+

How did Muhammad Ali’s actions reflect/embody the views of many other African

Americans during the 1960’s?

By: Erica Smith

+Background Information

Original Name: Cassius Marcellus Clay Jr.

Birthday: January 17,1942

City: Louisville, Kentucky

Father: Cassius Sr. Artist/singer Believed the “white

society had suppressed him and produced a man whose real talents would never be known (Diamond 12).”

+How It All Began

In 1954, at the age of 12, Cassius got his new bike stolen and vowed to “ whip whoever made off with his bike (Diamond 14).”

He was told to go to the recreation center to report the crime to officer Joe Martin who later was his first boxing coach.

He later met Fred Stoner who taught young Cassius the science and the art of boxing.

+“Float Like a Butterfly, Sting Like a Bee” Amateur Career:

108 fights, 8 losses Had a six Kentucky Golden Gloves

titles and two national Golden Gloves heavyweight title

Won the Amateur Athletic Union championship twice

Won a gold medal in the 1960 Olympic games in Rome at the age of 18. “I didn’t take that medal off for

forty-eight hours, I even wore it to sleep on my back so that the medal wouldn’t cut me. But I didn’t care, I was the Olympic champion (Diamond 20).”

Was later given the name “The Louisville Lip”

February 15, 1964= defeated Sonny Liston, with a first round knockout, winning the World Heavyweight title.

+Early Exposure to Racism

Emmett Till 1955, 14 year old boy was

murdered after looking the wrong way at a white woman in a store

A group of whites dragged him from his home, beat him, then drowned him in the Tallahatchie River

The attackers were found not guilty.

Day to Day life Resentment against the

inferiority of African Americans in Society

The rise in the Civil Right Movement

Segregation

“I was young, Cassius Marcellus Clay, who had won a gold medal for his country. I went downtown to Louisville to a five-and-dime store that had a soda fountain. I sat down at the counter to order a burger and soda pop. The waitress looked at me… ‘Sorry, we don’t serve coloreds,’ she said. I was furious. I went all the way to Italy to represent my country, won a gold medal, and now I come back to America and can’t even get served at a five-and-dime store… That gold medal didn’t mean a thing to me if my black brothers and sisters were treated wrong in a country I was supposed to represent (Bigelow 2).”

+Call Me Muhammad Ali

Cassius was named after a white abolitionist who had freed his own slaves.

Although he did this, he believed that blacks were of an inferior race. “ I am of the opinion that the Caucasian or white the superior race; they

have a larger and better formed brain; much more developed and exquisite structure (Diamond 20).”

Malcolm X Started following the Nation of Islam He first changed his name to Cassius X Elijah Muhammad gave him the name Muhammad Ali meaning “Beloved

of Allah”

Controversy “Some reporters and boxing officials refused to use his name, while

others demanded withdrawal of his title (Byer 2).”

+Why the Controversy?

Era of Change Martin Luther King

Leading the civil rights movement Rosa Parks Bus boycotts, segregation, and the Jim Crow South, Brown

vs. Board of Ed.

+"No Viet Cong ever called me a nigger(Byers 2)" On April 28, 1967, Muhammad got drafted into the Vietnam War.

He thought he could be exempt because he was a minister of Muslim.

Unfair Treatment People called him disgusting and the Governor of Maine said that he “should

be held in utter contempt by every patriotic American (Bigelow 2).” Some leaders called him ‘loudmouthed’ and ‘Bombastic’ The New York State Athletic Commission and World Boxing Association

suspended Ali’s boxing license and took away his heavyweight title

Sentencing On June 20,1967 was found guilty of draft evasion. Had to pay a $10,000 fine Sentenced to serve 5 years in prison for draft-evasion

+Fighting the Court

How to get exempt from going to war Attend college/ University Go to Canada

Unfair Advantage College was typically for the wealthy, white, elites in

society Blacks still didn’t feel welcomed

Rebellion He wanted to stand up for something he believed was not

right

+Later Successes

Victory Run Thrilla in Manila

Joe Frazier rivalry Won the NABF heavyweight

against Jimmy Ellis Victory against George

Foreman September 1978- Victory

against Leon Spinks winning the World Heavyweight Championship

After Boxing Retired in 1980 Was diagnosed with

Parkinson’s Disease

+Bibliography

 Diamond, Arthur. The Importance of Muhammad Ali. San Diego: Lucent, 1995. Print.

Hampton, Henry, and Steve Fayer. Voices of Freedom: An Oral History of the Civil Rights Movement From the 1950's Through the 1980's. New York: Bantam, 1990. Print.

Tessitore, John. Muhammad Ali:The World's Champion. Danbury,CT: Franklin Watts, 1998. Print.

 Shelton, Sonya. "Muhammad Ali." Gale Research. Discovering Collection, 1997. Web. May 2010

Byers, Paula K. Encyclopedia of World Biography. 2nd ed. Vol. 1. Detroit: Gale Research, 1998. Print.

Bigelow, Carlisle. Contemporary Black Biography. Vol. 2. Detroit: Gale Research, 1992. Print.