US President Donald Trump issued a posthumous pardon to Jack Johnson, the first black heavyweight boxing champion, who was sent to prison a century ago in a racially charged case.
Trump yesterday said Johnson, the "Galveston Giant," was the victim of what "many viewed as a racially motivated injustice."
Johnson, who held the heavyweight title from 1908-15, was convicted by an all-white jury in 1913 of taking a woman across state lines for "immoral purposes."
"Today as president, I've issued an executive grant of clemency, a full pardon, posthumously to John Arthur Jack Johnson," Trump said. "The first African American heavyweight champion of the world, a truly great fighter."
Johnson defended his crown nine times, notably in 1910 over former champion James J. Jeffries, who came out of retirement as "The Great White Hope," in what was billed as "The Fight of the Century."
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