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Today’s Black History WOW!
Peter Jackson was born on July 3, 1861, in Christiansted on the island Saint Croix, which was then the capital of the Danish West Indies and later part of the U.S. Virgin Islands. His family originally came from Montego Bay, Jamaica. He moved to Australia as a young child.
Born a free man, Peter was technically a Danish citizen before he gained Australian citizenship. While working on ships as a deckhand in the Sydney Docks, he used his fists to quell a mutiny. This incident brought him to the attention of Larry Foley who started his career in boxing.
In 1886, Jackson won the Australian heavyweight title by knocking out Tom Leeds in the 30th round. He found it difficult to get opponents in Australia, so he moved to the United States in 1888 and fought his way across the country.
After a trip to England, Jackson came back to the United States. In 1891, John L. Sullivan, the then-heavyweight champion, would not fight him, saying he would not box against Negroes. However, James "Gentleman Jim" Corbett did. On May 21, at the California Athletic Club in San Francisco, they fought for 61 rounds and the bout was finally ruled a draw.
Back in England in 1892, Jackson won the British Empire championship with a second-round knockout of Jem Smith and then defended the title with a 10th-round knockout of Frank Slavin. In that bout, however, Jackson suffered two broken ribs that punctured a lung.
Although he was one of the best boxing champions of his day, Jackson never got a chance to compete for a world title due to racism.
Jackson retired for six years but staged an ill-fated comeback in 1898 with two fights. James J. Jeffries and Jim Jeffords knocked him out. Three years later, on July 13, 1901, in Roma, Queensland Australia, Peter “Black Prince” Jackson died of tuberculosis, contracted from his 1892 lung injury.
He is buried in Toowong Cemetery where his friends erected a monument to the boxer. During his 105 fights, Jackson’s lifetime Ring Record was 57 Wins, 20 Knock Outs, 5 losses, and 28 No-Contests.
Peter Jackson was inducted into the International Boxing Hall of Fame in the inaugural 1990 class and was the 2004 inductee for the Australian National Boxing Hall of Fame in the Pioneers category.
Today In Black History
In 1887, Isaiah Montgomery founded Mound Bayou, an all-African-American town in Mississippi.
In 1940, Black inventor Frederick McKinley Jones received a patent for a shock-proof refrigeration device that enabled transporting food and blood without needing ice for cooling.
In 1949, Black inventor Frederick McKinley Jones also received a patent for a starter generator.
In 1951, a white mob tried to keep a Black family from moving into all-white Cicero, Illinois.
In 1975, the African nation of Sao Tome and Principe gained its independence from Portugal.
In 1976, Barbara Jordan (D-TX) became the first Black person to give the keynote address at a national political convention when she spoke at the Democratic National Convention.
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