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Abstract
The 1935 fight between Paulino Uzcudun and Joe Louis merits closer scrutiny than it has traditionally received from historians. The contest occurred at an interesting nexus of racial and ethnic identities involving not only black and white Americans but also Spanish-Americans. An analysis of newspaper coverage of the fight shows that the press, whether aimed at a white, black or Spanish readership, carefully constructed positive images of the fighters. The white press hoped to build interest in the fight through the creation of an interesting storyline built on the particular strengths of each boxer. Both the African-American and Spanish newspapers constructed images of their fighter that reflected the values and characteristics of the community as whole. Yet, despite the national and international context promoting racial and ethnic tensions, each community celebrated its favourite son without resorting to demeaning characterizations of his opponent.
Notes
1 Detroit Free Press, December 14, 1935. Julian Black Collection of Joe Louis Scrapbooks, National Museum of American History, Smithsonian Institution, vol.10. Hereafter JLS.
2 CitationLouis, My Life Story, 62.
3 A round by round account of the fight can be found in the New York Times, December 14, 1935.
4 For example, CitationMargolick, Beyond Glory, 118–21.
5 CitationHeinze, ‘The Critical Period’.
6 CitationRiess, ‘Sport, Race, and Ethnicity in the American City’, 210.
7 Examples include the US debuts of well-known Spanish musicians Andrés Segovia, José Iturbi and works by Manuel de Falla. CitationStein, ‘Before the Latin Tinge’, 227–9.
8 See CitationSánchez Korrol, From Colonia to Community.
9 On Johnson see CitationRoberts, Papa Jack and CitationWard, Unforgivable Blackness.
10 CitationHietala, The Fight of the Century, Chap. 7.
11 See CitationHarris, African-American Reactions to War in Ethiopia and CitationGuglielmo, White on Arrival, Chap. 6.
12 CitationUzcudun, Mi Vida, 1–39.
13 New York Times, January 15, 1926.
14 CitationSammons, Beyond the Ring, 78–81.
15 New York Times, January 29, 1928.
16 On Carnera see CitationGallico, Farewell to Sport, 56–69. For a fictional tale based on his career, CitationSchulberg, The Harder They Fall.
17 Uzcudun, Mi Vida, 257–60. He also alleges that the Italians tried a host of tricks designed to weaken him before the fight, including an attempt to seduce him in order to sap his strength (262).
18 Paulino may have fought in Spain after the conclusion of the Spanish Civil War in 1939. The Citation Enciclopedia general ilustrada del Pais Vasco states that his last fight was in 1941, 264.
19 Louis, My Life Story, 13–59.
20 Erenberg, The Greatest Fight of Our Generation, 3.
21 Emphasis on both sports and anti-colonialism helped boost the circulation of the major black newspapers. CitationStevens, ‘The Black Press and the 1936 Olympics’, 98. Figures for the Pittsburgh Courier grew from around 46,000 in 1932 to almost 260,000 in 1944, CitationWiggins, ‘Wendell Smith’, 6.
22 CitationBuni, Robert L. Vann of the Pittsburgh Courier, 243–4. Between 1933 and 1938 Joe Louis (80 times) and Ethiopian ruler Haile Selassie (24 times) appeared on the front page of the Chicago Defender, more than any other individuals. CitationDrake and Cayton, Black Metropolis, 403.
23 Erenberg, The Greatest Fight of Our Generation, 39.
24 Buni, Robert L. Vann of the Pittsburgh Courier, 254.
25 For example, Gallico, ‘Mean Man’.
26 Erenberg, The Greatest Fight of Our Generation, 42–4, 69–70.
27 New York Evening Journal, December 11, 1935. JLS, vol.11.
28 Pittsburgh Courier, 29 June 1935. Quoted in Buni, Robert L. Vann of the Pittsburgh Courier, 254.
29 There were other social and political factors in American life that helped make Louis more acceptable than previous African-American fighters, CitationJaher, ‘White America’, 158–9. Nevertheless, positive acceptance of Louis as a possible champion coexisted with vehement opposition to the idea. On an exhibition tour to New Orleans in 1936, for example, Louis proved enormously popular among white fans and yet still had to spar with a black fighter since promoters were reluctant to have him face a white opponent, even in an exhibition. Hietala, The Fight of the Century, 164–5.
30 The newspapers discussed here are either the major papers from important cities such as New York or those that carried nationally distributed wire service or syndicated content.
