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Rise and Fall of Jack Johnson

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With support from: Lowell Institute
Date and time
Thursday, January 13, 2005

Peter Roby, director of the Center for Sport and Society at Northeastern University, moderates a panel after the film screening of *Unforgiveable Blackness: The Rise and Fall of Jack Johnson.* Panelists include: Robin Chandler, recently named chair of Women's Studies at Northeastern, professor Bob Hall of the African-American Studies Department, and *Boston Globe* sportswriter and boxing journalist, Ron Borges. Jack Johnson, born in Galveston, Texas on March 31, 1878, became the first black American boxer to win the heavyweight title. During his 30 years of boxing, he fought 113 bouts, winning 78 and losing 35 of them. He had 44 knockouts, 34 of which were won by decision. For more than 13 years, Jack Johnson was considered the most famous and most infamous African American on earth. He battled his way from obscurity to the top of the heavyweight ranks and won the greatest prize in American sports, a prize that had always been the private preserve of white combatants.

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Peter Roby was named Northeastern's ninth Athletics Director on June 21, 2007. Roby, former head basketball coach at Harvard University, marketing vice president at Reebok, and since 2002, Director of Northeastern's Center for the Study of Sport in Society, brings broad experience in unique perspective to his new position. Roby has been referenced extensively in print, television and radio media all over the world and his opinion pieces have been published on the editorial pages of the *Boston Globe*, the* Indianapolis Star*, the *Dallas Morning News* and the *Oregonian*. In October of 2007, Roby was named one of the 100 Most Influential Sports Educators in America by the Institute of International Sport. Roby is a 1979 graduate of Dartmouth College where he was co-captain of the basketball team and earned a bachelor's degree in Government. A native of New Britain, Connecticut, Roby lives with his wife, Sandra, and children, Kayla, Peter, and Jon Paul, in Newton, Mass.
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Robin Chandler has worked in the media of collage, photography, computerized imaging and creative writing for more than 20 years. Her work appears in numerous public and private collections in the US, the Middle East, India, Australia and Southern Africa. Chandler has been the Director of the Women's Studies Program at Northeastern University since 2004, and is a Fulbright scholar and a National Endowment for the Arts grant recipient.
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