It’s 1938 and American boxer Joe Louis is fighting Nazi Germany’s Max Schmeling for the World Heavyweight title. Two years earlier, Schmeling soundly defeated Louis in a non-title boxing match at New York’s Yankee Stadium. Ever since, Schmeling’s victory was held high by Hitler’s Nazi propaganda machine as further proof of the superiority of the so-called Aryan race. The two fighters were now back in the ring as a record 70 million people tuned in to hear the fight of the century.
This time, Louis knocked out his German opponent before the first round even finished. Americans celebrated. African-Americans especially. Joe Louis, one of America’s first black heroes, broke the race barrier with the literal sheer strength of his fists. Not only was his victory a political win, it was a collective source of pride for black America, who saw it as a vehicle for advancing the fight for equality and civil-rights. This one-two punch is represented in the power of the sculpture you see before you. The massive fist seems aggressive... and it’s meant to be.
It was the racist climate of Alabama in the 1920s that prompted Joe’s family to move from there to Detroit when he was 12 years old. And it was here he honed his skills to become boxing’s world heavyweight champion from 1937 to 1949.
Joe held onto his heavyweight title even as he enlisted in the Army soon after the U.S. entered World War II. The Army placed him in the Special Services Division where he boosted morale by starring in boxing exhibitions and celebrity tours. He also fought and won many discrimination battles on behalf of African-American enlisted men receiving unfair treatment.
It was during the war years that Louis began to rack up huge tax debt (after donating two substantial purses to the armed forces, Joe eventually received a $90,000 tax bill on those winnings and the interest just snowballed) that financially crippled him the rest of his life. Many friends, new and old, assisted him throughout his later years by paying his hospital bills, tax payments, and other debts.
One of those old friends was Max Schmeling. Although portrayed by the 1938 media as a Nazi tool, in reality Schmeling had always been opposed to the Nazi regime. In fact, during Hitler’s roundup of German Jew’s, Schmeling hid two young Jewish boys and provided for their safe transport. Louis and Schmeling developed their friendship a few years after the war ended. In the end, Schmeling was one of Joe’s pallbearers and assisted with funeral costs when Louis passed away in 1981.
This 24 foot long by 24 foot high Monument to Joe Louis was sculpted by Mexican-American artist Robert Graham. It was commissioned by Sports Illustrated Magazine as a gift to the city in 1986. The sculpture cost $350,000 and was Graham’s second major public work. Among his later works are the Duke Ellington Memorial in New York and the sprawling Franklin D. Roosevelt Memorial in Washington D.C.
The monument was a source of controversy for many years after its dedication. To many now in later years, the sculpture’s powerful edginess has become a symbol of Detroit’s very character as a city that’s fighting it’s way back.
Technical Notes: The piece is scaled at one foot to every inch. The artist first sculpted a 14 inch model. Then, with the aid of a computer, made a full-scale steel armature. The finished clay model was divided into 8 sections and cast in bronze, then assembled.
