Muhammad Ali

Muhammad Ali, considered one of the greatest boxers of all time, fought not only within the boxing ring but also as a vocal advocate for civil rights and other causes. Ali earned the world heavyweight championship three times, despite being banned from boxing for three years for his resistance to serving in the military which he believed served only White America’s interests. 

Cassius Marcellus Clay Jr., as Muhammad Ali was once known, was born in Louisville, Kentucky, on January 17, 1942—a time when blacks were the servant class in Louisville. They held jobs such as tending the backstretch at Churchill Downs (the famous race track where the Kentucky Derby is held) and cleaning other people’s homes. In Louisville in the 1940s, the highest career goal that most black people could realistically set for their children was that they join the clergy or teach at an all‐black public school. Ali’s father, Cassius Marcellus Clay Sr., supported a wife and two sons by painting billboards and signs. Ali’s mother, Odessa Grady Clay, worked on occasion as a household domestic. 

When Cassius Clay was twelve years old, he took up boxing under the tutelage of a Louisville policeman named Joe Martin. Clay advanced through the amateur ranks, won a gold medal at the age of eighteen at the 1960 Olympics in Rome, and turned professional under the guidance of the Louisville Sponsoring Group, a syndicate of eleven wealthy white men. In the early stages of his professional career, Cassius Clay was more highly regarded for his charm and personality than for his ring skills. 

On February 25, 1964, at age twenty‐two, Clay knocked out Charles “Sonny” Liston in one of the most stunning upsets in sports history to become heavyweight champion of the world. This ensured his claim as the ‘Greatest Boxer of the World’. 

For the next three years, Ali dominated boxing as thoroughly and magnificently as any fighter ever. But outside the ring, his persona was being sculpted in ways that were even more important. “My first impression of Cassius Clay,” author Alex Haley later recalled, “was of someone with an incredibly versatile personality. You never knew quite where he was in psychic posture. But he had a belief in himself and convictions far stronger than anybody dreamed he would.” 

VIDEO CLIP OF MUHAMMAD ALI BOXING

As the 1960s grew more tumultuous, and the Civil Rights Movement began to grow in prominence, Muhammad Ali became a lightning rod for dissent in America. [Two days after becoming heavyweight champion in 1964, he shocked the world again by announcing that he had accepted the teachings of a black separatist religion known as the Nation of Islam. On March 6, 1964, he took the name “Muhammad Ali,” which was given to him by his spiritual mentor, Elijah Muhammad.]   His message of black pride and resistance to white domination was on the cutting edge of the era. Not everything he preached was wise, and Ali himself later rejected some of the beliefs that he adhered to then. One might find an allegory for his life in a remark he once made to fellow 1960 Olympian Ralph Boston. “I played golf,” Ali said. “And I hit the thing long, but I never knew where it was going.” Sometimes, though, Ali knew precisely where he was going. On April 28, 1967, citing his religious beliefs, he refused induction into the United States Army at the height of the war in Vietnam. Ali’s refusal followed a blunt statement, voiced fourteen months earlier: “I ain’t got no quarrel with them Vietcong.” And the American establishment responded with a vengeance, demanding, “Since when did war become a matter of personal quarrels? War is duty. Your country calls; you answer.”

 On June 20, 1967, Ali was convicted of refusing induction into the United States Armed Forces and sentenced to five years in prison. Four years later, his conviction was overturned unanimously by the US Supreme Court. But in the interim, he was stripped of his title and barred from fighting for three‐and‐a‐half years. “He did not believe he would ever fight again,” Ali’s wife at the time, Belinda Ali, said of her husband’s “exile” from boxing. “He wanted to, but he truly believed that he would never fight again.” Meanwhile, Ali’s impact was growing—among black Americans, among those who opposed the war in Vietnam, and among all people with grievances against “the system.” “It’s hard to imagine that a sports figure could have so much political influence on so many people,” civil rights activist Julian Bond observed. 

Muhammad Ali was re-enstated into being able to Box again in 1970.  Four months later, Ali’s comeback was temporarily derailed when he lost to Joe Frazier. It was a fight of truly historic proportions. Nobody in America was neutral that night. Ali avenged his loss to Frazier twice with victories in later bouts. Ultimately, he won the heavyweight championship of the world an unprecedented three times. After regaining his boxing licence, Ali fought against famous boxers, including Joe Frazier, Leon Spinks, George Foreman, and Larry Holmes. He was called “The People’s Champion” and “The Greatest”. Ali’s first professional loss was against Joe Frazier, whom he had publicly taunted and insulted. But Ali won the heavyweight title back at the age of 32 against George Foreman. “Float like a butterfly, sting like a bee, his hands can't hit what his eyes can't see,” Ali said before his fight with George Foreman.

He lost to Leon Spinks in 1978, but defeated him in a rematch, making Ali the first boxer ever to win three heavyweight championships. He was the people’s hero, always coming back under what seemed impossible odds. Finally, after losing a unanimous decision to Trevor Berbick, Ali hung up the gloves for good in 1981, retiring with an overall professional record of 56-5.  

In 1984, three years after retiring from boxing, Ali announced he had Parkinson’s disease, a degenerative neurological condition. Ali turned his attention to philanthropy and making life better for others. He supported Parkinson's research and became active in the Special Olympics and the Make-a-Wish Foundation. In 1998 he became a United Nations Messenger of Peace for his work overseas and was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2005.

In 1990, Ali helped negotiate the release of 15 American hostages from Iraq. In 1998 he became a United Nations Messenger of Peace for his work overseas and was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2005. Muhammad Ali died in 2016.

“Many fans wanted to build a museum to acknowledge my achievements,” Ali said. “I wanted more than a building to house my memorabilia. I wanted a place that would inspire people to be the best that they could be at whatever they chose to do, and to encourage them to be respectful of one another.”

Nation of Islam

A religious movement created in Detroit, Michigan, by W.D. Fard in the 1930s, the Nation of Islam advocates self-reliance and empowerment of the African American community. It shares important principles with the Islamic religion, including the Five Pillars of Islam (belief in one God, fasting for Ramadan, praying five times a day, charity, and pilgrimage to Mecca); however, it is an independent religion with its own political objectives, theology, and understanding of history.

For more information on the Nation of Islam:

What is the Nation of Islam? History, Beliefs, and Philosophy. 

Malcolm X

Born in 1925 in Omaha, Nebraska, Malcolm Little transformed his life from one of crime and indulgence to one of religion and civil rights activism after he converted to the Nation of Islam while in prison. It was there that he changed his name to Malcolm X, and he went on to become a leading spokesperson for the Nation of Islam and gained many converts to the religion during the 1950s and 1960s. As a vocal advocate for civil rights, Malcolm X was seen in contrast to Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., who was committed to non-violence and interracial harmony. Malcolm X left the Nation of Islam in 1964 to focus on the struggle for civil rights and to create a racially inclusive movement; however, his crusade was cut short when he was assassinated while giving a speech in 1965.

For more information on Malcolm X:

More about Malcolm X and his philosophy

Music of the Civil Rights Era 

Listen to Donny Hathaway’s Young Gifted and Black and James Brown’s Black and Proud