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Champion of the World Champion of the World" is the nineteenth chapter from I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings; the title is a phrase taken from it. Remembering her childhood, the writer tells how she and her older brother, Bailey, grew up in a town in Arkansas. The center of their lives was grandmother and Uncle Willie's store, a gathering place for the black community. On the night when this story takes place, Joe Louis, the "Brown Bomber" and the hero of his people, defends his heavyweight title against a white contender. The last inch of space was filled, yet people continued to 1 wedge themselves along the walls of the Store. Uncle Willie had turned the radio up to its last notch so that youngsters on the porch wouldn't miss a word. Women sat on kitchen chairs, din ing-room chairs, stools and upturned wooden boxes. Small chil dren and babies perched on every lap available and men leaned on the shelves or on each other. The apprehensive mood was shot through with shafts of gai- 2 ety, as a black sky is streaked with lightning.Angelou/Champion of the World "I ain't worried "bout this fight. Joe's gonna whip that cracker like it's open season. "He gone whip him till that white boy call him At last the talking was finished and the string along songs about razor blades were over and the fight began. "A left quick jab to the head." In the Store the crowd grunted. teners to the head and a right and another left." One of the lis- cackled like a hen and was quieted. "They're in a clinch, Louis is trying to fight his way out Some bitter comedian on the porch said, "That white man don't mind hugging that niggah now, I betcha. "The referee is moving in to break them up, but Louis fi nally pushed the contender away and it's an uppercut to the ch n. The contender is hanging on, now he's backing away Louis catches him with a short left to the jaw. the A tide of murmuring assent poured out the doors and into yard. Another left and another left. Louis is saving that mighty right The mutter in the Store had grown into a baby roar and it was pierced by the clang of a bell and the announcer's That's the bell for round three, ladies and gentlemen." As I pushed my way into the Store I wondered if the an 12 nouncer gave any thought to the fact that he was addressing as "ladies and gentlemen" all the Negroes around the world who sat sweating and praying, glued to their "master's voice." There were only a few calls for R. c. Colas, Dr. Peppers, 13 and Hires root beer. The real festivities would begin after the Then even the old Christian ladies who taught their chil. dren and tried themselves to practice turning the other cheek would buy soft drinks, and if the Brown Bomber's victory was a particularly bloody one they would order peanut patties and Bailey and I laid the coins on top of the cash register. Uncle Willie didn't allow us to up sales during a fight. It was too "His master's voice," accompanied by a picture of a little dog listening to a phonograph, was a familiar advertising slogan. (The picture still appears on RCA Victor records.) EDs.42 noisy Narration and might shake up the atmosphere. When the gong rang r the next round we pushed through the near-sacred quiet to the herd of children outside. body e's got Lou against the ropes and now it's a left to the is like and a right to the ribs. Another right to the body, it looks it was low Yes, ladies and gentlemen, the referee is sig- naling but the contender keeps raining the blows on Louis. It's another to the body, and it looks like Louis is going down." My race groaned. It was our people falling. It was another 16 lynching, yet another Black man hanging on a tree. One more woman ambushed and raped. A Black boy whipped and maimed. It was hounds on the trail of a man running through limy swamps. It was a white woman slapping her maid for being forgetful The men in the Store stood away from the walls and at at- 17 tention. Women greedily clutched the babes on their laps while on the porch the shufflings and smiles, flirtings and pinching of a few minutes before were gone. This might be the end of the world. If Joe lost we were back in slavery and beyond help. It would all be true, the accusations that we were lower types of human beings. Only a little higher than apes. True that we were stupid and ugly and lazy and dirty and, unlucky and worst of all that God Himself hated us and ordained us to be hewers of wood and drawers of water, forever and ever, world without end. We didn't breathe. We didn't hope. We waited. "He's off the ropes, ladies and gentlemen. He's moving 19 towards the center of the ring." There was no time to be re- lieved. The worst might still happen "And now looks like Joe He's caught Carnera with 20 a left hook to the head and a right to the head. It's a left jab to the body and another left to the head. There's a left cross and a right to the head. The contender's right eye is bleeding and he can't seem to keep his block up. Louis is penetrating every block. The referee is moving in, but Louis sends a left to the body and it's an uppercut to the chin and the contender is drop- ping. He's on the canvas, ladies and gentlemen." Babies slid to the floor as women stood up and men leaned 21 toward the radio.Angelou/Champion of the World 43 six, "Here's the referee. He's young. One, two, three, four, five seven ls the contender trying to get up again?" All the men in the store shouted, "No." eight, nine, ten." There were a few sounds from the au. dience, but they seemed to be holding themselves in against tre mendous pressure. "The fight is all over, ladies and gentlemen. Let's get the mi- s one over to the referee Here he is. He's got the Brown Bomber's hand, he's holding it up Here he is Then the voice, husky and familiar, came to wash over us 26 "The winnah, and still heavyweight champeen of the world Joe Louis. Champion of the world. A Black boy. Some Black mother's son. He was the strongest man in the world. People drank Coca- Colas like ambrosia and ate candy bars like Christmas. Some of the men went behind the Store and poured white lightning in their soft-drink bottles, and a few of the bigger boys followed them. Those who were not chased away came back blowing their breath in front of themselves like proud smokers. It would take an hour or more before the people would leave the Store and head for home. Those who lived too far had made arrangements to stay in town. It wouldn't do for a Black man and his family to be caught on a lonely country road on a night when Joe Louis had proved that we were the strongest people in the world. From: Book: The Bedford Reader Editors: X J. Kennedy and Dorothy Kennedy Publisher: St. Martin's Press Place of Publication: New York, NY Date of Publication: 1985
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