July 4, 1910 by Michael Ceraolo

 July 4, 1910

"a Negro has the championship

and it must be won back by a white man,

to whose race it belongs"

said former heavyweight champion Jim Corbett,

so the fight between the champion, Jack Johnson,

and the challenger, Jim Jeffries,

would not be just another prizefight

Jeffries was another former champion,

coming out of retirement to fulfill

the hopes of Corbett and millions of others,

but those hopes would be dashed today:

Johnson won the fight easily,

                                           and

the Fourth of July was now a day to be celebrated

by many who hadn't felt that way before

In at least two dozen cities across the country

such celebration was met with violence,

and an unknown number of people,

at least twenty, were killed for such celebrating