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

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

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