With Jack Johnson pardon, Trump comes through where other presidents failed

Published May 24, 2018 8:36pm ET



President Trump issued the third-ever posthumous pardon on Thursday, and one that holds high significance in the African-American community.

Trump pardoned Jack Johnson, the first African-American heavyweight boxing champion, for violating the Jim Crow-era Mann Act which made it a federal crime to transport a woman across state lines “for the purpose of prostitution or debauchery, or for any other immoral purpose.” After being arrested for this in 1912, Johnson lived in exile for seven years and spent a year in prison when he finally returned to the U.S. in 1920.

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