The Chicago Defender, a Black newspaper, said Jeffries and Johnson would “settle the mooted question of supremacy.” The Daily News in Omaha, Nebraska, reported that a Jeffries victory would restore superiority to the white race.īefore the fight, there were signs whites feared a Jeffries loss – and that this loss would not be restricted to the boxing ring but would have ramifications for all of society. Jeffries announced to the world that he would “ reclaim the heavyweight championship for the white race.” He became the “ Great White Hope.” Novelist Jack London, writing in the New York Herald, wrote about Johnson’s “hopeless slaughter” of Burns and, like other journalists, called on former champion James Jeffries to come out of retirement and “ wipe that smile from Johnson’s face.” Johnson won the heavyweight title by easily defeating the defending champion Tommy Burns in 1908. Du Bois considered “ unnecessarily alienating acts.” Setting up a racial battle He sped through towns in flashy cars, wore expensive clothes, spent his time with gamblers and prostitutes, and dated white women, which Black sociologist and commentator W.E.B. He was brash and arrogant and made no attempt to show any deference to whites. He dispatched one white fighter after another and taunted both the fighter and the crowd.
Johnson’s boxing career challenged those myths.
Journalists, too, sought to maintain social order by preserving myths about white supremacy. Hayes became president after promising three former Confederate states – South Carolina, Florida and Louisiana – that he would withdraw federal troops, who had protected the measure of racial equality Blacks were beginning to achieve.Īs federal forces left, whites disenfranchised Black voters and passed segregation laws, which were enforced by legal and illegal means, including police brutality and lynching. Bennett in Frank Leslie's illustrated newspaper, via Library of Congress A backdrop of racial hostilityīorn in 1878 in Galveston, Texas, Johnson grew up as the Jim Crow era in American history was getting started. But thanks to the infamous Levi’s commercial and the toned body of Nike Kamen, this understated underwear has cemented itself a spot in history-as well as your underwear drawer.Federal troops leave New Orleans in April 1877, as Reconstruction ends. On the surface, white boxers might not seem like a likely candidate for a fashion revolution. Pair them with white calf-length socks and you’ll look charming from tush to toes. We suggest picking a pair of boxers that errs on the shorter side instead of long baggy boxers. From the ’50s to the ’80s to today, a pair of stark white boxers is the type of no-nonsense underwear that is quintessentially masculine, which lends itself to their sexiness.
Not only does this commercial prove, yet again, that sex sells, but also the timeless nature of a pair of white boxers. Women swooned, men followed suit and just like that, not only did Levi’s sales rise by 800%, but the sale of boxers also reached a record high. During the course of this less-than-60-seconds ad we see Kamen strip down, toss his clothes-along with a bag of rocks-in a washing machine, and in nothing but a pair of white Spunsel boxers and tube socks takes a seat against the wall. “I Heard It Through The Grapevine” by Marvin Gaye fades in, and British model and singer Nick Kamen enters a 1950’s style launderette clad in a tight black tee and 501 jeans.
While boxers have been around since the 1920s, with varying periods of popularity, their most recent rise to favor is largely credited to an iconic, 1985 Levi’s commercial featuring a pair of humble white underwear. How White Boxers Changed The World Of Underwear
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