Johnson was the first black man to become a heavyweight boxing world champion during a time when hate crimes against African Americans were the norm. (Photo: Getty)
President Donald Trump is considering pardoning the late heavyweight champion boxer Jack Johnson thanks to actor Sylvester Stallone.
The president tweeted about the potential posthumous pardon on Saturday, saying Stallone called him to tell him the story of the legendary boxer.
Johnson’s “trials and tribulations were great, his life complex and controversial,” Trump said, adding, “Yes, I am considering a Full Pardon!”
The White House did not immediately return HuffPost’s request for comment and representatives for Stallone declined to comment on Trump’s tweet.
Johnson, whose parents were former slaves, made history in the early 20th century as the first black man to earn the title of heavyweight boxing champion of the world. A powerhouse in the ring, Johnson rose in fame and wealth throughout his career ― even at a time when vicious violence against African Americans was the norm.
The boxer’s image was controversially smeared when he was convicted of violating the Mann Act, which banned traveling with a woman across state lines for an “immoral purpose.” Johnson fled the country, continuing his boxing career overseas for years before he eventually surrendered to federal authorities and served time in prison.
In 1946, he died in a car crash.
Jack Johnson, before his successful title defense against ''The Great White Hope'' James J. Jeffries in Reno, Nevada on July 4, 1910. (Photo: Sporting News Archive via Getty Images)
Johnson won against Burns with a technical knockout in the 14th round, becoming the first black heavyweight champion. His fame, however, still didn’t earn him respect from his white peers.
Lawmakers, including Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), have asked past presidents to posthumously pardon Johnson for years. McCain has supported a pardon for Johnson since 2004.
In a 2016 letter to President Barack Obama, McCain, the now-retired Sen. Harry Reid (D-Nev.), Rep. Pete King (R-N.Y.) and Rep. Gregory Meeks (D-N.Y.) called Johnson’s conviction “improper and unfair,” claiming that Johnson was “transporting his white girlfriend across state lines.”
“While it is unfortunate that this unjust conviction was not corrected during the boxer’s lifetime, a posthumous pardon today represents the opportunity to reaffirm Jack Johnson’s substantial contributions to our society and right this historical wrong,” the lawmakers wrote.
The U.S. Commission on Civil Rights also urged Obama to pardon champion boxer that same year.
Johnson “was a fierce critic of Jim Crow laws and the prevailing enforced customs of racial segregation,” the commission wrote in a June 2016 letter.
Rep. King urged Trump to absolve Johnson on Saturday, tweeting, “Obama wouldn’t do it. Trump ... now considering it. Would correct a terrible injustice.”
In an interview with the Los Angeles Times earlier this year, Johnson’s great-great niece Linda E. Haywood suggested that a posthumous pardon would allow Johnson’s past to be corrected.
“Knowing that he was treated unfairly, and unfairly convicted and targeted because of his choice of companions, who happened to be Caucasian, that’s wrong,” Haywood told the Times.
“The last thing you want to do is die and have your name tarnished. That’s wrong. You don’t want it to be tarnished if you’re living.”
CORRECTION: A previous version of this story misidentified Tommy Burns as Australian. He was Canadian.
In this May 3, 1963 file photo,a 17-year-old civil rights demonstrator, defying an anti-parade ordinance of Birmingham, Ala., is attacked by a police dog. Bill Hudson, an Associated Press photographer whose searing images of the civil rights era documented police brutality and galvanized the public, died Thursday, June 24, 2010 in Jacksonville, Fla. He was 77.
February 2
1968 Olympic Games, Mexico City, Mexico, Men's 200 Metres Final, USA gold medalist Tommie Smith (C) and bronze medalist John Carlos give the black power salute as an anti-racial protest as they stand on the podium with Australian silver medallist Peter Norman
February 3
The Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and Malcolm X waiting for an unspecified press conference on March 26, 1964.
February 4
Teenager Elizabeth Eckford (L) w. snarling white parents following as she is turned away fr. entering Central High School by Arkansas National Guardsmen under orders fr. Gov. Orval Faubus.
February 5
Left to right: George E.C. Hayes, Thurgood Marshall, and James M. Nabrit following Supreme Court decision declaring segregation unconstitutional
February 6
Rosa Parks, right, is kissed by Coretta Scott King, as she received the Martin Luther King, Jr. Non-violent Peace Prize in Atlanta, Jan. 14, 1980. Parks, who refused to give up her seat on a Montgomery, Ala., bus nearly 25 years ago, is the first woman to win the award. (AP Photo)
February 7
18th November 1968: Elizabeth, the Queen Mother (1900 - 2002) goes backstage to meet the Supremes, Engelbert Humperdinck, Frankie Howerd and Petula Clark after a Royal Variety Performance at the London Palladium. The show is in aid of the Variety Artistes' Benevolent Fund. (Photo by Douglas Miller/Keystone/Getty Images)
February 8
US pop star and entertainer Michael Jackson performs with Sammy Davis Junior August 14, 1988 in Monaco. (Photo credit: AFP/Getty Images)
February 9
Betty Shabazz at her husband, Malcolm X's funeral in Hartsdale, New York in 1965.
