Last on His Feet

On the morning of July 4, 1910, thousands of boxing fans stormed a newly built stadium in Reno, Nevada, to witness an epic showdown. Jack Johnson, the world's first Black heavyweight champion, was paired against Jim Jeffries, a former heavyweight champion then heralded as the great white hope." It was the height of the Jim Crow era. Through a combination of breathtaking illustrations and striking verse, Last on his feet honors a contentious civil rights figure who has for more than a century been denied his proper due"--