I Fight for a Living by Louis Moore

Author:Louis Moore
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: University of Illinois Press
Published: 2017-03-16T04:00:00+00:00

Canadian-born Sam Langford in a fight pose. (1910–1915, Library of Congress)

The quest to make Langford into a black hope, however, did not sit well with the black press. Walton of the New York Age noted, “After searching every nook and corner of the earth for a ‘white hope’ to give Champion Jack Johnson a serious argument at fisticuffs, and all to no good purpose, those most active in this world-wide search have hit upon another plan of attack—to try and recapture the championship title through a black hope.”86 Even though Langford reportedly lived clean and harbored their middle-class values, blacks did not trust Langford as champion. In short, they feared he would be a race traitor. After hearing a rumor that Langford would dope Johnson if they fought, and then let a white man beat him, a writer for the Defender remarked, “To think such a villainous plot should be hatched against our noble Jack, and for one of his own race to participate in it, gives us much pain.” The paper further suggested that Langford had a lot to learn about being a race man, and that “if he will but walk in the noble footsteps of the first colored champion of the world, he will teach these petty whites that the time for buying and selling a Negro has long since passed.” In 1914, after Johnson said he would fight Langford, the Chicago Defender claimed blacks were afraid of Langford and would “have no particular love for him.” The writer also added that rumors suggesting Langford would let a white fighter beat him “make even their [blacks] regard for him grow less.”87 But black contempt toward Langford only lasted until Jess Willard defeated Johnson in April 1915. Soon after Willard became the champion, the Defender promoted Langford as a championship challenger. When whites did not need Langford, however, he went back to being the same savage whites had portrayed him as. Unfortunately for Langford, Willard drew the color line. Even if Willard had not drawn the line himself, the white press would never let him tangle with Langford. In reality, he too presented too many racial problems for white America.

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