Episode 02: The Cartoon and the Convert

Episode Description:

From Louisville to Chicago to Rome from Miami to New York, we’ll trace some of the factors and the actors on the world’s stage who influenced Ali’s conversion to Islam. We’ll also take a look at how his name change was connected and when such a major identity shift might be required for Muslims.

People:

• Imam Dr. Nasir Ahmad, an Oral and Maxillofacial Surgeon and imam of the historic Masjid Al-Ansar in Miami, Florida.

• Dr. Aminah Al-Deen, an Islamic scholar, professor emerita of Islamic Studies in the Department of Religious Studies at DePaul University, and founder of the undergraduate baccalaureate program in Islamic World Studies at DePaul.

• Khalilah “Belinda” Camacho-Ali (referenced), second wife of Muhammad Ali, mother of his children Maryum, Rasheda, Jamillah, and Muhammad Ali Jr. 

• Maryum Ali, Muhammad Ali’s oldest daughter and first-born child.

• Muhammad Ali (archival audio), the Champ.

• Rahman Ali (referenced), younger brother of Muhammad Ali who also became a boxer, a Muslim, and changed his name.

• Zaheer Ali, oral historian and educator.

• Dr. Henry Cobbs, childhood friend of Muhammad Ali, attended Sunday school with Ali for a time at First Virginia Avenue Baptist Church.

• Dr. Sylviane A. Diouf, an award-winning historian of the African Diaspora and a curator.

• Thomas Hauser (referenced), author of Muhammad Ali: His Life And Times and Muhammad Ali: A Tribute to The Greatest.

• Robert Lipsyte, author and American sports journalist, covered Ali for 52 years, author of Free to Be Muhammad Ali.

• The Honorable Elijah Muhammad (referenced), leader of the Nation of Islam from 1934 - 1975.

• Cathal O’Shannon (archival audio), Irish journalist and broadcaster.

• Imam Mansoor Sabree, Deputy Director for IMAN in Atlanta, Georgia, and former imam of the Atlanta Masjid of Al-Islam. 

• Abdul Rahman Aquil “Captain Sam” Muhammad (referenced), minister in the Nation of Islam, mentor, and friend to Muhammad Ali.

• Ilyasah Shabazz, author, lecturer, social activist, and third of Malcolm X’s six daughters.

• Imam Dr. Talib M. Shareef, retired Chief Master Sergeant of the United States Air Force and and imam of Masjid Muhammad in Washington, D.C.

• Mary Turner (referenced), a mathematics teacher, a paternal aunt of Ali and one of his favorite relatives.

• Malcolm X (archival audio), former Nation of Islam minister, human rights activist, once close friend and mentor to Ali.

Places:

• Kunz’s, the restaurant in downtown Louisville, according to Dr. Cobbs, where Muhammad Ali was refused service in 1960 because of his race, leading to the legend of him throwing his Olympic Gold Medal in the Ohio River.

• The 5th Street Gym, the place where Angelo Angelo Dundee trained Muhammad Ali in Miami, Florida.

• Masjid Al-Ansar, formerly Mosque No. 29, the spiritual home of Muhammad during his days living and training in Miami, Florida.

• The United Nations Headquarters in New York, where Ali visited with Malcolm X just days after announcing he’d converted to Islam.

Events:

• Muhammad Ali loses in Golden Gloves Tournament bout with Kent Green in Chicago, Illinois, February 26, 1958.

• Muhammad wins bout against Zbigniew Pietrykowski in Rome during the 1960 Olympics; brings home the Gold.

• Ali tries to integrate a downtown Louisville restaurant shortly after returning to his hometown as an Olympic Gold medalist in 1960. Legend has it he threw his medal in the Ohio River on account of the rejection. Later, says this is one of the things that turned him to Islam.

• Muhammad Ali becomes the new Heavyweight Champion of the World after winning the February 25, 1964, fight in Miami against Sonny Liston. The next day he announces he has converted to Islam and tells the press, “I don’t have to be what you want me to be. I’m free to be who I want.”

• Two days after the Liston fight, Ali gives more details to the press on why he left Christianity for the Nation of Islam, February 27, 1964. “You call it Black Muslims, I don’t. The real name is Islam,” he tells the reporters one point.

• Muhammad Ali reveals — during a visit to the United Nations with Malcolm X — how long he’s really been affiliated with the Nation of Islam, March 4, 1964. 

• The Honorable Elijah Muhammad announces on March 6, 1964, via a Chicago radio broadcast that he is giving Cassius Clay the name Muhammad Ali.

• Ali reveals in a October 25, 1964, New York Times article the timing of his first name change: “I got my X four weeks before the fight… “  H’ed been Cassius Clay then Cassius X then Muhammad Ali.

• Opening night of the Broadway musical “Buck White” starred in by Muhammad Ali; the George Abbott Theater, Dec. 2, 1969.

• Muhammad Ali appears on The ED Sullivan Show to perform the song “We Came in Chains” from the Broadway play, “Buck White,” January 18, 1970.

• Muhammad sits for interview with Irish journalist Cathal O’Shannon on July 17, 1972, in Dublin, Ireland. 

Artifacts:

• “We Came in Chains” song.

• “How We ‘Lost’ Our Language” cartoon in Muhammad Speaks newspaper.

• White Man’s Heaven Is A Black Man’s Hell song often recited by Ali during his early Nation of Islam days.

• Insight on the Nation of Islam’s do-for-self economic projects from Ebony Magazine’s coverage of Elijah Muhammad’s death in 1975.

• Handwritten letter to Life magazine that Ali signed on February 18, 1964, several days before the Liston fight, confirming he had converted to Islam.

• Ticket from Ali’s Golden Gloves Tournament bout with Kent Green in Chicago, Illinois, February 26, 1958.