Review: ‘The Royale’ at Writers Theatre

Summary

<p>Jack Johnson, who in 1908 became the first Black man to win boxing’s heavyweight championship, is buried at Graceland Cemetery in Uptown. In a place known for elaborate shrines to the city’s most famous, his grave went for six decades without any individual marker at all, only a single tombstone for his family’s plot reading, simply, “Johnson.” Following the 2005 release of Ken Burns’ documentary about him, “Unforgivable Blackness,” a small flat stone was placed to single him out and note his historic achievement.</p><p>The modesty of his burial site doesn’t reflect the man’s personality…

Description from Chicago Sun-Times.