What was Jack Johnson's significance in boxing history?

Jack Johnson was the first African American to win the world heavyweight boxing championship, a milestone that broke racial barriers in the sport and had a lasting impact on the perception of African American athletes.

When did Jack Johnson become the world heavyweight champion?

Jack Johnson became the world heavyweight champion on December 26, 1908, when he defeated Tommy Burns in Sydney, Australia.

What were some of Jack Johnson's notable achievements?

Johnson's notable achievements include his victory over James J. Jeffries in 1910, a fight that was highly publicized and controversial due to racial tensions. He also had a successful career that spanned over two decades, during which he defended his title multiple times.

What was Jack Johnson's legacy?

Jack Johnson's legacy extends beyond his boxing career. He challenged racial stereotypes and paved the way for future African American athletes. His life and career have been the subject of numerous books, documentaries, and films, highlighting his impact on sports and society.

Jack Johnson

American boxer (1878–1946)

Person human Q316689

Facts

28 properties

Instance of: human
Sex or gender: male^[12]
Date of birth: March 31, 1878
Date of death: June 10, 1946
Place of birth: Galveston
Place of death: Franklinton
Country of citizenship: United States^[8]
Ethnic group: African Americans^[9]
Occupation: boxer
Award received: Anisfield-Wolf Book Awards, International Boxing Hall of Fame^[10]^[11]
Spouse: Etta Terry^[7]
Cause of death: traffic collision^[14]
Languages spoken, written or signed: English^[23]
Country for sport: United States^[24]
End of work period: 1932^[25]
Family name: Johnson^[16]
Given name: Jack^[17]
Height: +184.2^[26]
Manner of death: accidental death^[18]
Mass: +91^[27]
Number of draws/ties: +14^[22]
Number of losses: +13^[21]
Number of matches played/races/starts: +123^[19]
Number of wins: +77^[20]

Show all 28 facts +4

Place of burial: Graceland Cemetery^[6]
Record label: Ajax Records^[13]
Sport: boxing^[15]
Sports discipline competed in: boxing, heavyweight^[28]^[29]

🏷️ Also known as

en Galveston Giant en John Johnson en John Arthur Johnson en Jack Johnson en Black Jack Johnson ar جاك جونسون el Τζακ Τζόνσον (πυγμάχος) el Τζακ Τζόνσον el Γίγαντας του Γκάλβεστον es Arthur John Johnson fa جک جانسون he ג'ק ג'ונסון hi जैक जॉनसन hi जॉनसन ja ジャック・ジョンソン ko 잭 존슨 pt John Arthur Johnson ru Джек Джонсон ru Джон Артур Джонсон ru Джон-Артур Джонсон

🔖 Identifiers · 60

ISNI: 0000000073599529
VIAF cluster ID: 54136247
Library of Congress authority ID: n83049828
GND ID: 118999869
A Dictionary of Sports Studies entry ID: 648
American National Biography ID: 1900093
Archives at Yale agent ID: people/73071
BBC Things ID: 5718bcbf-9b84-4d43-83c8-1d0f686ad904
Bibliothèque nationale de France ID: 10275368m, 14975913r
BlackPast.org ID: african-american-history/johnson-jack-1878-1946
BoxRec boxer ID: 1187
Comic Vine ID: 4005-127845

