Purpose of "Champion of the World"

Maya Angelou wrote the piece “Champion of the World” in an attempt to reveal the ongoing racial conflict that existed long after the abolition of slavery. She refers to Joe Louis’s title match as just another battle of races. It was just another time in which blacks had to prove that they weren’t inferior to whites. Angelou describes that if Louis loses “It was another lynching, yet another Black man hanging on a tree” (Angelou 16). Using simple sentences in paragraph 16, Angelou emphasizes the constant battles that blacks had to fight to protect themselves. But more importantly, the allusions that she makes to slavery show that blacks know they are still not safe. Even they think that they must prove themselves. However, after they have won a battle, such as in Louis’s victory, African Americans still had to face a violent backlash. Angelou recalls after the victory that “It wouldn’t do for a Black man and his family to be caught on a lonely country road” (Angelou 28). Using simple sentences, repetition of horrors blacks had to face, and allusions to slavery, Angelou displays the insecurity that blacks still felt over a hundred years after abolition.

To this day, a war between races is still being waged. However, it is not nearly to the extent that it was in the time period of Joe Louis. Many African Americans are discriminated against in the labor market and make much less than a white man doing the same job. In this case racism has still not been eliminated, but steps are constantly being made to reduce it. One of the most important milestones in racial progression has happened in this past decade when Barack Obama became president, the highest government position there is. So while there are still many battles taking place in this racial war, they are not nearly as violent or inhumane as they used to be in Joe Louis’s time. Society has progressed in this sense and hopefully will continue to.