Muhammad Ali was born Cassius Clay in Louisville, Kentucky, in 1942. At eighteen, he represented the United States at the 1960 Rome Olympics and won the light-heavyweight boxing gold medal. He then began a professional career that brought him the world heavyweight championship. In 1964, he adopted the name Muhammad Ali as his association with the Nation of Islam became public.
His career cannot be understood through boxing results alone. In 1967, Ali refused induction into the military during the Vietnam War, asserting religious objections. Boxing authorities stripped him of titles and suspended him from competition. He was convicted in federal court and appealed. The interruption cost him years in the ring, while he spoke publicly to civil-rights and antiwar audiences. His return to boxing began in 1970, before the Supreme Court decided his case.
On June 28, 1971, the Supreme Court reversed the conviction in Clay v. United States. The decision turned on the handling of his conscientious-objector application. The appeal board had given no reasons for denying it, and the government acknowledged that two grounds previously offered against his claim were invalid. Because the board might have relied on those grounds, the conviction could not stand.
Ali went on to hold the world heavyweight title three times. He also used public appearances to discuss race and international affairs. At a 1979 United Nations press conference, he described himself as a Black boy from Louisville whose boxing career had brought him before world leaders. The previous year, he had addressed the UN's Special Committee against Apartheid.
Relief work involved partners as well as Ali's visibility. In 1975, he appeared at the United Nations before a title fight to announce that promoters would direct part of closed-circuit ticket proceeds to African drought relief through UNICEF and Africare. In 1998, the UN designated him a Messenger of Peace. The Ali Center's timeline also records a 1998 visit with his wife, Lonnie, and relief organizations to deliver medical supplies in Cuba.
