President Donald Trump granted a rare posthumous pardon to boxing's first black heavyweight champion on Thursday, clearing Jack Johnson's name more than 100 years after what many see as his racially-charged conviction.
"It's my honor to do it. It's about time," Mr Trump said during an Oval Office ceremony, where he was joined by boxer Lennox Lewis and actor Sylvester Stallone, who has drawn awareness to Johnson's cause.
Mr Trump said Johnson had served 10 months in prison for what many view as a racially-motivated injustice and described his decision as an effort "to correct a wrong in our history." "He represented something that was both very beautiful and very terrible at the same time," Mr Trump said.
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