Dennis Claxton wrote:
>
> "This was probably the first time and the only time in the history of
> America that a black man ends up being a white hope," civil rights
> activist Dick Gregory says during the program. "He'd become the great
> white hope."
>
Re "white hope": It got emptied of content rather early (though Gregory brings it back to life here). After Louis won the championship, Dempsey started a training program to find and train a "white hope." A reporter visiting the gym noticed that one of the fighters there was black. To the reporter's startled query, Dempsey replied, "Oh, he's one of my most promising candidates." (Roughly like that -- this is from a 60+ year old memory.)
Carrol
In case someone on the list doesn't know the history of "white hope," it goes back to the days when Jack Johnson was heavyweight champion.