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ABSTRACT
Boxing and its predecessor, prizefighting, is a form of precarious labour and forms part of a broader field of work that young itinerant black men could participate in during the nineteenth century. Practised in an era of institutionalised racism, it was characterised by exploitative working arrangements and a high degree of precarity. These forces, encountered in North America, the British Empire and Europe, fundamentally shaped the careers of these fighters. This article traces the career of one such boxer, Josef ‘Young Pluto’ or ‘Joe Pluto’ Brown, a South African of mixed-race and the first to fight for an officially recognised World Boxing Champion Title. More significantly, though, his life serves as a means to cast a light on and help to inform a broader understanding of race, labour, sport, precarity and international migration in the nineteenth- and early twentieth century.
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).
Notes
1 The title of this article is derived from statements and comments about the fighter’s ability in contemporary newspapers at distinctive points during Brown’s career. See for example the article titled Our American Special’s budget, (1899, 22 March), The Referee (Sydney), 1, and Boxing – Pluto’s Performances, (1893, 18 September), Western News, 3.
2 J. Durant, The Heavyweight Champions (London: Arco Publications, 1960), 16.
3 M. Quinlan, ‘We’ve been down this road before: vulnerable work and occupational health in historical perspective’, in Vulnerable Workers: Health, Safety and Well-being, eds. Maria Giovannone and Malcolm Sargeant (2011), 22–3.
4 M. Paret and S. Gleeson, ‘Precarity and agency through a migration lens’, Citizenship Studies, 20, no. 3-4 (2016): 278.
5 M. Motakef, ‘Recognition and precarity of life arrangement: towards an enlarged understanding of precarious working and living conditions’, Distinktion: Journal of Social Theory, 20, no. 2 (2019): 158.
6 R. Sullivan and R. Sullivan, ‘“My fighting is my business”: Towards a biography of George Barnes, Australian boxer’, Sporting Traditions, 1, no. 2 (1996): 49–59.
7 C. Aycock and M. Scott, eds., The First Black Boxing Champions: Essays on Fighters of the 1800s to the 1920s (Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland, 2014), 5.
8 A. Rasch, ‘Life writing after empire’, Life Writing 13, no. 2 (2016): 163–7.
9 J. Crow, ‘Literary Acts of Decolonisation: Contemporary Mapuche Poetry in Santiago de Chile’, Liminalities: A Journal of Performance Studies 11, no. 3 (2015): 165; Rasch, ‘Life writing after empire’.
10 In this article there are references to terms such as ‘negro’, ‘non-white’ ‘darky’ ‘nigger’ ‘kaffir’ etc. which were derogatory in its historical context and continue to be regarded as offensive by Black people today. Its use within the context of this article is, however, unavoidable for historical accuracy and is consequently only used in direct quotations of the time.
11 John Noble, Descriptive handbook of the Cape Colony: Its condition and resources (Cape Town: Juta, 1875), 44.
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13 P. De Zwart, ‘Real wages at the Cape of Good Hope: A long-term perspective, 1652–1912’, (Paper delivered at the Stellenbosch: Economic Society of South Africa Conference, 2011), 9–14.
14 S. Judges, ‘Poverty, living conditions and social relations: Aspects of life in Cape Town in the 1830s’ (Unpublished MA thesis, Cape Town: University of Cape Town, 1977), 3.
15 D. Warren, ‘Merchants, Commissioners and Wardmasters: Municipal politics in Cape Town, 1840–54’ (Unpublished MA thesis, Cape Town: University of Cape Town, 1986), 235.
16 A. J. Christopher, ‘Land policy in Southern Africa during the Nineteenth Century’, Zambezia, 2, no. 1 (1971): 3.
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18 Judges, ‘Poverty, living conditions and social relations’, 7–9.
19 A. Appel, ‘Port Elizabeth, c. 1855–1875: Enkele Sosio-Ekonomiese Aspekte’, South African Historical Journal 16, no. 1 (1984): 108.
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21 Van Sittert, ‘Working Children’, 51.
22 Noble, Descriptive handbook of the Cape Colony, 174.
23 Ibid., 215 & 217, 231.
24 Ibid., 293.
25 G. Baines, ‘The origins of urban segregation: Local government and the residence of Africans in Port Elizabeth, c. 1835–1865’, South African Historical Journal 22, no. 1 (1990): 64.
