that it was thanks to Lewis that he would become a boxer.〔Ward, Geoffrey C. Unforgivable Blackness: The Rise and Fall of Jack Johnson. New York: A.A. Knopf, 2004. Print.PG24〕 After returning home for a short period of time, Johnson once again left at the age of 16, this time heading for Manhattan. While in Manhattan, Jack found living arrangements with Joe Walcott, a welterweight fighter from the West Indies.〔 Once again Johnson found work exercising horses for the local stable, until he was fired for exhausting a horse. Soon finding employment as a janitor for a gym owned by German born heavyweight fighter, Herman Berneau, Johnson eventually put away enough for two pairs of boxing gloves, sparring every chance he got.〔Ward, Geoffrey C. Unforgivable Blackness: The Rise and Fall of Jack Johnson. New York: A.A. Knopf, 2004. Print.PG26〕 Throughout his time in Manhattan, living with Walcott and working for Berneau, Johnson began to develop his unique style of fighting which would make him famous. Returning home from Manhattan a much bigger and stronger man, Johnson quickly got a chance to test his new fighting skills in a quarrel against a man named Davie Pierson. Johnson remembers Pearson as a much more "grown and toughened" man, who accused Jack of turning him in to the police over a game of craps. When both of them were released from jail, they met at the docks, and were set to fight in the midst of a large crowd. After beating the much bigger, older man Johnson began to think that he could make a career out of his skills as a fighter.〔 Johnson soon got his chance fighting in a summer league against a man named John "Must Have It" Lee. Because Prize fighting was illegal in Texas the fight was broken up, and moved to the beach where Johnson won his first fight, and a prize of one dollar and fifty cents.〔Ward, Geoffrey C. Unforgivable Blackness: The Rise and Fall of Jack Johnson. New York: A.A. Knopf, 2004. Print.PG28〕 Though this fight was just a small steppingstone in Johnson’s career, he returned home confident in his career as fighter, and began his journey towards a historical career in the sport. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Jack Johnson (boxer)」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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