Joe Louis My Champion

An African-American boy idolises world champion prize-fighter Joe Louis as a boxer and a role model.

The memoirs of the boxer known as the Brown Bomber, who became heavyweight champion of the world in 1937.

Known affectionately as "The Brown Bomber," Louis held the heavyweight boxing championship for a record 11 years. Acclaimed as "stunning" by Kirkus Reviews, this is perhaps the best biography of the popular pugilist, recounting his triumphs and tragedies against the background of America in the 1930s and '40s. Includes 14 photographs.

A “humbling, inspiring . . . deeply emotional” biography of the boxing legend who held the heavyweight world championship for more than eleven years (Kirkus Reviews, starred review). Known as the Brown Bomber, Joe Louis defended his heavyweight title an astonishing twenty-five times. Through the 1930s, he got more column inches of newspaper coverage than President Roosevelt. At a time when the boxing ring was the only venue where black and white could meet on equal terms, Louis embodied Black America’s hope for dignity and equality. And in 1938, his politically charged defeat of German boxer Max Schmeling made Louis a national hero on the world stage. Through meticulous research and first-hand interviews, acclaimed biographer Randy Roberts presents a complete portrait of Louis and his outsized impact on sport and country. Digging beneath the simplistic narratives of heroism and victimization, Roberts reveals an athlete who carefully managed his public image, and whose relationships with both the black and white communities—including his relationships with mobsters—were deeply complex. “Roberts is a fine match with his subject. He supports with powerful evidence his contention that Louis’s impact was enormous and profound.” —The Boston Globe

A biography of the beloved heavyweight champion.

Joe Louis held the heavyweight boxing championship longer than any other fighter and defended it a record 25 times. (In the 1930s and 1940s, the owner of the heavyweight title was the most prominent non-team sports competitor.) In addition, Louis helped bridge the gap of understanding between whites and blacks. During World War II he not only raised money for Army and Navy relief and entertained millions of troops as a morale officer, but became a symbol of American hope and strength. This biography of Louis outlines his rise from poverty in Alabama to become the best-known African American of his time and describes how an uneducated man, simple at his core, became so articulate and ended up on the side of right in the battles he fought, with fist or voice.

A biography of Joe Louis describing his youth in a Detroit ghetto, his rise to heavyweight champion and major sports hero, and his role in destroying the myth of racial inferiority.