26 A. Lester, ‘Otherness and the frontiers of Empire: the Eastern Cape Colony, 1806–c. 1850’, Journal of Historical Geography 24, no. 1 (1998): 3.
27 J. Humphries, ‘Childhood and child labour in the British industrial revolution’, The Economic History Review 66, no. 2 (2013): 395–418.
28 B. Mook, ‘The changing nature of childhood: A metabletic study’, Collection du Cirp [CIRP Collection] 1 (2007): 142.
29 M. Quinlan, ‘Precarious employment, ill health, and lessons from history: The case of casual (temporary) dockworkers 1880–1945’, International Journal of Health Services 43, no. 4 (2013): 723–4.
30 A. Mabin, ‘The rise and decline of Port Elizabeth, 1850-1900’, The International Journal of African Historical Studies 19, no. 2 (1986): 283.
31 E. J. Inggs, ‘Mfengu beach labour and Port Elizabeth harbour development’, Contree 21 (1987): 10.
32 De Zwart, Real wages, 50.
33 Inggs, ‘Liverpool of the Cape: Port Elizabeth trade 1820–70’, South African Journal of Economic History 1, no. 1 (1986): 78.
34 Boxing Encyclopaedia, Young Pluto, BoxRec.com (2014), https://boxrec.com/media/index.php/Young_Pluto (accessed 10 March 2016).
35 K. Roberts, Captain of the Posh: When a Larrikin Chief Ruled the Rocks (London: Angus & Robertson, 1964), 9.
36 J. Buck, ‘Louis Cyr and Charles Sampson: Archetypes of vaudeville strongmen’, Iron Game History 5, no. 3 (1998): 20.
37 F. Zarnowski, ‘The amazing Donald Dinnie: The nineteenth century’s greatest athlete’, Iron Game History 5, no. 1 (1998): 8.
38 T. M. Croak, ‘The professionalization of prizefighting: Pittsburgh at the turn of the Century’, Western Pennsylvania History: 1918-2016 62, no. 4 (1979): 341–2.
39 C. Greyvenstein, The Fighters: A pictorial history of South African boxing from 1881 (Cape Town: Don Nelson), 10.
40 J. E. Zucchi, The little slaves of the harp: Italian child street musicians in nineteenth-century Paris, London, and New York (Montreal: McGill-Queen’s Press-MQUP, 1998).
41 M. Gubar, Who watched The Children’s Pinafore? Age transvestism on the nineteenth-century stage’, Victorian Studies 54, no. 3 (2012): 410 & 418.
42 See, for example, the advertisements: ‘Fillis’ Great Circus’ and ‘Drill Hall – Complimentary Benefit to Mr. W. S. Leslie’, (1884, 3 January), Port Elizabeth Telegraph and Eastern Province Standard, 2.
43 Weekly Notes, (1882, 8 August), Port Elizabeth Telegraph and Eastern Province Standard, 3.
44 , Drill Hall – Grand assault at arms, (1884, 15 January), Port Elizabeth Telegraph and Eastern Province Standard, 1.
45 Albany Hall, (1884, 8 April), Grahamstown Journal, 1.
46 M. Tripp, ‘Persistence of difference: A history of Cornish wrestling’ (Unpublished PhD dissertation, Exeter: University of Exeter, 2009), 208–10.
47 Coverwell, also sometimes referred to as ‘Coverdale’, and known as the ‘Ladies Pet’, was a professional pugilist and the owner of a canteen in Transvaal Road, Kimberley. He boasted a reputation as a fighter of note (‘a fighter of mean capacity’). See, for example, the report Pugilism, (1892, 10 November), Port Elizabeth Telegraph and Eastern Province Standard, 2.
48 Weekly Notes, (1884, 12 February), Port Elizabeth Telegraph and Eastern Province Standard, 3.
49 Occasional Notes, (1885, 30 July), Port Elizabeth Telegraph and Eastern Province Standard, 2.
50 Great knock-out match in Kimberley, (1884, 18 July), Grahamstown Journal, 2.
51 Grand Athletic Contest, (1883, 1 October), Cape Times, 2.
52 J. Nauright, Sport, Cultures, and Identities in South Africa (Claremont: David Phillip, 1998), 62.
53 L. B. McBride and S. E. Bird, ‘From smart fan to backyard wrestler: Performance, context, and aesthetic violence’, in Fandom: Identities and communities in a mediated world, eds. J. Gray, C., Sandvoss, and C. L. Harrington (New York: NYU Press, 2007), 166.
