Why Is Joe Louis An Important Role Model

Joe Louis: All-Around Champion Joe Louis was a very important role model during the civil rights movement. Joe Louis was one of the most major figures in the civil rights movement in his time. Joe Louis was an amazing boxer with good values and morals, which was a very rare thing for anyone to have around then. Although he may not have attended every sit-in, he was still a major role model to all African-Americans and every other race. He was a knock-out superstar in the ring and in protests. On May 13, 1914 in Lexington, Alabama, a boy named Joseph Louis Barrow was born. Some years later, he and his family moved across the nation to Michigan. Not long after the move, he began his boxing career. He was a little shaky beginner, being knocked

Among the people who Louis defeated in that time period were boxing Legends Max Baer, Natie Brown, and Paolino Uzcudun. The victory against the former heavyweight champion Primo Carnera drew the most national attention, though. Some say it drew the most attention because Carnera was Italian, and Benito Mussolini, a dictator, led at the time, and Nations found most pride in their athletes then. In 1936, Joe lost for the first time to Max Schmeling, a German. But 2 years later, the Louis-Schmeling rematch roared across the nation. It is arguably one of the most anticipated events in sport’s history(Appel, Jacob, pg.1-3). It was a short fight, because Louis absolutely dominated the entire match. He knocked the German to the mat with two vertebrae shattered. After the fight, Louis became the first African-American celebrity to be openly praised and accepted by all races. After Louis lost back to back fights, he finally retired. He had an astonishing record of 71 fights, 68 wins, and 54 knockouts. He defeated most of the other people from his time that are now considered Legends. Not many years after retirement, Joe went into debt because of drug issues and poor financial judgments. He later turned his life into a sedimentary one, full of trauma and abuse of narcotics. He passed away on April 12,