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Boxer Joe Louis on Sept. 8, 1946; Joe Louis Barrow Jr. in The Clash of Nations: Joe Louis vs Max Schmeling
Credit: Keystone-France/Gamma-Keystone via Getty; History Channel
NEED TO KNOW
- Boxer Joe Louis' son Joe Louis Barrow Jr. looks back on his father's legacy with PEOPLE as The History Channel premieres a new documentary on his life on June 19
- Louis was a heavyweight champion boxer who famously fought Germany's Max Schmeling twice in the 1930s, in the years before World War II broke out
- The Clash of Nations: Joe Louis vs. Max Schmeling premieres on The History Channel June 19 at 8 p.m. Eastern
More than 45 years after legendary 20th century boxer Joe Louis died at 66, his son is giving new life to his father's legacy as an athlete and civil rights activist.
Joe Louis Barrow Jr., the late boxer's oldest son, dove into his father's history as he took part in The History Channel's new documentary The Clash of Nations: Joe Louis vs. Max Schmeling, which premieres on Friday, June 19 in celebration of Juneteenth. The documentary also marks the 90th anniversary of the first of two legendary boxing matches Louis fought against German boxing champion Max Schmeling in the 1930s.
The new documentary follows Louis through his upbringing in Alabama and Detroit, rise through the ranks of American boxing in the 1930s and bouts with Schmeling, a German heavyweight who was considered one of the world's best boxers at the time. Louis grew into an American hero at the height of Jim Crow and segregation in the 20th century. Louis' boxing matches with Schmeling were viewed as pivotal international events in the context of the brewing world war with Nazi Germany. He went on to enlist with the U.S. Army during World War II and grew incredibly popular with soldiers as he fought exhibition matches to entertain soldiers deployed during the war.
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The History Channel's The Clash of Nations: Joe Louis vs. Max Schmeling
Credit: History Channel
"I think he knew he was revered by many, but I don't think he 'let that go to his head.' He never really got braggadocious about it, but he understood he was more than just an African-American boxer," Barrow Jr. tells PEOPLE in a recent interview. "He knew that he was looked at in a different way by many different people. He had a special connection to the Black community, but he realized that he also had a special connection to the white community: the haves as well as the have-nots in the white community. So he understood they had a broader impact, but he didn't let that broader impact change who he was. Who he was was a quiet, revered, loving person."
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"He was a quiet sort of person, but if Blacks were not treated correctly, he was very vocal and took the appropriate action," Barrow Jr. adds. "[He moved to] integrate the army when he was on the bases and the Black soldiers weren't treated the way they should be treated and so forth. Joe Louis was very active when he thought Black people were being wronged."
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Joe Louis fighting Max Schmeling on June 19, 1936
Credit: GHI/Universal History Archive/Universal Images Group via Getty
Louis and Schmeling, the German boxer, even forged a friendship later in life. Schmeling did not agree with Nazi Germany's ideology; Barrow Jr. says Schmeling "really had wonderful things to say about my father" when they met in the 1980s.
"Unfortunately, what's happened in America then is happening in America now. The peaks and valleys — we're now in the valley, and I think that the context of what the History Channel did is very important," Barrow Jr. says of his father's legacy. "Joe Louis came along at a time when the country and the world, for that matter, needed a hero and Joe Louis provided that void."
The Clash of Nations: Joe Louis vs. Max Schmeling premieres June 19 at 8 p.m. Eastern time on The History Channel.
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