On July 4, 1910, Jack Johnson, the first black heavyweight champion of the world, dismantled "the great white hope" James Jeffries at a match in Reno, Nevada, proving beyond a doubt that he was the greatest American fighter of any color.
Many Americans could not stomach Johnson's victory, or the freedom with which he worked, played and loved. His subsequent prosecution and conviction for violating the Mann Act, then known as the White Slave Traffic Act, still stands as a testament to the ignorance and intolerance that ruled the U.S. a century ago.
And while the United States cannot change its collective past, pardoning Jack Johnson would officially acknowledge the crime committed against him, while paying a just tribute to a true American pioneers and one of our greatest champions.