Joe Louis Biography

When he was little his mom died, and his dad remarried to a woman named Thula. Thula did not like joe and she kicked him out when he was only ten years old. “She declared that she would not live under the same roof as joe, that Harry must choose between him and her. She said Joe would have to move out if she were to stay in a godforsaken place. Joe was only ten years old” (Brown 86,87). I never could understand how someone could kick a child out of the house and force them to live on their own when they are ten years old. As Joe grew up the more he needed his family, but his family was not there for him, at least not his biological family. When Joe made the rowing team that's the day that he got a new family, even if he did not know it at the time. So was Joyce, a beautiful girl who loved joe and they were going to get married and start a family of their own. “When joe stopped playing they talked about what it would be like when they were married and had a hoe and maybe kids” (Brown 102). Making the rowing team and meeting and falling in love with Joyce might have been the best thing that has ever happened to Joe. As soon as everything start going good for Joe, Thula gets an infection and dies. Not that it was a good thing that she died, it was very sad, but it brought Joe and his dad back together again. Harry wanted Joe to move back home with him and the kids. “I’m going to build a house where we can all live

how important it was for Joe to win the fight and what the outcomes could be if he did

If one was to go out into the street, walked up to a random stranger and asked them if they knew who Louis Armstrong was, chances are that they would be able to answer you correctly. Louis Armstrong (Aug 4th, 1901 - Jul 6th, 1971) was an American trumpeter, composer, singer and occasional actor who became one of the most influential figures in jazz. His career spanned many decades, from the 1920s to his death in 1971, and many different eras in jazz. He first came to prominence in the 1920s as a trumpeter and cornet player with no technique as well as being very skilled in scat singing, Armstrong was a foundational influence in jazz, influencing many later jazz artists as well as shifting the focus of the music from collective improvisation to solo performance.With his very well-known and recognizable gravelly voice, a technique that was later named “crooning”, Armstrong was an incredibly influential singer, demonstrating great dexterity as an improviser by bending the lyrics and melody of a song for expressive purposes on demand. Renowned for his charming and incredibly charismatic stage presence and voice almost as much as for his trumpet and/or cornet playing, Armstrong 's influence extends far beyond jazz music, and by the end of his career in the early 1970s at his death, he was widely regarded as a deep and profound influence on popular music in general. Armstrong was one of the first very popular

This quote from history.com describes why he was liked by many. “By ‘destroying’ German Max Schmeling in their second encounter in 1938, as Adolf Hitler and the Nazis rose to power, Louis provided some assurance that America’s best could beat the best that Germany had to offer. Louis continued to win approval thereafter by joining the army.” This quote shows that Louis loves his country and is humble about his victories, which started to unify Whites and Blacks. Before Joe Louis had fought that night, many Black Americans looked up to him as a symbol of hope for Blacks’ to be treated equally. In this quote from I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings on page 135, Maya accurately depicts what that fight meant for every Black American living in the South. “My race groaned. It was our people falling. It was another lynching, yet another Black man hanging on a tree. A Black boy whipped and maimed. It was hounds on the trail of a man running through slimy swamps. It was a white woman slapping her maid for being forgetful.” Maya shows what Black Americans thought after their hero was struck down. She knew that if Louis would have lossed. Whites and Blacks would have never

Jack Johnson was born in Galveston, Texas, on March 31, 1878. He was born the third child of nine and the first son, of Henry and Tina "Tiny" Johnson. After a few years of school, He went to work as a laborer to help support his family. Most of his childhood was spent working on boats and

By 1905, his experience playing baseball in the Mills would earn the eighteen year old Joe enough of a name to be hired by the Green-ville Spinners of the Carolina Association. After a brief stint with the Spinners, Connie Mack of the Philadelphia Athletics drafted “Shoeless” to play on his team. It wasn't until 1911 when Joe Jackson signed with the pelicans that he completed his first full season, setting a record .408 batting average for any other rookie to date. “Shoeless” Joe's need to support his family with what little money he could scrounge through various means opened a career opportunity for him to excel in baseball.

