Commentary: Jack Johnson — pardoned by Trump — fought hard against racism
On Oct. 17, 1912, a woman identified only as "Mrs. F. Cameron-Falconet" went to the Clark Street police station and, as the Tribune reported, asked the Chicago cops to rescue her daughter, 19 and white, "from the clutches of Jack Johnson, Negro heavyweight champion pugilist."
That opened a racial drama that landed Johnson behind bars and has bedeviled and fascinated Americans ever since. On Thursday, President Donald Trump pardoned Johnson, who captivated the world with his boxing skills but ultimately went to prison as a consequence of Cameron-Falconet's complaint.
Her daughter, Lucille Cameron, had moved to Chicago from Minneapolis in the spring of 1911. She found an office job and suitable roommates, as her mother had seen on an earlier visit. Then her letters home stopped.
Cameron had found her way to a nightclub Johnson
