Jack Johnson

Johnson, Jack (1878–1946), U.S. boxer, first African American to win the world heavy weight championship (1908). He fled the country (1912), jumping bail after his arrest on charges of violation of the Mann Act (a law prohibiting the transportation of women across state lines for immoral purposes). Johnson's outspokenness and refusal to submit to white supremacy made him highly controversial in the United States. He lost the title to Jess Willard in Havana in 1915, in a fight that he later claimed was fixed.