Unforgivable Blackness

[IrateCitizen]

Did anyone else see the new Ken Burns piece on PBS -- "Unforgivable Blackness: The Rise and Fall of Jack Johnson"? If so, what were your thoughts on it?

I saw it and liked it very much. Burns did an excellent job of putting the complete hypocrisy of US race relations at the turn of the 20th century on full display. I especially appreciated the way in which he pulled no punches in his (historically correct) depiction of Woodrow Wilson as possibly the most racist President we had after the Civil War.

I also liked the way that historians contrasted Johnson, Booker T. Washington and W.E.B DuBois as the most influential black figures of the Progressive Era, and the difference between the lives they lived and what they stood for. Personally, I've always been a big fan of DuBois, and I especially liked the way that even though DuBois disagreed with most of what Johnson did with his life, he correctly recognized that the reason that Johnson was being persecuted had everything to do with his "unforgivable blackness".