54 Croak, ‘The professionalization of prizefighting’.
55 A. M. Harrington, ‘What’s in a name, Brother—Profit or publicity: An analysis of trademarking ring names in professional wrestling’, Cybaris 7, no. 2 (2016), Article 3, 277, http://open.mitchellhamline.edu/cybaris/vol7/iss2/3
56 I. Stober and K. Bucher, ‘Deep-fluids: Neptune meets Pluto’, Hydrogeology Journal 13, no. 1 (2005): 112.
57 S. Soffer, ‘Ceres and Pluto’, The Mountain Astrologer (2008, August/September), https://www.astro.com/astrology/tma_article170306_e.htm (accessed 21 April 2018).
58 D. Mackay, ‘Desertion of merchant seamen in South Australia, 1836–1852: A Case Study’, International Journal of Maritime History 7, no. 2 (1995): 53.
59 Van Sittert, ‘Working Children’, 60.
60 C. Birkby, The Pagel Story (Cape Town: Howard B. Timmins, 1948), 67.
61 D. Deacon, ‘Location! Location! Location! Mind maps and theatrical circuits in Australian transnational history: Presidential address: July’, History Australia 5, no. 3 (2008): 81.3–81.5.
62 J. Stratton, ‘Australia – This sporting life’, in Powerplay: Essays in the sociology of Australian sport, eds. G. Lawrence and D. Rowe (Sydney: Hale & Iremonger, 1986), 92–3.
63 See, for example, Old Playbills, (1883, 14 April), Lorgnette (Melbourne, Victoria), 4.
64 K. Bagnall, ‘Rewriting the history of Chinese families in nineteenth-century Australia’, Australian Historical Studies 42, no. 1 (2011): 68.
65 M. J. Rowland, ‘Return of the ‘noble savage’: Misrepresenting the past, present and future’, Australian Aboriginal Studies 2 (2004): 8.
66 Telegraphic Shipping News, (1885, 26 December), Sydney Morning Herald, 6.
67 See Death of I. T. Carslake – a well-known turfite, (1930, 30 January), The Leader (Melbourne), 17; and Pluto and Griffo, (1919, 6 May), Greymouth Evening Star (New Zealand), and Boxing – Pluto’s performances, (1893, 30 September), Western Mail (Perth), 3.
68 P. Deshingkar, ‘The making and unmaking of precarious, ideal subjects – migration brokerage in the Global South’, Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies 45, no. 14 (2019): 2648.
69 C. White, ‘Promenading and picnicking: The performance of middle-class masculinity in nineteenth-century Sydney’, Journal of Australian Studies 30, no. 89 (2006): 27–8.
70 P. McDevitt, May the Best Man win: Sport, masculinity, and nationalism in Great Britain and the Empire, 1880-1935 (New York City, US: Springer, 2004), 66.
71 R. Garland-Thomson, ‘Foreword: Freakery Unfurled’, in Victorian Freaks: The Social Context of Freaking in Britain, ed. Tromp, Marlene (The Ohio State University Press, 2008), ix.
72 Musical and Dramatic Notes, (1881, 21 May), South Australia Advertiser (Adelaide), 1.
73 Amusements, (1886, 13 March), Leader (Melbourne), 26.
74 D. K. Wiggins, ‘Peter Jackson and the elusive heavyweight championship: A black athlete’s struggle against the late nineteenth century color-line’, Journal of Sport History 12, no. 2 (1985, Summer): 140–5.
75 S. F. Clark, ‘Up against the ropes: Peter Jackson as “Uncle Tom” in America’, TDR/The Drama Review 44, no. 1 (2000): 160.
76 B. Quarles (1954, November), ‘Peter Jackson Speaks of Boxers’, Negro History Bulletin 18, no. 2, 39–40.
77 Clark, ‘Up against the ropes’, 157.
78 D. K. Wiggins, ‘Peter Jackson and the Elusive Heavyweight Championship’, Journal of Sport History 12, no. 2 (1985, Summer), 147.
