Dead Confederates, A Civil War Era Blog

Jack Johnson in training in Chicago, c. 1907. Library of Congress.

Today is the centennial of the “Fight of the Century” in Reno, Nevada, between Jack Johnson and Jim Jeffries. More than 20 years ago, one of my first “for reals” published pieces was on this famous bout, appearing in the July 1989 edition of Sports History magazine. It’s not very good, and suffers both from my own inexperience and the red pen of an editor who wanted to make it more appealing to a general readership. (I really, really hate the title he gave it.) It lacks both deep analysis and novel insight, but if there’s ever going to be an opportune moment to foist this article off on others, this is it.

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