Jack Johnson (1878? - 1946) Inventor/ Boxer

The world's first African American heavyweight champion patented a wrench (U.S.patent#1,413,121) on April the 18th, 1922. Jack Johnson, defeated Canadian Tommy Burns on December 26, 1908, in the World Boxing Championship held in Sydney. This initiated the quest to find a "Great White Hope" to defeat Johnson. James Jeffries, a leading white fighter, came out of retirement to answer the challenge. Jack Johnson won their fight on July 4, 1910. News of Jeffries's defeat ignited numerous incidents of white violence against blacks. However, black poet William Waring Cuney captured the exuberant African American reaction in his poem, "My Lord, What a Morning":


Jack Johnson - Biography
Jack Johnson was born John Arthur Johnson on March 31, 1878, in Galveston, Texas.
Johnson boxed professionally from 1897 to 1928, and boxed in exhibition matches until 1945. During his boxing career, Jack Johnson fought 114 fights, winning 80 matches, 45 by knockouts. He first won the heavyweight title by knocking out champion Tommy Burns in 1908, and held on that title until April 5, 1915. Johnson was knocked out by Jess Willard in the 26th round during the World Championship fight in Havana.
Jack Johnson received bad publicity by the press for his two marriages, both to Caucasian women. Due to the racist attitudes of the times, interracial marriages were prohibited in most of America. Johnson was convicted in 1912 of violating the Mann Act by transporting his wife across state lines before their marriage and was sentenced to a year in prison. While out on appeal Jack Johnson escaped fearing for his safety. Posing as a member of a black baseball team, he fled to Canada and later Europe. Jack Johnson remained a fugitive for seven years. Johnson defended his heavyweight championship three times in Paris before his fight to Jess Willard.
In 1920, Jack Johnson decided to return to the United States to serve his sentence. After his release from prison, Jack Johnson's boxing career declined. To make ends meet, Johnson worked in vaudeville even appearing with a trained flea act.
Jack Johnson wrote two memoirs of his life, "Mes Combats" (1914) and "Jack Johnson in the Ring and Out" (1927). He died in an automobile accident on June 10, 1946, in Raleigh, N.C.
John Arthur "Jack" Johnson He became the first Black world heavyweight champion on December 26 1908 by defeating Tommy Burns in the 14th round.

I'm just feeling Frisky Today...lol

Misprinted $20 Bill Sells for $25,300

A $20 bill mysteriously printed on top of an ordinary fruit sticker sold Friday for $25,300, an auction company official said.
The flawed note bears a red, green and yellow Del Monte sticker next to Andrew Jackson's portrait.
The buyer at the auction in Orlando, Fla., did not want to be identified, said Dustin Johnston, director of auctions for Heritage Galleries and Auctioneers of Dallas.
The 1996 bill originated at a U.S. Treasury Department printing facility in Fort Worth, but how the fruit tag found its way onto the paper of the greenback is unknown.
"I've collected for probably seven years now and nothing comes close to the way people react to it — their eyes pop out," said Daniel Wishnatsky, a Phoenix currency collector who bought the bill online in 2003 for $10,100.
Jason Bradford, president of PCGS Currency in Newport Beach, Calif., authenticated that the error was genuine and not faked outside the printing plant.
Currency goes through three printing stages, Bradford said: first the back is printed, then the face, and then the bill receives serial number and treasury seal stamps.
In the case of the Del Monte note, the seal and serial number are both printed on top of the sticker, meaning the fruit tag must have found its way onto the bill midway through the process, he said.
The note, in nearly perfect condition, has achieved celebrity status among currency collectors, appearing on the covers of the Bank Note Reporter and Numismatic News.