Muhammed Ali was born to the name Cassius Clay Jr in Louisville, Kentucky in 1942. At this time blacks were the servant class in Louisville. The highest career goal that blacks could realistically obtain was to join the clergy or become a teacher at an all-black public school. Clay’s mother later recalled this event “I remember one …show more content…
On March 6, 1964, he took the name “Muhammad Ali,” which was given to him by his spiritual mentor. Julian Bond a member of the SNCC, which was one of the most important civil rights organizations said that Ali joining the Nation of Islam “was something not many of us particularly liked. For the next three years, Ali dominated boxing as greatly as fighter ever. But outside the ring, his image was being sculpted in ways that were even more important. “My first impression of Cassius Clay,” author Alex Haley later said, “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.” His success in the ring gave a lot of black people hope and helped them continue in their fight for civil rights. Due to his success boxing, his voice could be by millions of people. Because of this many people started sharing some of his views on the civil rights movement and his anti-war