Program from the July 4, 1912, Jack Johnson-Jim Flynn Heavyweight Championship bout is a thundering echo of the turbulent reign of the black champ whose victories over a string of “great white hopes” prompted lynchings of blacks, and politicians to devise ways to punish him the way few fighters could inside the ring. This was Johnson’s first defense of the title he took from James Jeffries in 1910 and capped an in-your-face year in which he marred a white woman who soon committed suicide. The fight was held in Las Vegas, New Mexico, with Johnson KO’ing “The Fighting Fireman” (and breaking his jaw) in round 9. Soon after the fight, he was convicted of taking a white woman across state lines for “immoral purposes.” Sentenced to a year and a day in prison and fined $1,000, he fled the country and spent the next seven years on the lam. Minor tears on right edge and vertical crease; binding still intact with tear on bottom. Overall GD condition; 9x12" overall.