Discrimination In Jack Johnson's 'Rebel Sojourner'

Discrimination based on disparities has been a problematic ideology that continues to terrorize people throughout the world. During the early 20th century, one will notice that living in a developed country means being surrounded by Caucasians. Being the minority of a country, people of color often faced discrimination and had no choice except to accept the prejudice they received, or else they would be punished severely. However, some nations displayed stricter treatment compared to others. One text that reflects this time frame is Jack Johnson, Rebel Sojourner by Theresa Runestedtler. The text is a biography of an African American, named Jack Johnson, who had the privilege to retaliate discrimination throughout his career, but still suffered

Boxing was initially known as a Caucasian sport in the United States and other developed countries, so Johnson’s involvement was peculiar to the world. Moreover, his reputation increased exponentially due to his victories, thus making him become a detrimental individual to Caucasians. To deal with Johnson, a fight between Jim Jeffries and Jack Johnson was held. Jim Jeffries was a renowned Caucasian boxer whose objective for the fight was to terminate Johnson’s winning streak, so Johnson would know his place (Runestedtler 71). Because of the significance of the fight, Jeffries was provided the nickname “White Hope” and the fight itself became acknowledged as the fight of the century. Unfortunately, Jeffries ended up losing and this fight was developed into a film that could be seen in cinemas, thus making Jack Johnson one of the first African Americans to be featured in films (Runestedtler 69). This was detrimental for Caucasian’s pride because it established that African Americans were not flimsier than Caucasians, thus making the proposition of a superior race artificial. Proving the proposition was artificial raised the hopes of people of color throughout the world, causing them to question the authority of the activities of developed countries. In addition, being able to succeed in the ring played a major role in being able to manage his own decisions. Even though Johnson beat Jim Jeffries in a fight, he was not complimented for his victory. Instead, people justified the victory through the possibility that African Americans could have vast physical ability, but their mental capacity was inadequate compared to Caucasians (Runestedtler 130). Shifting a belief to provide reason for an irregular event was common when it came to Jack Johnson because his actions were infrequent for an African American. For this reason, Jack Johnson held a presence