Posted by
steven anderson on Sunday, August 10, 2008 1:50:04 AM
Cassius Marcellus Clay is a famous name in the Kentucky area for several reasons. The Cassius Marcellus Clay that has been lost to current history was a pre civil war abolitionist so committed to the cause that he was once described as having a white skin and a black heart. On many occasions the man was an embarassment, he used his pistols, knives, and fighting abilities against those he disagreed with. And he was very good at fighting. He published his abolitionist views all over Kentucky and was forced to move because of them. He fought in the Mexican American war, and in the civil war, attaining the rank of general. Reportedly when he was on his death bed in his late 80s he amused himself by shooting flies off the bedroom wall with his pistols.
The Clay name was taken by a freed slave, whose descendants in a later generation gave birth to a son who was given the name of Cassius Marcellus Clay in honor of the civil war abolitionist. That name was special. The man who carried it became a boxer, won a medal at the Olympic games, turned professional, and fought his way to the top. He has been lionized by the media, and by politicians. And he also became special for many of the same reasons.
We now know this man as Muhammad Ali. In the mid 1960s he refused the draft, spent time away from boxing and then converted to a Muslim. He also became a three time world heavyweight champion along the way. His name, or his name for the first 20 plus years of his life is not so well known.
The name he was given at birth conveyed a special meaning, and his namesake was a early fighter for black civil rights. To discard this birth name was his choice. I think the discarded birth name is well worth remembering.