SEC. 9206.
POSTHUMOUS PARDON
Section Summary
Jack Johnson recieved the third posthumous pardon knowingly granted by a president. Jack Johnson, former African-American heaveyweight world champion recieved a full and unconditional pardon for the 1913 convictions of racially bias crimes.
ESSA Update
SEC. 9206. 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.
[[Page 129 STAT. 2140]]
(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'') (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''.
(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 State 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 in 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
[[Page 129 STAT. 2141]]
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
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