Joe Louis, in the far right corner, floored Max Schmeling three times and won their much-publicized June 22, 1938 rematch at Yankee Stadium in a first-round knockout. In a time when his people ...

Joe Louis was the 10-to-1 favorite over the German boxer Max Schmeling before their first bout on June 19, 1936. Each man was fighting for a shot at the world heavyweight boxing championship.

"What my father did was enable white America to think of him as an American, not as a black," said his son, Joe Louis Jr. "By winning, he became white America's first black hero." Louis was ...