Editing The Great White Hope (section)

== "The Great White Hope" ==
The term, "the great white hope," reflects the racism and segregation of the era in which Jack Johnson fought. Johnson, the first [[African American]] to hold the World [[Heavyweight]] Championship title, was one of the best fighters of his generation. Yet, white reaction against Johnson's win and his very public relationships with white women was so strong that, in 1912, the [[United States Congress]], concerned that film scenes of Johnson pummeling white boxers would cause race riots, passed a law making it illegal to transport prizefight films across state lines.<ref name=time>{{cite magazine|title=Boxer's Triumph|url= http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,777399,00.html|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20070310233033/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,777399,00.html|url-status= dead|archive-date= March 10, 2007|magazine=[[Time (magazine)|Time]]|date=July 15, 1940|access-date= March 24, 2008}}</ref> "The great white hope" is a reference to the white boxer who many white people hoped would finally defeat Johnson.

[[William Warren Barbour]], who won the [[United States|American]] and [[Canada|Canadian]] amateur heavyweight championship in 1910 and 1911, respectively, was [[James J. Corbett|"Gentleman Jim" Corbett]]'s choice to be "the great white hope," but Barbour declined to take up the mantle. Some 30 years later, it was Barbour who, as U.S. Senator (R) from [[New Jersey]] in 1940, worked successfully to repeal the 1912 law prohibiting interstate transportation of boxing film footage.<ref name=time/> About 30 years after that, William Warren Barbour's nephew, Thomas Barbour, played four small parts, including Sir William Griswald, in the Broadway production of ''The Great White Hope.''<ref name=ibdb/>

The first "great white hope" boxer to accept the challenge was [[James J. Jeffries|Jim Jeffries]], who came out of retirement to fight Johnson unsuccessfully in 1910. Johnson's title was eventually lost to [[Jess Willard]], a white boxer, in 1915. There was some controversy surrounding Willard's win, with Johnson claiming he threw the fight. In part because of white animosity toward Johnson, it was 20 years before another African American boxer was allowed to contend for the world professional heavyweight title. In 1937, [[Joe Louis]] defeated [[James J. Braddock]], "The Cinderella Man," to become the second African-American boxer to hold the world heavyweight championship title.<ref name=pbs/>