Muhammad Ali: African American Athletes

The combination of Muhammad Ali’s three attributes and his success inside the boxing ring began to lay the foundation for his transformation as an athlete into civil rights leader. Ali disregarded the expectations previously placed on black athletes and fought for what he believed to be true. There was insurmountable pressure for Ali to be molded into an idealistic African American athlete and he never surrendered his beliefs. Muhammad Ali started an uprising and significantly altered the image of black athletes. Edwards writes, “Ali is probably the single greatest athletic figure of this century in terms of the black community, largely because he turned around the image of the black athlete (Edwards 204).” Edwards continues by writing, “And

because of the impact of sports on American society, there was a carryover of dignity and pride from Ali’s efforts that accrued to all black Americans (Edwards 204).” Ali was beginning to gain more followers and support of his diverse personality as a civil rights leader. When the suspension of Ali’s boxing license was reinstated in 1970 his return marked the representation of the progress our country had made in becoming a more integrated society. Oriard describes his return to the ring:
Following his world travels and campus lectures in the United States during his exile from boxing, Ali returned to the ring in 1970 as a spokesman “for 22 million black people,” as “a symbol of black nationalism and antiwar sentiment,” as a man fighting “not just…one man” but “a lot of men (Oriard 16).
Muhammad Ali has the support of numerous authors as being the first African American athlete to set the bar for future generations of black athletes.

Arthur Ashe is quoted in Thomas Hauser’s book titled, Muhammad Ali: His Life and Times, as saying, “He was largely responsible for it becoming an expected part of the black athlete’s responsibility to get involved. He had more at stake than any of us. And if Ali did that, who were the rest of us lesser athlete mortals not to do it (Hauser 205)?” Muhammad Ali has had the single greatest impact on the inclusion of African Americans into every day society than any other historic black

athlete.
Without a doubt the most difficult part of Muhammad Ali’s journey to becoming the most influential African American athlete in our nation’s history was having the ability to stand bold in the face of tremendous criticism from peers, media, other athletes, and political figures.

Without such boldness Ali would simply not be considered a hero and his impacts would have lost the majority of their value. His confidence developed the foundation to his uprising as a historical figure. However, his defensiveness of his rights and beliefs came at a great cost. Harris writes, “In upholding his beliefs, Ali was willing to give up the rewards that accrue to a heavyweight champion (Harris 64).” Congruent with his actions, in 1967 Ali was banned from the sport of boxing as a result of his unwillingness to be drafted by the United States Army (González). It should be noted the impact Ali’s boldness had on other influential black leaders throughout history. Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, who is a decorated basketball player, winning multiple championships at both the collegiate and professional level, as well as being recognized as a strong supporter of the civil rights movement, has strong praise for Muhammad Ali. In Harris’s article, Abdul-Jabbar is quoted as

saying:
He gave so many people courage to test the system. A lot of us didn’t think he could do it, but he did and succeeded every time…there’s no doubt in my mind the public acceptance of what I did was greater because Muhammad lay the groundwork before me. He was, and is, one of my heroes (Oriard 66).
Muhammad Ali paved a path that future generations of black athletes could follow. He risked everything he work his entire life for, in hopes of making our culture more integrated with African Americans. His ability to stand for what he believed in is truly recognized and supported by other influential African American athletes.
In Oriard’s article he wrote that, “our Muhammad Ali is the one we know through television, radio, newspapers, magazines such as Sports Illustrated, and closed-circuit screenings of his fights – the collection of images transmitted through those media (Oriard 11).” The most famous photo taken of Muhammad Ali during his boxing career came in 1965 against Sonny Liston during their heavyweight title match. The photo captures Ali standing over Liston taunting him ferociously after he knocked him to the hard canvas floor. At the time of the photograph it would be largely unknown that it would serve as a symbol of Ali and all of his accomplishments for African Americans.
In order to gain a complete understanding of the image and fully remembered Ali, it is important to view the photo.

As one can see the strength and force of Ali is represented in the photo. This photo summarizes the words written by Michael Oriard:
Those of us who came of age during the Ali era share certain memories of Ali, however we might have differed, or differ now, in our responses to him. We can here Ali’s voice, declaiming, ‘I am the greatest!’ We can still hear him predicting the round in which an opponent would fall; we can hear him chant, ‘float like a butterfly, sting like a bee’; if we don’t remember the precise words, we nonetheless retain impressions of his poetry and his taunts at weigh ins and even in the ring, and his seemingly hysterical tirades before and after fights (Oriard 8.).
While Ali looks down over Liston he seems to be telling the entire world, “I’m the greatest!” His growl resembles that of a lion as he roars across the entire jungle, reminding everyone that he is king. He has not only won a boxing match and defended his heavyweight championship of the world, but he has proven that when a black man is given a fighting chance, the boundaries are limitless. Ali pumps his first and flexes his muscles as if to say, “follow me, I will be strong and bold in the face of adversity, and improve this world beyond any man’s dreams.” The sculptured body of Ali represents the immense power and grit it took to overcome the fears of being confined to society’s standards. Perhaps the most overlooked aspect of the photo and its relation to our memory is the color of Ali’s trunks. A black man standing in victory wears the color white, the color that has kept his people from prospering and enjoying a life filled with freedom. However, the color of the trunks only strengthens the case that color is nothing more than visual imagery and we as people can move beyond physical characteristics and fight for something larger than ourselves. The faces in the crowd behind Ali are predominantly white middle class men dressed in suits. This is significant because it allows us to remember that although Ali was having success as a boxer there was still a fight larger than any boxing match to be won. It allows our memory to capture the essence of the man Ali was and join him as he began the battle of taking down and knocking out segregation within the United States. The momentum of this fight and photo serve as one of the few reminders we have today of the tremendous achievements Ali had on society.