The University of Arkansas Press announces the forthcoming publication of George Dixon: The Short Life of Boxing’s First Black World Champion, 1870–1908 by Jason Winders.
In this work of sporting and social history we have a biography of Canadian-born, Boston-raised boxer George Dixon (1870–1908), the first Black world champion of any sport and the first Black world boxing champion in any division. The book reveals the story of the most consequential Black athlete of the nineteenth century and details for the first time his Carnival appearance, perhaps the most significant bout involving a Black fighter until Jack Johnson began his reign in 1908. Yet despite his triumphs, Dixon has been lost to history, overshadowed by Black athletes whose activism against white supremacy far exceeded Dixon’s own.
George Dixon reveals the story of a man trapped between the white world he served and the Black world that worshipped him. By ceding control to a manipulative white promoter, Dixon was steered through the white power structure of Gilded Age prizefighting, becoming world famous and one of North America’s richest Black men. Unable to hold on to his wealth, however, and battered by his vices, a depleted Dixon was abandoned by his white supporters just as the rising tide of Jim Crow limited both his prospects and the freedom of Blacks nationwide.
Jason Winders is a journalist and sport historian who lives in London, Ontario.
George Dixon: The Short Life of Boxing’s First Black World Champion, 1870–1908 will be published in September 2021 in hardcover ($64.95) and paperback ($29.95).