Heaven in Harlem: The Story of Joe Louis

They called it "Heaven in Harlem." Everybody celebrated from Lenox to Edgecomb. The reawakening must have felt that good because the fever spread across America and beyond Harlem. I suppose the spirit of elation that he injected in the hearts of a nation was that profound. A borrowed touch of Utopia that some once believed was foreign became very familiar inside the hearts of those who loved their hero. The Brown Bomber is what his fans called him, Joe Louis Barrow is "what his mama named him."

Every paper from New York to Chicago to L.A wrote about "Heaven in Harlem." Even Walter Winchell couldn't have narrated the feelings evoked by Joe Louis because the emotions were just that indescribable. Every time Louis stepped into the ring there was a feeling of pride and exhilaration across the country. Every knockout was a punch against racism and racial inferiority. According to ESPN, Joe Louis was the first African-American sports hero who gained crossover recognition in America. "Everybody loved him, Black and White," wrote the Chicago Defender. Joe Louis was an escape from reality for those who were heartbroken by the Great Depression. He provided the stitches of excitement needed to regain a moment of happiness that mended the hearts and minds of many who needed to be uplifted. He gave African-Americans a glimpse of what it was like to simply feel like a human being and not an animal because for many that is how they were treated and perceived.

Lenny Schwartz of ESPN.Com wrote that, "In a time when his people were still subject to lynchings, discrimination and oppression...when the military was still segregated, Joe Louis was the first Black hero. He was the heavyweight champion of the world in an era when the heavyweight champion was the greatest man in the world."

Like an unstoppable rocket bursting in the sky, Joe Louis exploded through the boxing world with a technique that no one had ever seen. He had made a name for himself winning local amateur bouts in Detroit until a number runner, John Roxbrough convinced Louis to hire him as a manger. Roxbrough guided Louis to becoming a professional boxer in 1934. He won his first twenty-seven matches. Twenty-two of those were victories ending in knockouts. Then on June 22,1936 he unexpectedly lost a match to an under-dog-Max Schmeling from Germany. The loss was painful to Louis because of the symbolism and meaning behind the match..

To many, Schmeling was a symbol of Nazi Germany and a profile of Aryan supremacy that had swept across the country championed by Adolf Hitler. Louis took the loss deeply personal. Two years later, with an unstoppable drive and committment to win, Louis avenged the defeat by knocking out Schmeling on June 22nd, 1938. This win made Louis larger then life to all Americans. On the History channel, Dr. Maya Angelou described the win as a moment in time that made her feel "liberated." Angelou said, "When Joe louis knocked Schmeling out we were liberated again. Truth thrown to the ground had risen again. Once more we were free, once more we had a chance once more we were beautiful...surviving." "They worshiped Joe Louis," wrote poet Langston Hughes in an exciting ode to the champion describing the momentum in Harlem. The win was the antithesis of Aryan supremacy beliefs that categorized Black people as the lowest form of human beings- incapable of competing and surviving in society partially based on Darwin's theory of natural selection reinterpreted by Hitler. Louis' win also elevated the greatness of America. "Joe Louis beat the Nazis," is what was written in the papers. The emotions that the match ignited mirrored an earlier bout with Italian boxer, Primo Carnera who was categorized as a symbol of fascism and everything {another dictator,} Benito Mussolini embodied. As Carnera's opponent, Louis was a symbol of freedom and pride for African people and all of the oppressed. The match against Carnera occurred on the brink of Italy's invasion of Ethiopia. It was victories like those that fueled the adrenaline of Americans and people around the world who believed in freedom and democracy for all. Louis made people in that era fight harder to beat the mental conditioning that allowed racism to be successfully institutionalized and embraced in every corner of the globe.

After the victory against Schmeling, Louis went on to dominate boxing for twelve years. He was America's hero. A hero who was loved but had to often enter through the back to go to his favorite restaurants. Joe Louis was considered the greatest man alive but still had to sit in the peanut gallery, which was a section in the back of all theaters and arenas reserved for people of color and embraced by segregationist who felt that the back is where Black people belonged. This was years before Rosa Parks made her stand against this notion. Joe Louis was larger then life in the ring but he couldn't even play at his golf course of choice as America's greatest champion. He could not even retire gracefully as he was plagued by tax debt that refused to be met with a compromise or forgiven by his beloved nation that he loved so much. The irony of being thought of as the greatest man living with all those circumstances is beyond deep and hard to fathom. Incidentally through the discrimination that a hero like Louis was subjected to even after what he gave to the world comes an understanding that we, as a human race of people learn from our mistakes and the past. We are not born to hate or discriminate but our lack of knowledge of each other creates fear. In Caucasian places where African-Americans are not visibly present or in African-American towns where Caucasians are not present, there is often a fear based on the unknown and lack of exposure, which later develops into a lack of understanding of one another. This is true of any ethnic group that is different from one another and is a situation that is greater then black and white. Through the story of Joe Louis and perhaps mistakes made against a man who should have been given more of a worth and appreciation {especially in his last years} we can learn how to repair and progress the right way.

"Their eyes were watching God...and he will wipe away every tear..."

There is in fact a learning method that explains what is known as disequilibria which is a state that occurs when children and people are out of their comfort zone or out of the balance in which they are conditioned to properly function in. This idea was further developed by understanding that, "Equilibration involves the person striking a balance between himself and the environment, between assimilation and accommodation. When a child experiences a new event, disequilibrium sets in until he is able to assimilate and accommodate the new information and thus attain equilibrium." In other words based on environment, when we condition ourselves and our children to be more open and accepting of one another even when they are initially fearful or make mistakes, if they are taught acceptance and how to correct their error of thinking then they are more prone to assimilate with even those people who are different from them and outside of their spectrum of equilibration. The foundation of learning is encountering something we've never encountered before and transmitting the knowledge from that into a process of development that creates a conscious awareness of acceptance diffusing the poisons of racism both in a cognitive and intellectual form. Out of acceptances comes love and love is stronger then fear eradicating all the problems that keep us from collectively reaching the state of euphoria and serenity only believed to exist in heaven. When truly we can actually attain that touch of Utopia while on earth. So Joe Louis' Harlem may not have been filled with gates of pearls or angels playing their harps on Lenox streets paved of gold. It may not have exactley been a reflection of all that is ethereal as we imagine it to be but for many ,"Heaven in Harlem" was a moment to just believe in God's Heaven as described in Revelations. The passage reads , "He wiped away all tears and there was no more pain felt." This was true for Harlemites and all who loved Louis because the happiness incurred through the victories of Louis' matches erased all those feelings of sadness and anger felt living under oppression and racism. It may not have been eternal or everlasting but for that moment, Joe Louis gave many people a chance of attaining equality through equilibrium. Heaven in Harlem was a glimpse of an enticing brush of heaven painted by one of our greatest sportsmen in history: Joe Louis "The Brown Bomber."