 |
|
|
|
|
| |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Select > Who • What • When • Where • Which • Widgets |
| |
|
|
|
|
| Timeline |
|
 |
|
Item |
| |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Muhammad Ali > 
Muhammad Ali has undoubtedly been a fixture in world culture since the 1960's. Seizing the gold medal at the Olympics in 1960, battling George Foreman in "The Rumble in the Jungle" in Zaire, and going head to head with Joe Frazier in "The Thrilla in Manila" in the Philippines, were highlights of a career that earned Ali the status of world icon. Since his retirement in 1981, Ali has engaged in many humanitarian endeavors, including a 1990 journey to Iraq to negotiate the release of 15 hostages. In the last 20 years, Ali's cultural status has hardly diminished: 3 billion television viewers around the world watched him open the Atlanta Olympics in 1996.
Inspiring billions has been an arduous work in progress for Ali. Many Americans were slighted by his brazen "I am the greatest" anthem. White America couldn't fathom a black man being so presumptuous. These same Americans were also enraged by Cassius Clay's insistence on relinquishing what he called his "slave name" for the Muslim name, Muhammad Ali. "I don't have to be what you want me to be; I'm free to be what I want," Ali said of his name change.
|
| |
|
|
|
More on this Website >
• http://myhero.com/myhero/hero.asp?hero=m_ali
• Muhammad Ali reference page • Edit
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Jesse Owens, American Athlete
Jesse Owens was an African American track-and-field star famous for his performance at the 1936 Olympic Games in Berlin. Before the eyes of the Nazi leadership, who had h... |
| |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Joe Louis
Joe Louis burst onto the professional boxing scene in 1934 with style and skill such as the boxing world has seldom seen. Known to many as the "Brown Bomber," Louis emerg... |
| |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Malcolm X, Human Rights Activist
Malcolm X was an African-American Muslim minister, public speaker, and human rights activist. To his admirers, he was a courageous advocate for the rights of African Amer... |
| |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
African American History - Timeline
A history of black people in the United States. African Americans (American Blacks or Black Americans), racial group in the United States whose dominant ancestry is from... |
| |
|
|
|
|
| |
|
 |
|
|