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Gomes Eanes de Zurara
Jack Johnson was a Black world champion boxer in the early 1900s. Black people saw him as a crusader against racism, while white people hated that he defeated all the best white boxers, showed off his wealth and power, and married white women. At the height of his fame, he got arrested on false sex trafficking charges when he went on a road trip with his wife.
Jack Johnson Quotes in Stamped
The Stamped quotes below are all either spoken by Jack Johnson or refer to Jack Johnson. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
).
Chapter 16
Quotes
For racists, athletes and entertainers could be spun into narratives of the Black aggressor, the natural dancer, etc. Like, the reason Black people were good wasn’t because of practice and hard work but because they were born with it. […]
For Black people, however, sports and entertainment were, and still are, a way to step into the shoes of the big-timer. It was a way to use the athlete or the entertainer—Johnson being both—as an avatar. As a representative of the entire race. Like human teleportation machines, zapping Black people, especially poor Black people, from powerlessness to possibility.
Related Characters:
Related Themes:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
Get the entire Stamped LitChart as a printable PDF.
Jack Johnson Quotes in Stamped
The Stamped quotes below are all either spoken by Jack Johnson or refer to Jack Johnson. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
).
Chapter 16
Quotes
For racists, athletes and entertainers could be spun into narratives of the Black aggressor, the natural dancer, etc. Like, the reason Black people were good wasn’t because of practice and hard work but because they were born with it. […]
For Black people, however, sports and entertainment were, and still are, a way to step into the shoes of the big-timer. It was a way to use the athlete or the entertainer—Johnson being both—as an avatar. As a representative of the entire race. Like human teleportation machines, zapping Black people, especially poor Black people, from powerlessness to possibility.
Related Characters:
Related Themes:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
