Book Description

For years scholars have looked at how the press covered African-American heavyweight boxing champions Jack Johnson (1910), Joe Louis (1938) and Muhammad Ali (1971). The social, cultural and political impact of each of the three boxers during their time as active competitors has been studied at length. Largely overlooked is how the contemporary media remembers and presents the three men today, and in particular, how contemporary presentations of these men differ when compared with the presentation of each at the time they competed in the biggest fight of their careers (each fought a match that was labeled the "Fight of the Century," or FOC). That is, how does the cultural memory, vis-a-vis documentary films about each man, present them and their FOC when compared to the press at the time of each boxer's FOC? The texts constructed by the journalists at the time provide details that can be analyzed to help determine how the press was delivering information to society on three internationally known black Americans with regard to their race, racial norms and their status as American heroes during each period. Each man's FOC is also presented today as a socio-political or geo-political event that carried more weight than simply a heavyweight boxing championship. This dissertation analyzes contemporaneous white and black newspaper coverage of each FOC and compares that to contemporary accounts of the fights and the fighters. This dissertation argues that, through cultural memory, those recalling the fights and the fighters have reconstructed the moments and attached additional meaning to them based on events that have occurred since each FOC occurred. Additionally, this dissertation argues that these men were only allowed to become heroes to all Americans, white and black, when the dominant white media decided that it was time. That is, when privileged white producers decided to appropriate each man for their own profit and reward.