Unforgivable Blackness: The Rise and Fall of Jack Johnson

Unforgivable Blackness: The Rise and Fall of Jack Johnson
dvd cover
Directed by	Ken Burns
Produced by	Paul Barnes Ken Burns David Schaye
Written by	Geoffrey C. Ward
Narrated by	Keith David
Music by	Wynton Marsalis
Cinematography	Stephen McCarthy Buddy Squires
Edited by	Paul Barnes Erik Ewers
Production company	WETA Florentine Films
Distributed by	PBS
Release date	January 17, 2005
Running time	214 Minutes 220 Minutes (DVD version)
Country	United States
Language	English

Unforgivable Blackness: The Rise and Fall of Jack Johnson is a documentary by filmmaker Ken Burns based on the nonfiction book of the same name by Geoffrey C. Ward (2004). In Burns' signature style the 220-minute film serves as a biography of Jack Johnson, the first African-American Heavyweight Boxing Champion of the World, as well as a documentary of racism and social inequality during the Jim Crow era against which Jack Johnson lived in defiant opposition.

The documentary was first broadcast on PBS in two parts on January 17 and January 18, 2005. The film is narrated by Keith David and features a soundtrack by Wynton Marsalis and Samuel L. Jackson as the voice of Jack Johnson.Alan Rickman also contributed his voice to the documentary. Stanley Crouch appears offering commentary, including a quote from Johnson responding a question from a white woman about black people, "We eat cold eels and think distant thoughts."

In 2005, the film earned Burns an Emmy Award for Directing for Non-Fiction Programming. David won an Emmy for Best Voice Over Performance.

The film was produced by David Schaye, Paul Barnes and Ken Burns (Executive Producer) for Florentine Films.

The Great White Hope, Howard Sackler's 1967 dramatization of Jack Johnson's life.