20th Century Time Machine | Jack Johnson Defeats Jim Jeffries in the Fight of the Century: July 4, 1910 @20thCenturyTimeMachine | Uploaded January 2018 | Updated October 2024, 11 hours ago.
A public domain video
The Johnson-Jeffries Fight is a 1910 American film report on the heavyweight championship boxing fight between Jack Johnson and James J. Jeffries in Reno, Nevada.
The footage depicts the heavyweight championship that took place in Reno, NV on July 4, 1910, when reigning champion Jack Johnson, a black American, knocked out former champion James J. Jeffries, a white American, in the fifteenth round of a very one-sided fight. The fight was already a media sensation weeks before it happened and was dubbed "The Fight of the Century". This sparked motivation to film the event as it was thought to be a guaranteed money-maker. The fight's promoter, George "Tex" Rickard, (who also refereed the bout) sold exclusive film rights. The film was recorded by nine cameramen and is two hours long. Novelist Jack London was also present in the crowd, reporting the event.
Since Johnson was African-American and Jeffries was white the competition took on major racial overtones. The press dubbed Jeffries "The Great White Hope." Sportswriters and white America were generally astounded when Johnson beat Jeffries soundly. This caused race riots in many places across the USA and provided the film with more public attention in the United States than any other film to date and for the next five years, until the release of The Birth of a Nation (1915). On July 7, 1910, only three days after the fight various states and cities in the USA declared they would not allow the screening of the footage. The picture was banned virtually everywhere in the South, as well as in South Africa.
Two weeks after the match former President Theodore Roosevelt, an avid boxer and fan, wrote an article for The Outlook in which he supported banning not just moving pictures of boxing matches, but a complete ban on all prize fights in America. He cited the "crookedness" and gambling that surrounded such contests and that moving pictures have "introduced a new method of money getting and of demoralization." The controversy surrounding the film directly motivated Congress to ban distribution of all prizefight films across state lines in 1912; the ban lasted for nearly three decades. It was finally lifted in 1940.
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youtube.com/channel/UC_S8ZlDCRkMMgc7ciw8X-hg
The 20th Century Time Machine takes you back in time to the most important historical events of the past century. Watch documentaries, discussions and real footage of major events that shaped the world we live in today.
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A public domain video
The Johnson-Jeffries Fight is a 1910 American film report on the heavyweight championship boxing fight between Jack Johnson and James J. Jeffries in Reno, Nevada.
The footage depicts the heavyweight championship that took place in Reno, NV on July 4, 1910, when reigning champion Jack Johnson, a black American, knocked out former champion James J. Jeffries, a white American, in the fifteenth round of a very one-sided fight. The fight was already a media sensation weeks before it happened and was dubbed "The Fight of the Century". This sparked motivation to film the event as it was thought to be a guaranteed money-maker. The fight's promoter, George "Tex" Rickard, (who also refereed the bout) sold exclusive film rights. The film was recorded by nine cameramen and is two hours long. Novelist Jack London was also present in the crowd, reporting the event.
Since Johnson was African-American and Jeffries was white the competition took on major racial overtones. The press dubbed Jeffries "The Great White Hope." Sportswriters and white America were generally astounded when Johnson beat Jeffries soundly. This caused race riots in many places across the USA and provided the film with more public attention in the United States than any other film to date and for the next five years, until the release of The Birth of a Nation (1915). On July 7, 1910, only three days after the fight various states and cities in the USA declared they would not allow the screening of the footage. The picture was banned virtually everywhere in the South, as well as in South Africa.
Two weeks after the match former President Theodore Roosevelt, an avid boxer and fan, wrote an article for The Outlook in which he supported banning not just moving pictures of boxing matches, but a complete ban on all prize fights in America. He cited the "crookedness" and gambling that surrounded such contests and that moving pictures have "introduced a new method of money getting and of demoralization." The controversy surrounding the film directly motivated Congress to ban distribution of all prizefight films across state lines in 1912; the ban lasted for nearly three decades. It was finally lifted in 1940.
Subscribe - never miss a video!
youtube.com/channel/UC_S8ZlDCRkMMgc7ciw8X-hg
The 20th Century Time Machine takes you back in time to the most important historical events of the past century. Watch documentaries, discussions and real footage of major events that shaped the world we live in today.
youtube.com/watch?v=EHAZA5h5cmo
Jimmy Carter: "We Killed One Thousand Panamanians Unnecessarily" (Oct. 21 1991)
youtube.com/watch?v=x5tjjwp4MjE
Jim Henson's Last Public Performance Before his Death Less Than Two Weeks Later.
youtube.com/watch?v=3DSA6sKL4mI
Benazir Bhutto:“They said... She should be assassinated!”
youtube.com/watch?v=NTxO3MeVUnM
Abraham Lincoln Assassination Eyewitness: “I Saw Lincoln Shot” (1956)
youtube.com/watch?v=BCDgbS10360
Sidney Poitier: From Illiteracy to the Oscars and Stardom (2009 Interview)
youtube.com/watch?v=bfzoNnmdFNs
The Story of Mustafa Kemal Ataturk: The Incredible Turk (1958)
youtube.com/watch?v=x6lAnXU1a-A
The KGB Connections: An Investigation Into Soviet Operatives in North America
youtube.com/watch?v=mZuHcPnni14
Iran-Contra: Reagan's Scandal and the Unchecked Abuse of Presidential Power
youtube.com/watch?v=Q7BZ9gMxR7A
Alfred Hitchcock: "All Actors Should Be Treated Like Cattle." (1966 Interview)
youtube.com/watch?v=9Lnu8VM1LCA
Olivia de Havilland: Interviewing "Gone With the Wind's" Last Surviving Star
youtube.com/watch?v=QujJPBHBapI
Academy Award Nominated Documentary: The Last Bomb (1945)
youtube.com/watch?v=eaIEsUWHdKE
A Visual Representation of Maya Angelou's Inaugural Poem "On the Pulse of Morning"
youtube.com/watch?v=t7RhbQOlkpA
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