Unforgivable Blackness: The Rise and Fall of Jack Johnson

The story of heavyweight champion Jack Johnson is one of the most powerful and astonishing stories Ken Burns has tackled in his celebrated career, and features many of his favorite themes: the legacy of US racism, the battle between progress and the status quo, and the inspiring but complex historical outsider. Burns enlists actor Samuel L. Jackson to give voice to Johnson, who became champion despite the efforts of those who saw it as a threat to white supremacy. Much of Johnson’s story would find itself repeated half a century later in the rise of Muhammad Ali, and watching Burns’ doc back to back with THE TRIALS OF MUHAMMAD ALI (available on SundanceNow Doc Club) sadly shows how little racist attitudes have changed.