Unforgivable Blackness - The Rise and Fall of Jack Johnson

This is a great documentary. Such a worthy addition to my library.

Being a fan of Ken Burns work since his revolutionary documentary series"The Civil War" and owning that series on DVD as well as "Baseball", "Jazz","Mark Twain", "The War" and his brother Ric Burns' riveting series on the historyof New York City, I was very interested to hear back in 2004, that he was workingon a series chronicling the life & times of the long forgotten defiant, courageousand always controversial first african-american heavyweight champion, Jack Johnson.The two nights that this series aired on PBS, I found myself glued in my seat inamazement as I watched Jack Johnson's story being brought to life in vivid detail!Ken Burns always uses a great synergy of visuals (picture stills and archival footage),music (from Ragtime to Jazz to Spirituals), and brilliant narrations by various actorsand actresses to bring his subjects vividly, and in some cases, painfully to life!Jack Johnson was an anomoly of his times to say the least...The son of former slaves from Galveston, TX who was born in the late 1870's.He was a very articulate, proud, strong, defiant, confident black man in a time whenthat alone could get you killed for sure!The climate of racism was so virulent back in his times that blacks couldn'teven look a white person (man or woman) in the eyes or walk on the same sidewalkas they walked by, for fear of it being percieved as uppityness or defiance to thestrict Jim Crow social order of white supremacy!Burns uses actual writings of prominent white figures of the times who expressthe most ugly hate-filled racial tirades right out in the open and nobody thoughtit to be reprehensible or offensive in the least!It was just the general consensus of the times. He also uses cartoons publishedin newspapers of the times along with printed articles to paint a picture of how it wasin the late 19th and early 20th century, when Jack Johnson's story unfurls.Blacks were being lynched and burned left and right all over the country weekly inuntold numbers and nothing was being done about it by the laws or any otherinstitutions of the day. Blacks were considered one the same level as animals.Enter into this suffocating stew of racial hatred, a tall, athletic, well-built,bald-headed, gold-tooth-wearing black man out of Texas who was good with his fistsand equally adept at expressing his mind verbally!He dressed to the nines in the high fashion of the times, drove the newly inventedautomobiles like a bat out of hell, looked any white man or woman in the eye whenhe addressed them, and most unbelievable and offensive to white sensibilities of the times,he had the nerve to date, embibe, carouse and even MARRY white women who were beuatifuland desirable to white men!---In other words, Jack Johnson was a full on SPORTIN' MAN,who did & said just what he wanted without any fear of white retribution!He was like an alien lifeform to both whites (who reveiled him and yet werestrangely intigued & amazed by his nerve!) and submissive blacks who lived theirwhole lives in fear and had been beaten down in their spirits by the system of the times,who saw Johnson as a loud, obnoxious, selfish peacock and a troublemaker who broughtdown the wrath of the whites on them! You either loved Jack or hated him!--No middleground.And he didn't much care which!--So Jack Johnson was man who stood alone, which wasboth his greatest strength and his greatest weakness.I could go on and on about the brilliance of this documentary and the unprecenteddetails and dynamic highs and lows of Jack Johnson's journey, but I wouldn't wantto spoil the experience for those who haven't seen it yet!Bottomline, this is stellar documentary work and one of Ken Burns' best ones so far!If you don't have it already, get it, because this will be an enriching and educationaladdition to your DVD collection for you, your children and grandchildren to enjoy,irregardless of race or socio-economic background.This is TRULY an American Story!

