Do you know the story of Galveston's most famous resident?

GALVESTON - He was nicknamed the "Galveston Giant" and today the man who made a huge impact on history is being recognized. Boxing great Jack Johnson has been called Galveston’s most famous resident and on this day March 31, 1878, Johnson was born, becoming the first Black to hold the heavyweight boxing title.   

"Jack Johnson, the first Black heavyweight boxing champion of the world", an announcers voice blares through Galveston’s Bryan Museum. That’s where we caught up with Johnson’s great-great niece Linda Bell Haywood, who stopped by the park named after him in the neighborhood he once lived in, and she spent time at Bryan Museum viewing the special exhibit commemorating Johnson's birthday.

"This day is extremely important to me because 143 years ago one of the greatest men that ever walked the face of the Earth was born," smiles Haywood whose maternal great-grandmother was Johnson's sister.

"He lived in a very dangerous time. He lived during the Jim Crow Era," explains Haywood.

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So the boxing great fought hard for racial equality.

"With regards to race relations, that Black male strength and dominance was something that was not celebrated," explains Historian Samuel Collins III.

So even after Johnson won his first heavyweight championship in 1908, "He later defended that title against Jim Jeffries on July 4, 1910, in what was considered the battle of the century. Jeffries came out of retirement as the "Great White Hope" to put Johnson back in his place," says Collins.

Many Blacks who celebrated Johnson’s win were killed and Johnson himself became a target.

"They would bother him morning, noon and night, and for a man as rich and powerful and famous as he was, to be broken down to where he was crying like a little baby that’s very, very heartbreaking," his niece says. 

Johnson was arrested for crossing state lines with white women, one of which became his wife.

"It shouldn’t have been against the law for him to marry outside of his race," Haywood adds. "Once convicted of the Mann Act, he left the country for seven years. He didn’t come back until 1920 and then he spent a year in prison," Collins explains. 

"My family didn’t talk about him because they were ashamed about the fact that he went to prison," says Haywood. 

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Johnson was pardoned by President Donald Trump in 2018, 72 years after he died.

"I have a piece of paper that says he is no longer depicted as a convicted felon. History has to be re-written to show that he was racially and improperly convicted and imprisoned because of his race," smiles Haywood.     

The Bryan Museum's Jack Johnson tribute exhibit is now on display.