Joe Louis

Journalists repeatedly wrote that Louis slept and ate a lot, read the comics, rooted for the Detroit Tigers, and liked to play baseball and golf. Coupled with the habit of quoting Louis in Uncle Remus dialect, these stories began to shape an image of Louis as a typical "darkie."

There was no truth to any of these generalizations. Even in the ring, much less outside it, Louis did not exhibit cruelty. He did not foul or eagerly attack his opponents when they were hurt or show pleasure at their pain. Nor was he indolent; Louis trained hard, and any writer who covered his training camps knew it. As far as his mind went, Louis was no intellectual, but what boxer was? All this imagery arose from one thing and one thing only: Louis' race.

Source: Mead, Chris. Champion: Joe Louis, Black Hero in White America. London: Robson Books, 1986.