Spirit of Youth

Source catalog description

This description refers to material held by Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture. Visual details below describe the original material.

A 16mm release print of the feature film Spirit of Youth. It consists of two reels of positive, black-and-white, 16mm acetate film with variable-area optical sound. In the opening scene, children can be seen playing outside. Young Joe Thomas’s mother calls him inside to clean himself before his father’s arrival from work. However, when his father returns to the family home it is revealed that he was injured by a falling castor and probably will never walk again. The rest of the film is loosely based on the life of American heavyweight boxer Joe Louis. The lead character, adult Joe Thomas, is played by Joe Louis himself. The film closes with a boxing match between Joe and a fellow boxer.

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