Photograph of Jack Johnson and Jim Jeffries

This 1910 boxing match between Jack Johnson, the first African American World Heavyweight Champion, and James Jeffries, the previously undefeated World Heavyweight Champion, is known as the first "Fight of the Century" or the "Johnson-Jeffries Prize Fight." The eagerly anticipated fight had significant racial implications, with overtly racist press directed towards Johnson in the lead up. Johnson beat Jeffries in the fifteenth round, after knocking him down three times. As African Americans celebrated Johnson's victory in the week after the fight, whites retaliated and dozens of race riots broke out across the country. The violence of the "Johnson-Jeffries riots" took place in both large cities and small towns in Ohio, Texas, Arkansas, Illinois, New York, Missouri, Virginia, Nebraska, Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Delaware, and the District of Columbia. The true toll is unknown, but it is estimated that at least ten African Americans were killed and hundreds of people were injured.