Unforgivable Blackness: The Rise and Fall of Jack Johnson
On NJN Public Television
Thursday, January 27, at 9 pm , and Tuesday, February 3, at 9 pm

STATEWIDE – NJN Public Television is proud to present Unforgivable Blackness: The Rise and Fall of Jack Johnson, a provocative new PBS documentary shot in high definition by acclaimed filmmaker Ken Burns. Part 1 of Unforgivable Darkness airs on NJN on Thursday, January 27, from 9 pm – 11 pm . Part 2 will be broadcast on Tuesday, February 3, from 9 pm – 11 pm . The film is a production of Florentine Films and WETA Washington, DC.

By the end of 1910, Jack Johnson was on top of the world, the undisputed Heavyweight Champion of the World, the most famous – and notorious – African American on earth. But forces were gathering in America to stop him. When no one could be found to beat the champion in the ring, the United States government set out to destroy him in the courts, using his sometimes troubled relationships with white women as the excuse to prosecute him. Unfairly charged with violating the Mann Act, a progressive-era piece of legislation designed to stop commercialized vice – not relationships between consenting adults – Jack Johnson was convicted and sentenced to jail. Skipping bail, Johnson fled to Europe , where he remained a fugitive for many years. In 1915 in Havana , Cuba , he defended his title in a still controversial fight against Jess Willard, a fight that went on for 26 rounds in 105-degree heat. Determined to live his life regardless of the confines imposed by his color, Jack Johnson emerged as a central figure in America 's ongoing struggle to deal with the question of race.

Burns, whose past films on PBS (The Civil War, Baseball, Jazz, etc.) are among the most watched documentaries ever made, shows the gritty details of Johnson’s life through archival footage, still photographs and the commentary of writers and boxing experts such as Stanley Crouch, Bert Sugar, the late George Plimpton, Jack Newfield, Gerald Early and actor James Earl Jones, who portrayed Johnson in the Broadway play and film based on Johnson’s life, The Great White Hope.

Underwriting for the program is provided by General Motors with additional funding from The Arthur Vining Davis Foundations, Rosalind P. Walter, Public Television Viewers, PBS and the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.