Cassius Clay

People were fighting for their rights. It was a time where color of skin meant your place in the world, at least it meant that in America. It was 1942, the day Cassius Clay was born, and the country was in the middle of a battle. A vocal expression of anger, sweat, and tears that tore apart people that try to get their rights. With the birth of this child grew a new expression of hope and courage. People believed in him in his later years. This man gave the colored a new chance for the freedom they tried so hard for. Cassius Clay was born in Louisville, Kentucky, in 1942 during a time that blacks were still treated as servants (Hauser 1). Flying through early childhood he was denied many things for being black, he always cried and never understood why. He took action when his bike was stolen, he ended up taking boxing lessons from a policeman named Joe Martin which set him for the rest of his life (Hauser 2). Years later in 1964 Cassius Clay was named the heavyweight champion of the world. This caused quite an upset as he was the first black man to do so. Two days later to stir things up even more he joined the religion of the Nation of Islam. Days later he took a new name of “Muhammad Ali” meaning beloved of God (Hauser 5). He then later in 1967 denied …show more content…
He spoke out to the people as a leader, he preached about freedom and equality. These actions risked his life so much for the people he loved and fought for. “I remember when Ali joined the Nation of Islam,” Julian Bond recalled. “The act of joining was not something many of us particularly liked. But the notion he’d do it, that he’d jump out there, join this group that was so despised by mainstream America, and be proud of it, sent a little thrill through you” (Hauser 19). He was someone for the people to look up to and see the courage in his eyes. In his own voice, anger, sweat, and tears, he helped shape America into the way it is