     Joe Louis was born in Alabama on May 13, 1914. He was the son of an Alabama sharecropper, the great grandson of a slave, and the great great grandson of a white slave owner.

In 1912, he was sent to Colored Waif's Home for Boys. There, he was educated on the cornet and grew his love for music. He was released in 1914 and worked odd jobs and dreamed about a life filled with music. His reputation grew as a blues player. Joe "King" Oliver (influential cornet player), began acting as a mentor to the Armstrong. (Biography.com)

His Father Henry and Mother Tiny were former slaves who when were free, made a living as a janitor and a laundress in Galveston Texas. There they started a family and had six children. Arthur was there third, and though they could not, they made sure all there children could both read and write. It was said that Jack Johnson was always a dreamer, a little more over the rest for at the age of twelve he stowed away in a cotton steamer to New York City to meet his hero,

Joe Jackson had a difficult life before baseball. His family was moved by his father to the Brandon area outside of Greenville, South Carolina. He was the oldest of 8 kids but by the young ages of 6 to 7 Joe Jackson was uneducated and

Louis was born into a poor family on August 4, 1901 in New Orleans, louisiana. He was the grandson of a slave spending his childhood in poverty in a rough neighborhood that was called the battlefield. His dad William Armstrong had abandoned the family when louis was young to be with another women. Then his mother Mayann left him and his sister Beatrice in the care of Josephine, which was his grandmother.

Johnson followed Jeffries from town to town. “Jeffries, however, refused to fight a black boxer and instead decided to retire undefeated.”(Unforgivable Blackness). The Championship was handed over to a white named Tommy Burns, who as well declined to fight Johnson but eventually gave in at the cost of thirty thousand dollars. In the year 1908, Johnson knocked out Burns in the sixteenth round, to win the title and create history. “He was a fast and brilliant defensive boxer who fought at a time when white champions like John L. Sullivan and James Jeffries refused to fight black fighters. Jeffries retired rather than face Johnson, but he returned six years later when the clamor for a great white hope could not be ignored”(Sandomir D3). Even James Jefferies was beaten and and thus, Johnson had beat all that stood in his way, from bottom to the top. Through perseverance and relentlessness, Johnson had achieved his dream.

John R. Cash (Johnny) was born in1932 to a poor family in Kingsland, Arkansas. Born the fourth of seven children, Cash began working beside his siblings and parents on cotton fields at the age of five (Johnny Cash Columbia). This is where his musical influences began. His mother, Carrie Rivers Cash, would sing hymns and other inspirational music to her children while they would toil long, hot days farming cotton. Growing up in The Depression, times were tough, and the Cash family had to work to survive. Cash

certain acoustical deadness in my hole, and when I have music I want to feel

Cassius clay, one of the world’s most distinguished boxers, was born in Louisville, Kentucky on January 7, 1942. Clays work ethic was apparent even in the early years of his life. As a child, he raced the school bus to school each morning. His friends would wave to him as the lead fluctuated based on the school bus’ stops. This work ethic extended to the classroom. Because of a learning disability, Clay had to work extra hard in school to not fall behind. Clay grew up with racial segregation all around him. These injustices sparked a passion in him to change the way people viewed African Americans: “I wanted to show that color didn’t matter”(Muhammad Ali: An American Legend). Clay’s boxing career began because of an incident when he was 12 years old. He and a friend rode their bikes to the Columbia Auditorium for The Louisville Home Show. When they were ready to go home, Clay discovered that his bike was stolen. Filled with rage, Clay wanted to retaliate. He found police officer, Joe Martin, who told him, “You better learn how to fight before you start challenging people that you’re gonna whoop” (Hauser 18). Martin became his coach, and although Clay never found the thief, he found a love of boxing that would continue throughout his life. Between the ages of 12 and 18, Clay