100 years after the Emancipation Proclamation was issued, African Americans continued facing discrimination. Finding jobs was an arduous process for African Americans. Getting a career was even more difficult. However, there was a man who despite being “black” managed to overcome adversity and pursued his passion for boxing. His name was Joe Louis. Joe Louis symbolized the capability of African Americans to overcome racial discrimination. Joe Louis was born on May 13, 1914 in Lexington, Alabama. His actual name was Joseph Louis Barrow. When his family moved to Detroit, he accompanied them. Thereafter, his boxing career began in the poverty-stricken part of Detroit. His manager, John Roxborough, helped him acquire his unique signature move. By the year 1934, Louis went from training in the Brewster gym to winning a 175 pound championship. He became professional on July 4, 1934. When Louis was defeated by Max Schmeling in 1936, Louis received …show more content…
Louis served the same unit as Jackie Robinson, the first African American to play major league baseball. Louis fought almost 96 matches during the war. He donated more than $100,000 to the Navy and Army. Throughout the nation, Louis became the first black celebrity that was admired by people of all races. At the end of Louis’s career, he was faced with difficulties. Even though he had won millions of dollars, his poor financial management left him owing a lot of money. “I just do not know where the money went. I wish I did, I got 50 percent of each purse and all kind of expenses came out of my cut” was what Louis had to say about his debt problems. By the 1950’s, Louis was suffering from emotional trauma and his life was going downhill. Richard Bark, Louis’s biographer, said “Joe was battling his own demons during the 1960’s, so the civil right movement just passed him by.” On April 12, 1981, Louis died in Las