Unforgivable Blackness: The Rise and Fall of Jack Johnson
Ken Burns/PBS:  Two part DVD, 220 min.

I just saw an extraordinary Ken Burns documentary on the life of boxer Jack Johnson. Born the son of former slaves in 1878, well-read and articulate to the point of eloquence despite a rudimentary education – and the greatest athlete of his generation – Johnson was a complex individual who balls-out defied a virulently racist status quo (as well as almost any other social convention). If a novelist were to create such an impossibly larger-than-life character, we might dismiss it as unrealistic. However, Johnson was real and his story makes an incredibly compelling and poignant biopic, particularly in the capable hands of director Ken Burns (perhaps the greatest historical documentarian of our generation).

Burns not only brings Johnson to life with great archival footage and photos, but with deft editing, spot-on musical choices, and colorful narration, Burns also brings to life a period in American culture that took us from the 19th to the 20th century. A vibrant period. And a terribly racist period – punctuated by lynchings and systematic suppression of African-Americans. This was a time when the Ku Klux Klan was idealized defending the honor of white women in the era’s biggest film hit, D.W. Griffiths Birth of a Nation - especially popular at its exclusive White House screening before President Woodrow Wilson and all nine members of the Supreme Court.

The fact that Johnson refused to buckle under, ran around with and married white women (strictly taboo back then), then knocked out the notion of white superiority in 14 rounds, taking the heavyweight title from Tommy Burns in 1908 – made Johnson both the greatest celebrity and most notorious man of his time. Racist America spent the next seven years desperately trying to find the “Great White Hope” – a white man capable of defeating this “impudent Negro” who was known to joke, toy and then demolish all comers in the ring. Ultimately, our own federal government had to bring down this high-living, flashy black man with blatantly trumped-up criminal charges – although Johnson’s own quirks and character flaws most definitely abetted his undoing as well…which makes a film that passes the “Richard Elfman Test”: simply – that you cannot turn it off.

A great sports film, an incredible story of human triumph (and frailty) in the face of adversity, and a history lesson you won’t soon forget – go rent these DVDs! (Then go rent Ken Burns incredible 10 part series on the Civil War.)