31 CitationWiggins, ‘Boxing's Sambo Twins’, 251. Wiggins also describes how realistic portrayals of Louis often coexisted with other traditional stereotypes. An example of this sort can be found in the pre-fight coverage of the Uzcudun-Louis fight. A cartoon appearing in the New York Sun on 11 December depicted Louis both realistically and positively, but in smaller images surrounding the central image, the figures representing Louis are shown in a characteristically ‘Sambo’ manner. JLS, vol.9.
32 New York Herald Tribune, December 8 1935, and New York Sun, December 12, 1935. JLS, vol.9.
33 New York Evening Sun, December 12, 1935. JLS vol.10. Similar stories appeared in New York Sun, December 11, 1935, and Jersey Journal, December 12, 1935. JLS, vol.9.
34 New York Sun, December 13, 1935. JLS, vol.9.
35 Nashville Banner, December 14, 1935. JLS, vol.11.
36 Sammons, Beyond the Ring, 104–5.
37 Chicago Defender, November 16, 23 and 30, 1935.
38 Richmond Planet, December 7, 1935.
39 Chicago Defender, December 14, 1935. Similar stories appeared in Baltimore Afro-American, December 14, 1935.
40 New York Amsterdam News, December 14, 1935. JLS, vol.9.
41 Pittsburgh Courier, December 14, 1935. The Courier had covered Louis's career extensively since late 1934 and eventually took to calling itself the ‘Joe Louis Paper’. In addition to writing profiles of Louis for the paper, Chester Washington served as the boxer's secretary and confidant, Buni, Robert L. Vann of the Pittsburgh Courier, 234, 252.
42 Chicago Defender, November 23, 1935, and Richmond Planet, November 30, 1935.
43 Baltimore Afro-American, December 7, 1935.
44 The opposite could also be the case for boxers who avoided black fighters. In the mid-1920s when the white boxer and local hero William ‘Young’ Stribling seemed poised for greatness, one major African-American newspaper in Georgia criticized him for not shaking hands with Harry Wills and questioned whether he would even train with black fighters. CitationKaye, The Pussycat of Prizefighting, 134.
45 Pittsburgh Courier, November 23, 1935.
46 Although not introduced from the ring like other famous spectators, Johnson attended the Louis-Uzcudun fight, sitting in the 23rd row ringside. Baltimore Afro-American, December 28, 1935.
47 Baltimore Afro-American, December 21, 1935.
48 To some the images of Louis simply represented ‘more acceptable racial stereotypes’ than those depicting Johnson; Jaher, ‘White America’, 161.
49 Chicago Defender, December 14, 1935.
50 New York Amsterdam News, December 14, 1935. JLS, vol.9.
51 Baltimore Afro-American, December 7, 1935.
52 New York Amsterdam News, December 7 and 14, 1935. JLS, vol.9. By this point in his career, Louis was nearly always quoted as clearly speaking English rather than a stereotyped dialect, but, like the ‘Sambo’ images, these notions died hard and were not completely absent from the pre-fight coverage. For example, see Hype Igoe writing in the New York Evening Journal, December 12, 1935. JLS, vol.9.
53 Pittsburgh Courier, December 7, 1935.
54 Chicago Defender, December 14, 1935.
55 Baltimore Afro-American, December 28, 1935. Over his career Paulino had defeated Wills and lost to both Louis and George Godfrey.
56 Chicago Defender, December 21, 1935.
57 Pittsburgh Courier, December 21, 1935.
58 Here I use the term that the Spanish used to describe their community in 1935.
59 La Prensa, November 12, 1935.
60 La Prensa, December 12, 1935, and Jersey Journal, December 12, 1935. JLS vol.9.
61 La Gaceta, December 2, 4, 7 and 12, 1935.
62 La Prensa (San Antonio), November 18, December 3 and 7, 1935.
63 La Prensa, November 29, December 3 and14, 1935. The receipts were reported in New York World Telegram, December 14, 1935. JLS, vol.9.
64 La Prensa (San Antonio), December 13, 1935.
65 La Prensa, December 5 and 13, 1935.
66 La Gaceta, November 25 and 28, 1935.
67 See for example, ABC, December 15, 1935.
68 La Prensa, December 14, 1935.
69 La Gaceta, December 16 and 24, 1935.
70 Guglielmo, White on Arrival, 124.