79 Clark, (2000), Up against the ropes, TDR/The Drama Review, 44(1), 172 & 180.
80 D. K. Wiggins, ‘Peter Jackson and the Elusive Heavyweight Championship’, Journal of Sport History 12, no. 2 (Summer, 1985): 152; and L. Moore, I fight for a living: Boxing and the battle for black manhood, 1880-1915 (Illinois, US: University of Illinois Press, 2017), 1.
81 Athletic: Doings: Brown v. King (1886, 10 February), The Sportsman (Melbourne, Victoria), 8; King v. Brown – a lively time, (1886, 24 February), Sportsman (Melbourne), 5.
82 Boxing: Pluto’s performances, (1893, 18 September), Daily News (Perth, WA), 3; and Boxing, (1914, 14 December), The Sun (Sydney), 14.
83 J. Todd, ‘From Milo to Milo: A history of barbells, dumbbells, and Indian clubs’, Iron Game History 3, no. 6 (1995): 13.
84 P. Corris, Lords of the Ring: A history of prize-fighting in Australia (London: Cassell, 1980), 75–7.
85 Corris, Lords of the Ring, 56.
86 M. Paret and S. Gleeson, ‘Precarity and agency through a migration lens’, Citizenship Studies 20, no. 3-4 (2016): 282.
87 R. Waterhouse, ‘Bare-knuckle prize fighting, masculinity and nineteenth century Australian culture’, Journal of Australian Studies 26, no. 73 (2009): 102.
88 Whistler memorial fund, (1885, 2 December), The Sportsman (Melbourne), 8.
89 See, for example, Athletic Doings: Lees and Newton, (1886, 23 February), The Sportsman (Melbourne, Victoria), 8; Academy of Music, (1886, 18 June), The Riverine Grazier (Hay, NSW), 3; and Athletic Combination, (1886, 29 June), Goulburn Evening Penny Post (NSW), 2.
90 L. Wacquant, ‘Habitus as topic and tool: Reflections on becoming a prizefighter’, Qualitative Research in Psychology 8, no. 1 (2011): 82.
91 Stratton, (1986), Australia – this sporting life, 92.
92 See Athletic Mems, (1886, 31 July), The Sydney Mail and New South Wales Advertiser (NSW), 248; and Athletics, (1886, 31 July), Daily Telegraph (Sydney), 6; and Sydney Mail & New South Wales Advertiser (1886), 144.
93 Foley’s Athletic Hall, (1886, 12 July), Evening News (Sydney), 6.
94 Foley’s Athletic Hall, (1885, 14 December), The Evening News (Sydney, NSW), 3.
95 A new Melbourne Boxing Hall, (1887, 3 March), The Referee (Sydney), 3.
96 Milo, Athletics: Athletic Notes, The Tasmanian (Launceston, Tasmania), 12 February (1887), 7.
97 Peter Newton’s benefit, (1887, 14 December), The Sportsman (Melbourne), 7.
98 Ring history of the near-champions: Young Griffo, (1922, 4 March), The National Police Gazette New York, 7.
99 The prosecution of Pluto, (1890, 29 January), The Referee (NSW), 6.
100 Intercolonial news, (1890, 1 March), The Colonist (Tasmania), 19.
101 Griffo, (1890, 7 February), The Bird of Freedom (Sydney, NSW), 5.
102 Pugilism, (1891, 20 March), The Week (Brisbane, Queensland), 26.
103 Pluto as a teacher, (1891, 29 April), The Sportsman (Melbourne), 2.
104 Boxing Encyclopaedia, (2014), Young Pluto, BoxRec.com; There is a discrepancy between the fight statistics featured in Pluto’s record featured in Boxrec.com. and newspaper reports of his actual fight record. This may be as a result of incomplete records and a lack of reporting of his activities during his years as part of a travelling troupe.
105 One of the fistic romances of Western Australia: A question of weight – and a Blackman’s cunning, (1930, 10 September), Referee, 30; J. W. M. Paddy Slavin took up cudgels for the little Black man, (1930, 25 June), Referee (Sydney), 20.