This needs to be a thousand stars!Jack Johnson was an individual and a true American hero. He didn't care what whites or blacks thought about what he should do. James Earl Jones said it best, "he was a person that was self defined. He didn't let no one define him." Therefore he was a man and that's all everyone desires anyway. MLK later said in his dream speech "that he wanted blacks to be defined by the content of their character." But there are lessons to be learned. He didn't let not one tell him what he could or couldn't do. Most people back then would say" okay I am black therefore I will never have a shot at the title. But Jack followed Tommy Burns all around the world for a chance at his dream and he conquered it! He did the immposible the unthinkable.First of all I am shocked that he didn't get killed by a white person. Boxing was more important than baseball back then. It was so important that when he beat (Jefferies former champ who Johnson could have beaten a decade ago) riots broke out over the country. Today in classroom history books you will hear about race riots breaking out because of the death of MLK. But you will never hear about the race riots because Johnson(black) beat Jefferies (white). Then on top of that being the True American he was, allowed him to think for himself to marry white women. Unheard of, this boldness in the face of KKK, and Jim Crow.The film by Burns is great and accurate more accruate than "The Great White Hope" (Which is a great film as well). But it puts everything in the proper context. It shows how racist America was and still is on this subject. White America still has a problem with Miscegenation. It's sad how the first movie that appeared in the white house was the "birth of a nation" which was blatant racism that everyone in Washington thought was so great. What a racist upper society! I thought it was interesting Landis, the guys responsible for not permitting blacks to play MLB was on the scene during Johnson's trial. The person responsible for the fight in Reno Nevada, helped Johnson in jail to have all kinds of freedom (funny). Also how President Wilson lied when he said he would help blacks and enforeced jim crow. How the WWI didn't allow Johnson to fight and make money in Europe which was true.Burns did a great job. I love how he uses the contextual words at that time to create the chapters. Love the old boxing video and photo footage. Funny how they cut off that heavyweight championship fight in the 14th round in Australia for the world to see history. Love the white people telling the truth in this film.The Mann Act, its' funny they are doing the same thing to Barry Bonds. They are trying to get him after the fact when everyone else does it. The situations has it's simularities.

Blood sport with supremacy constantly hanging in the balances, not one other Black Man did he face but, if so they were far and few in between! He proved that every Man is a Man, and every Lie is not the truth; both scientifically and Spiritually! People wanted to see if they had been taught the truth, this Man proved he too is human no matter how fragile they made him! Why do we constantly cover up the Truth?

Great documentary on Jack Johnson, as can usually be expected with a film by Ken Burns. Only one disappointment. The cover advertised that this dvd has closed captions (cc). But whatever I tried, no closed captions were displayed. I like the cc feature due to some work related hearing loss. If it wasn't for that, I'd give it five stars.

I'd wanted to watch this film for some time but it hasn't been easy to do because it's not widely available in throughout the world and the UK. I'm a member of a film rental company but they didn't have a copy and you must own a multi-region DVD player to watch imported versions of 'Unforgivable Blackness'. I was able to watch part one on the internet, although the quality of that version was poor, but it did whet my appetite sufficiently to want to buy a region 1 copy and watch it on my PC (as you can change the region four times if necessary).Without giving away many details, the DVD is about the American boxer Jack Johnson, who long before Ali or Joe Louis overcame poverty and racial prejudice to become the first African American heavy weight champion of the world at a time when people of race were often treated with low regard. Johnson set the first precedent. This was a man of great courage, determination and skill - qualities that I think make him a worthy role-model for anyone who has to overcome obstacles to do good things in their own life. Johnson was no saint though, he did what he wanted, when he wanted and refused to be held back by anyone but ultimately there was a price to pay for living his way.If you're a boxing fan or not and you admire people of character the you should watch this if possible. Regrettably, like other great films this has not been made easily available to the world at large, and it should be. Everyone should know who Jack Johnson is and his story because he was the original and best, but in this age, doesn't get the recognition he deserves.

A splendid telling on two dvds of the first black boxing champion in the USand the unbelievable hatred that grew up around it.

This really is a first class account of a remarkable man, but then this production was produced by Ken Burns, who has the great skill of delving deep into history and producing such classics as  The West - Ken Burns [DVD ]and  The American Civil War - a film by Ken Burns [DVD ].This DVD is no exception, and the research that has gone into the highs and lows of Jack Johnson's life is just as thorough.I can't recommend this DVD highly enough, even if you're not a fan of boxing you can't help but be moved by Johnson's struggle with the prejudices of the time, both in and out of the ring.Despite these prejudices Johnson remained his own Man, taking orders from no one and fulfilling "His" dreams "His" way.The DVD itself is excellent quality, with two discs running 3Hrs 40Min's long. The West - Ken Burns [DVDThe American Civil War - a film by Ken Burns [DVD

Well made footage dvd, worth watching again again. It was sad to see how badly treated this amazing and charismatic Giant was! Who could blame him for living life to the fullest-Movie stars do it. They earned it, so why not!!!

True story of the rise. Of the great black boxer Jack Johnson. This DVD gives great insight into the man and how ugly the sport of boxing at that time was 45 rounds plus and the prejudice of color he recieved...... I must highly recommend this to any boxing fan especially for the rare black and white footage. As for the seller of this great DVD I cant pra?ise enough item was as described so I will be and recomnend do business with