MUSEUM OF MODERN MYTHOLOGY AND POP CULTURE

MUHAMMAD ALI

1942. Born Cassius Marcellus Clay Jr., civil rights activist, United Nations ambassador for peace, and three-time World Heavyweight Boxing Champion Muhammad Ali was born in Louisville, Kentucky. His fighting style was a dance of great speed, stamina, boasting, and personal insults bellowed at his opponents during a fight. Cassius changed his name to Muhammad Ali after joining the Nation of Islam in 1964. Despite having failed the Armed Forces qualifying test because of his writing and spelling skills, Ali was reclassified and eligible for induction into the Army. Ali refused to serve in what he considered an immoral war. He devotes much of his time to humanitarian endeavors around the world; Muhammad Ali earned an honorary doctorate of humanities from Princeton University.

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