Muhammad Ali was born as Cassius Clay in Louisville, Kentucky in 1942. Cassius Clay began boxing at the age of 12. At age 18, he won a gold medal at the Rome Olympics. Even after Clay failed to find a job at a local restaurant in Louisville, Louisville was a segregated city. Clay then threw his gold medal into a river to protest the treatment of black people in the southern states. Ali became a professional heavyweight boxer. On February 25, 1967, he defeated Sonny Liston to become heavyweight champion. Two years later, he became a Muslim. He drops his last name to emphasize the fact that black Americans who had been slaves were known by their last name. He was later named Cassius X, then changed his name. name of Muhammad Ali. Ali defended his world heavyweight title several times, then in 1967 Ali was drafted to fight in the Vietnam War. He refused to go, saying he was practicing his religious beliefs. Ali said he was a conscientious objector. His refusal caused enormous controversy. In the United States, Ali was sent to prison, was stripped of his heavyweight title, lost his boxing license and had his passport confiscated. The authorities did this to send a message to the general public: say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get the original essayAli was released from prison on bail while he argued his case in court. Soon, public opinion began to change, and many Americans now openly opposed the war. Many Americans opposed the war on moral grounds, dismayed by the war's devastation and violence. Others claimed that the conflict was a war against Vietnamese independence or an intervention in a foreign civil war; others opposed it because they felt it lacked clear goals and seemed unwinnable. Muhammad Ali's influence on the black organizers who formed the backbone of the civil rights movement was distinctly positive and remarkably broad. His power as a heroic symbol bridged the entire ideological spectrum of the movement. In a way that no one else could, Ali simultaneously appealed to people and organizations who otherwise agreed on little politically. In the words of one organizer, Bob Moses, “Muhammad Ali galvanized the civil rights movement. Parkinson's syndrome severely impaired Ali's motor skills and speech, but he remained active as a humanitarian and goodwill ambassador. No sport has exploited athletes, especially black athletes, like boxing. The very first American boxers were African slaves. White slave owners enjoyed forcing slaves to box to death while wearing iron collars. Even after slavery was abolished, boxing became the first sport to be desegregated so that white boxing promoters could continue to exploit black people and make money off the deep end. racism in American society. Eugenics was used to justify slavery, and the science of the time “proved” that black people were not only mentally inferior, but also physically inferior to white people. Ironically, early promoters of white fighting unwittingly created a space where black boxers could destroy white supremacist ideas about society and racial hierarchy. Jack Johnson's 1910 victory over the "Great White Hope" sparked one of the largest national race riots inthe history of the United States. Following this embarrassment in which a black man defeated a white man, Congress passed a law banning boxing films. With a brief overview of boxing history, it becomes clear that the races and cultures that have suffered the most at any given time always tend to produce the greatest champions. Boxing tends to both attract and even pray for talent from underprivileged minority communities. Through boxing, one can read a direct picture of the underprivileged in America. The sport highlights the lineage of minorities who struggle to climb the ranks, until they succeed, and then disappear from the boxing scene. It's telling that minorities remaining in the ring today is a consequence of still being at the bottom of America's economic ladder. There have been waves of underprivileged Jewish boxers, then Irish boxers, Italian-American boxers, African-American boxers and now, more and more Hispanic boxers. In a society so violently racist, boxing has become a safety valve for people's anger. Boxing symbolized a twisted manifestation of the American dream, where minorities must literally fight their way out of poverty. The modern image of Muhammad Ali, conveyed by the establishment, is that of a black man dancing in the ring and shouting: “I am the greatest!” » His image is now used to sell everything from luxury cars to soft drinks. Despite the whitewashing of Ali's image by the establishment, history shows that the real Muhammad Ali was a devout black nationalist, who was good friends with Malcolm X and a member of the Black Power group, The Nation of Islam. Ali was undoubtedly the best boxer in history, not only because of his exploits in the ring, but also because he brought anti-racism and war to professional sports. Muhammad Ali grew up in the 1950s and 1960s, as the struggle for black freedom intensified and began to boil over. Born in Louisville as Cassius Clay to a house painter and domestic worker, Ali was immersed from birth in the racist nature of America. Ali found answers to American racism in his friend and mentor Malcolm X and the Nation of Islam. “X and Ali were one and the same,” wrote journalist J. Tinsley. “Both were young, handsome, intelligent, outspoken African-American men who frightened white America at a time when racial tensions were the norm.” Keep in mind: this is just a sample. Get a custom paper now from our expert writers.Get a custom essayPerhaps Ali's greatest legacy is his voice. Ali's voice was uncompromising in its darkness. His voice was just as uncompromising in its rejection of the trappings of wealth and fame as it was in its rejection of a system that unleashed German shepherds on black children. Ali's voice did not seek acceptance. He simply asked to be heard. To begin with, the American press considered Ali's voice a refreshing change from the unpoetic violence of professional boxing. His antics and doggerels enriched newspaper columns. However, this editorial stance suddenly changed in 1964 when Ali, immediately after winning the heavyweight title, revealed that he had become a black Muslim. The American press then began using Ali's voice to portray him as a racist hothead. The New York Times continued to publish the name of slave Cassius Clay for years and called him a "nauseating, childish, loud-mouthed braggart." White sportswriters certainly preferred their athletes.