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5 N.Y.U. J.L. & Liberty 270 (2010)
The Johnson-Jeffries Fight 100 Years Thence: The Johnson-Jeffries Fight and Censorship of Black Supremacy

handle is hein.journals/nyujlawlb5 and id is 274 raw text is: NEW YORK U.NIVERSITY JOURNAL OF LAW & LIBERTY THE JOHNSON-JEFFRIES FIGHT 100 YEARS THENCE: THE JOHNSON-JEFFRIES FIGHT AND CENSORSHIP OF BLACK SUPREMACY Barak Y. Orbach* In April 2010, the Supreme Court handed down its decision in United States v. Stevens, in which the Court struck down a federal law that banned the depiction of conduct that was illegal in any state. Exactly one hundred years earlier, without any federal law, censorship of conduct illegal under state law and socially con- demned mushroomed in most towns and cities across the country. In the summer of 1910, states and municipalities adopted bans on prizefight films in order to censor black supremacy in controver- sial sport that was illegal in most states. It was one of the worst waves of movie censorship in American history, but it has been largely ignored and forgotten. On the Fourth of July, 1910, the uncompromising black heavy- weight champion, Jack Johnson, knocked out the great white * Associate Professor of Law, The University of Arizona. www.orbach.org. This Article greatly benefited from the comments and criticism of Jean Braucher, Grace Campbell, Jack Chin, Paul Finkelman, Deb Gray, Sivan Korn, Anne Nelson, Carol Rose, and Frances Sjoberg. Judy Parker, Pam DeLong, and Carol Ward assisted in processing archive documents. The outstanding research support and friendship of Maureen Garmon made the writing of this Article possible. Additional materials are available at www.orbach.org/1910. 270

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