February 10
In this May 25, 1965, file photo, heavyweight champion Muhammad Ali stands over fallen challenger Sonny Liston, after dropping Liston with a short hard right to the jaw in Lewiston, Maine. (AP Photo/John Rooney, File)
February 11
TAMPA, FL - JANUARY 27: Whitney Houston sings the National Anthem before a game with the New York Giants taking on the Buffalo Bills prior to Super Bowl XXV at Tampa Stadium on January 27, 1991 in Tampa, Florida. The Giants won 20-19. (Photo by George Rose/Getty Images)
February 12
In this January 1, 1945 photo, Lena Horne visits with the Tuskegee Airmen.
February 13
In this March 1, 1964, photo, heavyweight boxing champion Muhammad Ali, right, is shown with black muslim leader Malcolm X outside the Trans-Lux Newsreel Theater in New York, after viewing the screening of a film about Ali's title fight with Sonny Liston. (AP Photo/File)
February 14
Georgia native son, singer Ray Charles, rocks to the ovation he received from a joint session of the Georgia Legislature in Atlanta, March 7, 1979. The Assembly made his version of the song "Georgia On My Mind" the official state song after he sang it to the session. (AP Photo/Charles Kelly)
February 15
John H. Johnson, publisher of Jet and Ebony magazines, left, and actor Bill Cosby, center, join the Rev. Jesse Jackson at a benefit reception for Operation PUSH, in Chicago, Ill., on April 1, 1982. (AP Photo)
February 16
American singer Michael Jackson (1958 - 2009) is granted a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, Los Angeles, 20th November 1984.
February 17
Day of Pilgrimage protest begins on December 5, 1955, with black Montgomery citizens walking to work, part of their boycott of buses in the wake of the Rosa Parks incident. (Photo by Grey Villet//Time Life Pictures/Getty Images)
February 18
In this Aug. 1922 file photo, Marcus Garvey is shown in a military uniform as the "Provisional President of Africa" during a parade on the opening day of the annual Convention of the Negro Peoples of the World at Lenox Avenue in Harlem, New York City. A century ago, Garvey helped spark movements from African nationalist independence to American civil rights to self-sufficiency in black commerce. Jamaican students in every grade from kindergarten through high school have began studying the teachings of the 1920-era black nationalist leader in a new mandatory civics program in schools across this predominantly black country of 2.8 million people. (AP Photo/File)
February 19
Los Angeles Lakers' Wilt Chamberlain, left, stands beside a backboard and hoop trophy that was presented to him after he became the all-time leading rebounder in NBA history, in Los Angeles, Jan. 31, 1972. (AP Photo)
February 20
Broadway was a snowstorm canyon as proud Manhattanites feted returned U.S. Olympic stars with a fleecy ticker tape parade in New York on Sept. 3, 1936. The fellow with the broad grin in the foreground is Jesse Owens, who won three gold medals and helped other athletes win another for the U.S. (AP Photo)
February 21
Black Nationalist ldr. Malcolm X at podium during rally w. others in bkgrd. Malcolm X was later assassinated on February 21, 1965, by members of the Nation of Islam.
February 22
At the funeral for slain Civil Rights leader Medgar Evers, his wife, Myrlie Evers (second right), comforts their son, Darryl Kenyatta Evers, while daughter Reena Denise Evers (center, in white dress) wipes her own tears, Jackson, Mississippi, June 15, 1963.
February 23
1958: A Caucasian policeman speaks with African-American protesters during a sit-in at Brown's Basement Luncheonette, Oklahoma.
February 24
American actress Hattie McDaniel (1895 - 1952) with her Academy Award of Merit for Outstanding Achievement, circa 1945. McDaniel won an Oscar for Best Supporting Actress for her role of Mammy in 'Gone With The Wind', making her the first African-American to win an Academy Award.
February 25
The First Colored Senator and Representatives, in the 41st and 42nd Congress of the US. Top standing left to right: Robert C. De Large, M.C. of S. Carolina; and Jefferson H. Long, M.C. of Georgia. Seated, left to right: U.S. Senator H.R. Revels of Mississippi; Benj. S. Turner, M.C. of Alabama; Josiah T. Walls, M.C. of Florida; Joseph H. Rainy, M.C. of S. Carolina; and R. Brown Elliot, M.C. of S. Carolina. Lithograph by Currier and Ives, 1872.
February 26
Black Panther Party co-founder Huey P. Newton (1942 - 1989) (center) smiles as he raises his fist from a podium at the Revolutionary People's Party Constitutional Convention, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, early September 1970.
February 27
Attendees at the Million Man March raise their hands in fists and peace/victory signs October 16, 1995 in Washington, DC. The purpose of the march was to galvanize men to respect themselves and others spiritually, morally, mentally, socially, politically and economically.
February 28
Anti-apartheid leader and African National Congress (ANC) member Nelson Mandela (C, L) and his wife Winnie raise fists upon Mandela's release from Victor Verster prison on February 11, 1990 in Paarl. AFP PHOTO ALEXANDER JOE
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