She worked as a nurse and a midwife, wrote and lectured on the theater, and forged passionate
friendships and relationships that defied and transcended prison walls, oceans, language, and
even social philosophy.
“My life — I had lived in its heights and its depths, in bitter sorrow and ecstatic joy, in black
despair and fervent hope,” she summed up in 1931. “I had drunk the cup to the last drop. I had
lived my life.”
friendships and relationships that defied and transcended prison walls, oceans, language, and
even social philosophy.
“My life — I had lived in its heights and its depths, in bitter sorrow and ecstatic joy, in black
despair and fervent hope,” she summed up in 1931. “I had drunk the cup to the last drop. I had
lived my life.”
TIMELINE:
1892 Homestead strike (Steelworkers strike at Homestead, PA).
1894 American dance innovator Martha Graham is born.
1898 Scholar, athlete, performer, and activist Paul Robeson is born.
14
JACK JOHNSON WINS
THE HEAVYWEIGHT CROWN
THE HEAVYWEIGHT CROWN
There was Muhammad Ali, of course. Before that, there was Joe Louis and Sugar Ray and Henry
Armstrong explaining how you can't discriminate against a left hook. “But in 1908,” says Ron
Flatter of ESPN.com, “39 years before Jackie Robinson broke the color barrier in major league
baseball, there was Jack Johnson (1878-1946) — the first black man to hold the world
heavyweight championship.”
Armstrong explaining how you can't discriminate against a left hook. “But in 1908,” says Ron
Flatter of ESPN.com, “39 years before Jackie Robinson broke the color barrier in major league
baseball, there was Jack Johnson (1878-1946) — the first black man to hold the world
heavyweight championship.”
46