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Program for the 1936 Schmeling-Louis Bout

Schmeling-Louis
Moorland-Spingarn Research Center, Howard University, Washington, DC; US Holocaust Memorial Museum
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tags: leisure & recreation visual art

type: Poster

In 1930, boxer Max Schmeling became the first German world heavyweight champion. After winning the title, Schmeling’s career began to stall. But with three victories in 1935, he worked his way back into title contention.1 

In June 1936, Schmeling finally got a shot at the undefeated Black American boxer, Joe Louis—known to boxing fans as the "Brown Bomber." A native of Alabama, Louis was a hero to many Black Americans. Only a few sports were integrated in the United States at the time, and Black athletes were excluded from most professional sports. Boxing presented rare opportunities for Black athletes to compete on the world stage at the highest levels.

The featured drawing decorated the cover of the program for the Louis-Schmeling fight on June 18, 1936, in New York City’s Yankee Stadium.2 It shows Louis on the left, and the taller Schmeling on the right. Major commentators considered Louis an eight-to-one favorite, while the Schmeling was considered too old to win.

But Louis was overconfident and neglected his training, and Schmeling studied his opponent carefully and trained hard. A crowd of 46,000 at Yankee Stadium watched in shock as Schmeling knocked Louis down in the 4th round and scored a knockout in the 12th. "The man just whupped me," Louis later said.3

Schmeling returned to Germany a national hero. A Nazi periodical called Das Schwarze Korps noted that "Schmeling's victory was not only sport. It was a question of prestige for our race." Although he never joined the Nazi Party, Schmeling denied reports of Jewish persecution and praised Nazi Germany when he was questioned by Americans.

Louis' American fans did not abandon him after his defeat. A tribute appeared in a leading Black newspaper with the headline, "Joe Louis, We Are With You."4 Now it was Louis’ turn to fight his way back into contention. He beat James J. Braddock in 1937, and a Louis-Schmeling rematch became inevitable.

The second Louis-Schmeling heavyweight bout on June 22, 1938 was billed as the "fight of the century," and it carried significant racial overtones. Schmeling was seen as a symbol of Nazi claims to racial superiority, and Louis carried the hopes of the Black community—Louis was also supported by many white Americans hoping for a symbolic victory of democracy over fascism. Jews in Germany and the US were also eager for Nazi racism to suffer a symbolic defeat. 

Many white Americans still were not ready for a Black champion, but they saw Louis as a superb athlete who deserved a rematch for reasons that were also political. Louis himself later observed that even racist white people who "were lynching Black people in the South...were depending on me to K.O. a German." He felt an intense amount of pressure to win the rematch, writing that "I knew I had to get Schmeling good...the whole damned country was depending on me."5

Before 80,000 people in Yankee Stadium, Louis made good on his promise to get Schmeling. He unleashed a series of brutal punches—one punch broke two vertebrae in Schmeling’s back. It was all over in two minutes and four seconds. Louis was declared the winner. 

After two weeks in the hospital, Schmeling returned to Germany. This time there was no hero's welcome. Although he returned to the ring, his first fight with Joe Louis remained the high point of Schmeling's career. Louis defended his world heavyweight title until 1949. He made twenty-five consecutive title defenses in all, which is still an unbeaten record.

After the war, the two men developed a close friendship. Schmeling even served as a pallbearer at Louis’ funeral.

Max Schmeling had become a celebrity in Germany by the time of the 1936 Olympic Games in Berlin. Nazi propaganda depicted Schmeling's matches as evidence of what they falsely claimed was "Aryan" Germans' supposed racial superiority over other "races." To learn more about boxing in Nazi "racial thinking," see the Experiencing History item Johann Rukeli Trollmann with His Teammates.

The original (color print, 23" x 24," unidentified artist) is held by the Moorland-Spingarn Research Center, Howard University, Washington, DC., and is used here with permission.

"Max Schmeling, German Boxer, Is Dead at 99," The New York Times, February 4, 2005.

The Pittsburgh Courier, June 27, 1936. This source collection includes an editorial featured in the Courier entitled "Should I Sacrifice to Live 'Half American'?" For more, see US Holocaust Memorial Museum's citizen history project, History Unfolded.

Quoted from Joe LaPointe, "The Championship Fight that Went Beyond Boxing," The New York Times, June 19, 1988.

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Archival Information for This Item

Source (Credit)
Moorland-Spingarn Research Center, Howard University, Washington, DC
US Holocaust Memorial Museum
Accession Number US Holocaust Memorial Museum Photo Archives no. 14939
Date Created
June 18, 1936
Language(s)
English
Location
New York, USA
Document Type Poster
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