The Every Student Succeeds Act, which is an overhaul of the federal No Child Left Behind law, includes an unusual non-education item: a posthumous pardon for Jack Johnson, the first African-American to win the world heavyweight boxing champion title.
Johnson won the title in 1908 and was subsequently set up in “The Fight of the Century” against a white boxer. He got in trouble for being involved with white women and was ultimately put in jail for a year.
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