106 Peeps at People, (1914, 31 May), Sunday Times (Perth), 17.
107 Peeps at People, (1917, 29 July), Sunday Times (Perth), 8.
108 Peeps at People, (1914, 20 December), Sunday Times (Perth), 23.
109 Coolgardie News, (1894, 23 November), Inquirer and Commercial News (Perth), 9.
110 Sporting Notes from various Sources, (1895, 9 February), The Coolgardie Miner (Western Australia), 5.
111 Athletic Doings, (1895, 7 May), The Sportsman (Melbourne), 2.
112 Going to Klondyke, (1898, 9 April), Zeehan and Dundas Herald (Tasmania), 4.
113 One of W. Australia’s picturesque happenings, (1930, 25 June), The Referee (Sydney), 20.
114 J. M. Price, From Euston to Klondike: The narrative of a journey through British Columbia and the North-West Territory in the Summer of 1898, Vol. 15924 (London: S. Low, Marston, 1898), 172–3.
115 A letter from Joe Pluto, (1899, 4 January), The Sportsman (Melbourne), 2.
116 Trainers plucked Pluto, (1899, 19 January), The Wichita Daily Eagle (Wichita, Kansas), 1; What are Trainers for? (1899, 19 January), The Wheeling Daily Intelligencer (Wheeling, West Virginia), 3.
117 Pugs devote their time to fighting with their mouths, (1899, 12 February), Omaha Daily Bee (Omaha, Nebraska), 9.
118 Our American Special’s budget, (1899, 22 March), The Referee (Sydney), 1.
119 English Sporting notes, (1899, 9 December), The Advertiser (Adelaide), 9.
120 Pug Pellets, (1900, 22 September), The Arrow (Sydney), 3.
121 Greatest Cur on Earth, (1905, 29 July), The Truth (Perth), 6.
122 Duggan fails to stop Heaney, (1905, 13 May), The Truth (Perth), 6.
123 In the fistic arena, (1905, 27 May), The Truth (Perth), 6.
124 Christian Brothers College, (1908, 19 December), The West Australian Record (Perth), 7.
125 Sporting Sparklets, (1907, 22 December), Sunday Times (Perth), 4.
126 Boxing, (1907, 21 April), The Sun (Kalgoorlie), 3.
127 In the fistic arena, (1907, 20 April), The Truth (Perth), 6.
128 Scotch College, (1916, 29 June), The West Australian (Perth), 8.
129 Sport and sportsmen, (1921, 20 August), Smith’s Weekly (Sydney), 7.
130 See The Rhodes Scholar, (1906, 11 February), Sunday Times (Perth), 1; and Guildford Tragedy, (1915, 12 August), The Daily News (Perth), 8.
131 Peeps at People, (1912, 16 June), Sunday Times (Perth), 1.
132 Pen Portraits, (1917, 26 September), The Australian (Perth), 1.
133 Boxer Pluto divorced, (1918, 16 August), The Border Morning Mail and Riverina Times (Albury, NSW), 2.
134 Charge of assault, (1918, 16 November), The West Australian (Perth), 8.
135 The Black Orpington of Biff, (1950, 6 April), The Western Mail (Perth), 49.
136 That’s one thing I never do: Joe Pluto denies soft impeachment that he swears, (1927, 1 October), The Truth (Perth), 11.
137 The Nigger Champion: Coincidences Concerning Coons, (1909, 23 January), The Truth (Perth), 5.
138 The Nigger Champion, (1909), The Truth, 5.
139 Greatest cur on earth: The big bluff, (1905, 29 July), The Truth, 6.
140 In the fistic arena, (1905, 26 August), The Truth (Perth), 6.
141 M. Falcous and W. Anderson, ‘Fighting whose corner? Boxing, the sports press and the Australian imagination’, Continuum 25, no. 5 (2011): 743; G. Osmond and M-L. McDermott, ‘Mixing race: the Kong Sing Brothers and Australian Sport Australian’, Historical Studies 39, no. 3 (2008): 340.
142 Black, yellow or brown? Joe Pluto’s son resents bad language, (1928, 23 November), The News Pictorial (Perth), 3.
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Notes on contributors
Hendrik Snyders
Hendrik Snyders Senior Researcher, Centre for Military Studies, Faculty of Military Science, University of Stellenbosch, Saldanha, South Africa.