Editing Jack Johnson (boxer) (section)

==== Presidential pardon ====
[[File:2018-05-24 Trump (posthumous) Pardon jack johnson 2018 05 25 0.pdf|thumb|May 2018 pardon granted by Donald Trump]]

President [[Donald Trump]] granted Johnson a posthumous [[presidential pardon]] after recurring proposals to grant one had not been acted on by previous administrations. In April 2018, Trump announced that he was considering granting a full pardon to Johnson on the advice of actor [[Sylvester Stallone]].<ref name=Politico20180421>{{cite web |last1=Griffiths |first1=Brent D. |title=Trump says he's 'considering' a pardon for boxer Jack Johnson |url=https://www.politico.com/story/2018/04/21/trump-pardon-jack-johnson-boxer-544930 |publisher=Politico |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180422031538/https://www.politico.com/story/2018/04/21/trump-pardon-jack-johnson-boxer-544930 |archive-date=April 22, 2018 |date=April 21, 2018 | url-status=live }}</ref> Trump pardoned Johnson on May 24, 2018, 105 years after his conviction, during a ceremony which included special guests Sylvester Stallone (actor), [[Deontay Wilder]] (then current WBC Champion), [[Lennox Lewis]] (WBC Former Champion), [[Mauricio Sulaiman]] (WBC President), Linda Bell Haywood (Johnson's great-great niece), and Hector Sulaiman (President of the Board of Advisors of Scholas Occurrentes).<ref name=":0">{{cite web |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2018/05/24/sports/jack-johnson-pardon-trump.html |title=Trump Pardons Jack Johnson, Heavyweight Boxing Champion |last1=Eligon|first1=John|last2=Shear|first2=Michael D.|date=May 24, 2018 |website=The New York Times|access-date=May 26, 2018}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2018/05/24/sports/jack-johnson-racism.html|title=Missed in Coverage of Jack Johnson, the Racism Around Him |last1=Eligon |first1=John|last2=Thorpe|first2=Brandon K.|date=May 24, 2018|website=The New York Times|access-date=May 26, 2018}}</ref>

A bill which requested that President [[George W. Bush]] pardon Johnson passed the House in 2008,<ref>{{cite news |title=House seeks presidential pardon for boxing champ |work=[[The Argus-Press]] |agency=Associated Press |date=September 27, 2008 |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=xYkxAAAAIBAJ&pg=6150,1822850 |access-date=August 12, 2016}}</ref> but failed to pass in the Senate.<ref>{{cite news |title=Senate urges Obama to pardon former champ |work=[[Lodi News-Sentinel]] |agency=[[Associated Press]] |date=June 25, 2009 |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=ssI0AAAAIBAJ&pg=4335,4609887 |access-date=August 12, 2016}}</ref> In April 2009, Senator [[John McCain]], along with Representative [[Peter T. King|Peter King]], film maker [[Ken Burns]], and Johnson's great-niece, Linda Haywood, requested a presidential pardon for Johnson from President [[Barack Obama]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.cbssports.com/boxing/story/11574725/|title=Columns|work=CBSSports.com|access-date=November 27, 2014}}</ref> In July of that year, Congress passed a resolution calling on President Obama to issue a pardon.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.thesweetscience.com/boxing-article/7058/congress-passes-jack-johnson-resolution/|title=Congress Passes Jack Johnson Resolution|work=The Sweet Science|access-date=September 30, 2014|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120312155742/http://www.thesweetscience.com/boxing-article/7058/congress-passes-jack-johnson-resolution/|archive-date=March 12, 2012|df=dmy-all}}</ref>

In 2016, another petition for Johnson's pardon was issued by McCain, King, Senator [[Harry Reid]], and Congressman [[Gregory Meeks]] to President Obama, marking the 70th anniversary since the boxer's death.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.cnn.com/2016/07/01/politics/john-mccain-harry-reid-jack-johnson/index.html|title=John McCain, Harry Reid ask Obama to pardon boxer Jack Johnson|work=CNN|access-date=July 1, 2016}}</ref> This time, the petitioners cited a provision of the [[Every Student Succeeds Act]], signed by the president in December 2015, in which Congress expressed that this boxing great should receive a posthumous pardon, and a vote by the [[United States Commission on Civil Rights]] passed unanimously a week earlier in June 2016 to "right this century-old wrong."<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.mccain.senate.gov/public/_cache/files/ab272bb9-6132-49cc-9016-6cacf7c8492c/letter-to-potus-re-jack-johnson-pardon-6-30-16.pdf|title=Letter to POTUS Re Jack Johnson Pardon|work=McCain Letter PDF|access-date=July 1, 2016}}</ref>

[[Mike Tyson]], [[Harry Reid]], and John McCain lent their support to the campaign, starting a [[Change.org]] petition asking President Obama to posthumously pardon the world's first African American heavyweight boxing champion for his racially motivated 1913 felony conviction.<ref name="IBT">{{cite news |url=http://www.salon.com/2013/04/06/new_push_to_pardon_boxing_legend_jack_johnson_partner/ |title=New push to pardon boxing legend Jack Johnson |author=Eric Brown |date=April 7, 2013 |work=Salon.com |access-date=August 29, 2014}}</ref>