Show all 60 identifiers +48

DDB person (GND) ID: 118999869
Deutsche Biographie (GND) ID: 118999869
Dimensions.com element ID: jack-johnson
Discogs artist ID: 616149
Encyclopedia of African American History 1896 to the Present entry ID: 0650
Encyclopædia Britannica Online ID: biography/Jack-Johnson
Encyclopædia Universalis ID: johnson
FAST ID: 111410
FamilySearch person ID: L527-2V6
Film.ru person ID: dzhek-dzhonson-0
Find a Grave memorial ID: 6125607
Freebase ID: /m/0jg6v
Geni.com profile ID: 6000000033089470362
Great Norwegian Encyclopedia ID: Jack_Johnson
Handbook of Texas ID: fjo14
IMDb ID: nm0425277
IdRef ID: 081131712
International Boxing Hall of Fame boxer ID: oldtimer/johnsonjack
IxTheo authority ID: 695641719
Kinobox person ID: 872126
Lex ID: Jack_Johnson
Lur Encyclopedic Dictionary ID: 03278/eu_j_0860/j0860
Movie Walker Press person ID: 6747
Munzinger Sport number: 01000006801
MusicBrainz artist ID: 6456a893-c1e9-4e3d-86f7-0008b0a3ac8a, 1614b749-f53c-4374-bea3-76e9493f7c9e
Muziekweb performer ID: M00000447307
NE.se ID: jack-johnson
NLA Trove people ID: 964835
NLP ID: a0000003002126
National Library of Israel J9U ID: 987007263552005171
National Library of Poland MMS ID: 9810632462105606
National Library of Spain SpMaBN ID (BNE v1.0): XX5184639
National Portrait Gallery (London) person ID: mp132426
Nationale Thesaurus voor Auteursnamen ID: 070580847
Notable Names Database ID: 366/000135958
Open Library ID: OL5681415A
Oxford Reference overview ID: 20110803100022681
PMB – Personen der Moderne Basis person ID: 156271
SBN author ID: UFEV307316
SNAC ARK ID: w67379t5
TMDB person ID: 1551572, 135526
Topic's main category: Category:Jack Johnson
Trading Card Database name ID: 39282
U.S. National Archives Identifier: 10569487, 10610251
WikiTree person ID: Johnson-66486
WorldCat Entities ID: E39PBJcWygMDydtMFYkqWxRHYP
Yale LUX ID: person/49159ea2-80e5-473b-bda1-df9b1dba1f65
ČSFD person ID: 470273

Report an error or request removal Lineage (PROV-JSON)

🔗 Connections

Award received 2

International Boxing Hall of Fame, Anisfield-Wolf Book Awards

Sports discipline competed in 2

boxing, heavyweight

Cause of death 1

traffic collision

Country for sport 1

United States

Country of citizenship 1

United States

Ethnic group 1

African Americans

Family name 1

Johnson

Given name 1

Jack

Instance of 1

human

Languages spoken, written or signed 1

English

Manner of death 1

accidental death

Occupation 1

boxer

Place of birth 1

Galveston

Place of burial 1

Graceland Cemetery

Place of death 1

Franklinton

Sex or gender 1

male

Sport 1

boxing

← Inspired by 1

The Great White Hope

Press Enter · cited answer in seconds

Summary

Jack Johnson was born on March 31, 1878^[1], in Galveston^[2]. He died on June 10, 1946^[3], in Franklinton^[4]. He worked as a boxer^[5].

FAQs

Where was Jack Johnson born?

Jack Johnson's place of birth was Galveston^[2].

Where did Jack Johnson die?

Jack Johnson died in Franklinton^[4].

Who was Jack Johnson married to?

Jack Johnson's spouses include Etta Terry^[7].

What did Jack Johnson do for work?

Jack Johnson worked as a boxer^[5].

What awards did Jack Johnson receive?

Honors received include Anisfield-Wolf Book Awards^[10] and International Boxing Hall of Fame^[11].

References

Programmatic citations — every numbered marker resolves to a verifiable graph row below.

