All right, so that's Jack Johnson.
"Battle Royale."
Back then, they'd chain a bear in the middle of the bear
garden and let the dogs loose.
Iron chains around a bear's neck won't slow him too much.
A bear will always make short work of a dog.
Shakespeare said Sackerson did it more than 20 times to dogs
and wild cats alike.
And since most creatures are naturally afraid of bears,
there wouldn't always be much of a show in the bear garden.
So the handlers sometimes put the bear's eyes out
or took his teeth to make the fight more sporting.
I believe you need eyes more than you need teeth in a fight,
but losing either makes a bear a little less mean.
Once baiting was against the law,
some smart somebody figured coloreds would fight just
as hard if hungry enough.
So they rounded up the skinniest of us,
had us strip to trousers, then blindfolded us
before the fight.
They turned us in hard circles a few times
on the ring steps before pushing us between the ropes.
When the bell rang, it seemed like I
got hit from eight directions.
I don't know where those punches came from,
but I swung so hard my shoulder hadn't been right
since because the man said, only the last darky on his feet
gets a meal.