Changemaker 22: Peter Jackson

Today’s change maker is Peter Jackson, who was born in 1861 on the Caribbean island of Saint Croix. Early in his life, Jackson moved to Australia, where he established a notable boxing career, first earning the Australian heavyweight title in 1886.

Jackson took his boxing career international, first to California and later to Great Britain, where, in 1892, he won the British Empire title. While his skill and universal popularity took him to the height of the boxing profession of the time, he was, however, denied a chance at the world heavyweight championship because the incumbent world champion, American boxer John L. Sullivan, refused to fight him because he was Black.

After the end of his boxing career, Jackson took a number of jobs, including teaching boxing, touring as an actor in the stage adaptation of Uncle Tom’s Cabin, and later touring with a circus in Australia before dying from tuberculosis at age 40.

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