By the time he won the gold medal
for boxing at the 1960 Olympics,Cassius Clay was already a larger-than-life figure. Clay was not only a gifted
fighter, but also handsome, unapologetic, and provocative. Clay climbedthe boxing world’s ladder in a series of spectacular fights, an ascent that climaxed with his victory over heavy-weight champion Sonny Liston on February 25, 1964. The next morn-ing, Clay held a press conference inwhich a reporter asked, “Are you a card-carrying member of the BlackMuslims?” to which Clay responded,
“Card-carrying; what does that mean?
I believe in Allah and in peace.”Reflecting back on his conversion, he explained how he became
interested in the Nation of Islam:
The first time I heard about Elijah Muhammad was at a Golden Gloves Tournament in Chicago [in 1959]. Then, before I went to the Olympics, I looked at a copy of the Nation of Islam newspaper, Muhammad Speaks. I didn’t pay much attention to it, but lots of things were working on my mind. When I was growing up, a colored boy named Emmett Till was murdered in Mississippi for whistling at a white woman. Emmett Till was the same age as me, and even though they caught the men who did it, nothing happened to them. Things like that went on all the time. And in my own life, there were places I couldn’t go, places I couldn’t eat. I won a gold medal representing the United States at the Olympic Games, and when I came home to Louisville [Kentucky], I still got treated like a nigger. There were restaurants I couldn’t get served in. Some people kept calling me “boy.” Then in Miami [in 1961], I was training for a fight, and met a follower of Elijah Muhammad named Captain Sam. He invited me to a meeting, and after that my life changed.Clay later announced that Elijah Muhammad, the leader of the Nation of Islam, had given him a
new name. From then on, Clay refused to be called anything but Muhammad Ali. Later Ali
explained, “changing my name was one of the most important things that happened to me in my
life.”
What did his name change symbolize for Ali (who was originally named after Cassius Marcellus Clay, a nineteenth-century abolitionist)? Why do you think some of Clay’s supporters lashed out against him after he converted to the Nation of Islam and changed his name to Muhammad Ali? Why did many people refuse to call Ali by his new name? * From Facing History and Ourselves/Eyes on the Prize Study Guide
Last May, National Public Radio reported on two stories about transgendered children. The reports were centered around the two families' decisions about how to cope with their children's gender preferences. Both families seek out professionals for advice.