Direct Wikidata claims

[2] ↑ Jack Johnson — place of birth (P19): Galveston. wikidata.org.
[4] ↑ Jack Johnson — place of death (P20): Franklinton. wikidata.org.
[12] ↑ Jack Johnson — sex or gender (P21): male. BnF authorities. Retrieved 2015-10-10. wikidata.org.
[7] ↑ Jack Johnson — spouse (P26): Etta Terry. wikidata.org.
[8] ↑ Jack Johnson — country of citizenship (P27): United States. wikidata.org.
[5] ↑ Jack Johnson — occupation (P106): boxer. BoxRec. Retrieved 2022-04-22. wikidata.org.
[6] ↑ Jack Johnson — place of burial (P119): Graceland Cemetery. Find a Grave. Retrieved 2024-06-27. wikidata.org.
[10] ↑ Jack Johnson — award received (P166): Anisfield-Wolf Book Awards. wikidata.org.
[11] ↑ Jack Johnson — award received (P166): International Boxing Hall of Fame. Retrieved 2026-01-19. wikidata.org.
[9] ↑ Jack Johnson — ethnic group (P172): African Americans. Geographic Names Information System. wikidata.org.
[13] ↑ Jack Johnson — record label (P264): Ajax Records. wikidata.org.
[14] ↑ Jack Johnson — cause of death (P509): traffic collision. wikidata.org.
[1] ↑ Jack Johnson — date of birth (P569): March 31, 1878. BnF authorities. Retrieved 2015-10-10. wikidata.org.
[3] ↑ Jack Johnson — date of death (P570): June 10, 1946. BnF authorities. Retrieved 2015-10-10. wikidata.org.
[15] ↑ Jack Johnson — sport (P641): boxing. wikidata.org.
[16] ↑ Jack Johnson — family name (P734): Johnson. wikidata.org.
[17] ↑ Jack Johnson — given name (P735): Jack. wikidata.org.
[18] ↑ Jack Johnson — manner of death (P1196): accidental death. wikidata.org.
[19] ↑ Jack Johnson — number of matches played/races/starts (P1350): 123. Retrieved 2026-01-19. wikidata.org.
[20] ↑ Jack Johnson — number of wins (P1355): 77. Retrieved 2026-01-19. wikidata.org.
[21] ↑ Jack Johnson — number of losses (P1356): 13. Retrieved 2026-01-19. wikidata.org.
[22] ↑ Jack Johnson — number of draws/ties (P1357): 14. Retrieved 2026-01-19. wikidata.org.
[23] ↑ Jack Johnson — languages spoken, written or signed (P1412): English. BnF authorities. Retrieved 2015-10-10. wikidata.org.
[24] ↑ Jack Johnson — country for sport (P1532): United States. wikidata.org.
[25] ↑ Jack Johnson — end of work period (P2032): 1932. wikidata.org.
[26] ↑ Jack Johnson — height (P2048): 184.2 cm. wikidata.org.
[27] ↑ Jack Johnson — mass (P2067): 91 kg. wikidata.org.
[28] ↑ Jack Johnson — sports discipline competed in (P2416): boxing. wikidata.org.
[29] ↑ Jack Johnson — sports discipline competed in (P2416): heavyweight. wikidata.org.

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Use these citations when quoting this entity in research, articles, AI prompts, or wherever provenance matters. We aggregate Wikidata + Wikipedia + authoritative open-data sources; the stitched, scored, cross-referenced view is what 4ort.xyz contributes.

APA

4ort.xyz Knowledge Graph. (2026). Jack Johnson. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://4ort.xyz/entity/jack-johnson-q316689

MLA “Jack Johnson.” 4ort.xyz Knowledge Graph, 4ort.xyz, 2 Nov. 2026, https://4ort.xyz/entity/jack-johnson-q316689.

BibTeX

@misc{4ortxyz_jack-johnson-q316689_2026, author = {{4ort.xyz Knowledge Graph}}, title = {{Jack Johnson}}, year = {2026}, url = {https://4ort.xyz/entity/jack-johnson-q316689}, note = {Accessed: 2026-11-02}}

LLM prompt

According to 4ort.xyz Knowledge Graph (aggregator of Wikidata, Wikipedia, and authoritative open-data sources): Jack Johnson — https://4ort.xyz/entity/jack-johnson-q316689 (retrieved 2026-11-02)

Canonical URL: https://4ort.xyz/entity/jack-johnson-q316689 · Last refreshed: November 2, 2026

Edit History

Rolling log of changes to this entity's Wikidata record. Values shown reflect the current state of each edited property — follow the history link to see the precise diff for any edit.

12w ago · Epìdosis · 2026-08-07 view diff on Wikidata ↗

Bibliothèque nationale de France ID → 10275368m, 14975913r

"/* wbcreateclaim-create:1| */ Bibliothèque nationale de France ID: 14975913r, [[:toollabs:quickstatements/#/batch/264208|batch #264208]]"
14w ago · Epìdosis · 2026-07-22 view diff on Wikidata ↗

Local thumb → —

Sport → boxing

Place of birth → Galveston

Topic's main category → Category:Jack Johnson

+ 32 other properties edited (see Wikidata diff for full list)

"/* wbeditentity-update:0| */ QuickStatements 3.0 [[:toollabs:qs-dev/batch/43073|batch #43073]]: substitute P214 reference with P227 reference (2)"

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