---
title: Sgt. Joe Louis - Champion of Champions
url: https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/owi-alston-sgt-joe-louis-champion-of-champions-1943/
description: A pencil biographical panel shows a large portrait of boxer Sgt. Joe Louis with vignettes of a sharecropper's cabin, a ring victory.
section: Collection
---

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3. Sgt. Joe Louis - Champion of Champions

**Content note:** The panel uses the wartime term 'Japanazis' for the Axis enemy and the period term 'Negro' is absent but the text frames a Black athlete as an example of democracy. This object is shown as it was published. [Why](https://propagandaarchive.org/about/#as-it-was)

[![Sgt. Joe Louis - Champion of Champions, 1943 US cartoon: A pencil biographical panel shows a large portrait of boxer Sgt](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/images/owi-alston-sgt-joe-louis-champion-of-champions-1943.jpg)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/images/owi-alston-sgt-joe-louis-champion-of-champions-1943.jpg)

# Sgt. Joe Louis - Champion of Champions

A pencil biographical panel shows a large portrait of boxer Sgt. Joe Louis with vignettes of a sharecropper's cabin, a ring victory, Uncle Sam shaking his hand, and Louis coaching soldiers in boxing. Captions describe his rise, his donating a purse to Army and Navy relief funds, and his teaching troops. The tell is testimonial: a celebrity's example vouches for enlistment and for 'democracy in action'.

## Propaganda techniques used in this cartoon

[Testimonial](https://propagandaarchive.org/techniques/testimonial/) [Glittering generalities](https://propagandaarchive.org/techniques/glittering-generalities/)

## Text on the object

Original (English) · read from the image, not independently checked

```
Sgt. Joe LOUIS
CHAMPION OF CHAMPIONS

Joe's meteoric rise from the poverty and obscurity of an Alabama sharecropper's cabin to fame and fortune as the sports idol of a nation, is an eloquent example of democracy in action!

In one of the most magnificent gestures in the history of sportsmanship, the champ risked his most cherished possession, the world's heavyweight title, and donated his entire purse to the Army and Navy relief funds!

Since his enlistment, Joe has been busy teaching his buddies how to slap the superiority out of the Japanazis!

Alston
```

[← A Second Emancipation Proclamation!!](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/owi-alston-second-emancipation-proclamation-1943/) ["Spend that vacation at home!!" →](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/owi-alston-spend-that-vacation-at-home-1943/)

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