Unforgivable Blackness: The Rise and Fall of Jack Johnson

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Unforgivable Blackness: The Rise and Fall of Jack Johnson is a documentary by filmmaker Ken Burns based on the nonfiction book of the same name by Geoffrey C. Ward (2004). The documentary was first broadcast on PBS in two parts on January 17-18, 2005. In Burns' signature style the 220-minute film serves as a biography of Jack Johnson, the first African-American Heavyweight Champion of the World, as well as a documentary of racism and social inequality during the Jim Crow era against which Jack Johnson lived in defiant opposition. The film is narrated by Keith David and features a soundtrack by Wynton Marsalis and Samuel L. Jackson as the voice of Jack Johnson.

In 2005 the film earned Burns an Emmy Award for Directing for Non-Fiction Programming. The film was produced by David Schaye, Paul Barnes and Ken Burns (Executive Producer) for Florentine Flims.

[edit] See also

The Great White Hope, Howard Sackler's fictionalized account of the life and career of Jack Johnson. (Film and play staring Jane Alexander and James Earl Jones)