--- title: Trump Pardons Boxer Jack Johnson: History Behind the Case description: President Trump granted a posthumous pardon to Jack Johnson. This is what to know about the case and why supporters fought to clear his name canonical: https://time.com/5290570/jack-johnson-trump-pardon/ author: Mahita Gajanan article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2018-05-24T22:16:55.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-23T20:23:05.714Z article:section: History og:title: President Trump Pardoned the Boxer Jack Johnson. Here's What to Know About His Case og:description: And why supporters have fought so long to clear his name og:url: https://time.com/5290570/jack-johnson-trump-pardon/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltb7fae2ffb4020be5/69893170ab6d7708a96b2c71/jack-johnson-pardon.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 2400 og:image:height: 1350 og:image:alt: 'Jack Johnson' og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: President Trump Pardoned the Boxer Jack Johnson. Here's What to Know About His Case twitter:description: And why supporters have fought so long to clear his name twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltb7fae2ffb4020be5/69893170ab6d7708a96b2c71/jack-johnson-pardon.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # President Trump Just Pardoned the Boxer Jack Johnson. 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They are at time.com/newsletters and are separate from a paid subscription. by [Mahita Gajanan](https://time.com/author/mahita-gajanan/) ## Mahita Gajanan Gajanan is an editor at TIME. May 24, 2018 10:16 PM UTC  Publicity still of American boxer Jack Johnson in the boxing documentary 'Jack Johnson' Publicity still of American boxer Jack Johnson in the boxing documentary 'Jack Johnson' John D. Kisch/Separate Cinema Archive—Getty Images by [Mahita Gajanan](https://time.com/author/mahita-gajanan/) ## Mahita Gajanan Gajanan is an editor at TIME. May 24, 2018 10:16 PM UTC President Trump [pardoned Jack Johnson](http://time.com/5290487/trump-pardon-jack-johnson/) on Thursday, more than a century after the late boxer was convicted on kidnapping charges for transporting a woman across state lines in a case that was [decried](https://books.google.com/books?id=4YBFpSFyFwwC&pg=PA93&dq=jack+johnson+conviction+race&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjP9Miypp%5FbAhVXHDQIHV32Ax0Q6AEINzAC#v=onepage&q=jack%20johnson%20conviction%20race&f=false) at the time by the [_Chicago Defender_](http://www.encyclopedia.chicagohistory.org/pages/248.html), a black newspaper, as an “out-burst of racial prejudice.” It’s not common for individuals to receive a presidential pardon after their deaths, and Johnson joins only [two others whose convictions were stripped](https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2018/04/25/trump-pardon-boxer-jack-johnson-would-just-third-posthumous-pardon-history/539030002/) posthumously by a president. In 1998, Bill Clinton pardoned [Lt. Henry Ossian Flipper](https://history.army.mil/html/topics/afam/flipper.html), who was born into slavery and always maintained his innocence after being convicted of conduct unbecoming an officer in 1881\. And in 2008, George W. Bush pardoned [Charlie Winters](https://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/24/washington/24pardons.html), who had been convicted under the 1939 Neutrality Act for his role helping Israel in the 1940s. So what are the facts of Johnson’s case that have earned him a spot in this trio? Johnson, the world’s first African-American heavyweight boxing champion, was an indomitable figure in the early 1900s. Johnson won the title from the Canadian boxer Tommy Burns in 1908\. He later lost the title in 1915. During the years between Johnson winning and losing the heavyweight champion title, the boxer fell into legal issues and was repeatedly slammed by the press for his life outside the ring, including blistering criticisms of his romantic relationships with [several white women](http://www.pbs.org/unforgivableblackness/knockout/women.html). At the time, it was not just a departure from convention but also dangerous for a black man to court a white woman, and laws against interracial marriage had not yet been [declared unconstitutional](http://time.com/4364686/loving-day-loving-v-virginia/) by the Supreme Court. One of those relationships would lead to the conviction for which he was pardoned this week. In 1912, Johnson met Lucille Cameron, an 18-year-old white prostitute. Later that year, Cameron’s mother accused Johnson of kidnapping her daughter, saying, per a PBS [report](http://www.pbs.org/unforgivableblackness/knockout/women.html) that accompanied Ken Burns’ Jack Johnson documentary _Unforgivable Blackness_, that she would “rather see my daughter spend the rest of her life in an insane asylum than see her the plaything of a \[n—\].” Johnson was arrested in October 1912 for violating the [Mann Act](http://time.com/4381471/july-4-moments-change-america/), which outlaws the transportation of women across state lines for “immoral” purposes. The Mann Act, passed in 1910, was put into place based on officials’ assumption that women who were sex workers were coerced into their jobs. While the act was meant to quell the alarm over women being trafficked, the way it was enforced often went beyond prostitution convictions, as the term “immoral purpose” could be loosely interpreted. Under the Mann Act, authorities were able to target people they wanted for a variety of reasons. The initial case against Johnson was thrown out because Cameron refused to cooperate at the time, but Johnson was arrested again and convicted by an all-white jury under the Mann Act in 1913 for driving with Cameron — whom he had married by the time of the conviction — across state lines. Johnson skipped bail and fled with Cameron to Canada. Over the following seven years, he and Cameron lived in Europe, South America and Mexico. Johnson eventually surrendered to federal agents in July 1920 and was imprisoned until July 9, 1921. Johnson died in 1946\. His family, including his great-great niece, has long pushed to have him pardoned posthumously. Over the years, their cause gained support from Sylvester Stallone and politicians such as Arizona Sen. John McCain and former Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid. Trump on Thursday said he was trying to “correct a wrong in our history” by pardoning Johnson. “It’s my honor to do it,” he said. “It’s about time.” ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/5290570/jack-johnson-trump-pardon/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/5290570/jack-johnson-trump-pardon/"},"headline":"President Trump Just Pardoned the Boxer Jack Johnson. 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