NBC News reports:
President Donald Trump has granted a posthumous pardon for boxing’s first black heavyweight champion more than 100 years after the late Jack Johnson was convicted by all-white jury of accompanying a white woman across state lines
Trump had said he was considering a pardon in April, when he announced on Twitter that the actor Sylvester Stallone, a friend of his, had called to bring Johnson’s story to his attention.
“His trials and tribulations were great, his life complex and controversial,” Trump wrote from his Mar-a-Lago club in Florida. “Others have looked at this over the years, most thought it would be done, but yes, I am considering a Full Pardon!”
Actor Sylvester Stallone invited to WH as Pres Trump grants posthumous pardon to boxer Jack Johnson, an African-American convicted in 1912 for taking Lucille Cameron, a white woman, later his wife, across state lines.
— Mark Knoller (@markknoller) May 24, 2018
Trump, flanked by Sly Stallone and Lennox Lewis, among other boxing greats, signs pardon of Jim Crow-era boxer Jack Johnson pic.twitter.com/1iEJsTLGJT
— Justin Sink (@justinsink) May 24, 2018
MOMENTS AGO: President Trump issues posthumous pardon for boxing legend Jack Johnson — the first African-American heavyweight champion of the world pic.twitter.com/63MV6cENKL
— CBS Evening News (@CBSEveningNews) May 24, 2018