Ali During the 1960's

While reading Muhammad Ali: The Making of an Icon by Michael Ezera, I start to realize that Ali truly embodies the “New Negro.” Muhammad Ali, formerly known as Cassius Marcellus Clay Jr., was an outspoken, cocky individual that gain the respect of millions of Blacks during the 1960s’. The year 1960 proved to be monumental for Ali. He graduated from high school, won his sixth Kentucky Golden Gloves title, and Olympic Gold Medal. Even though Ali was an Olympic gold medalist, he realized that life for him would not change. He couldn’t get a cheese burger served to him at a restaurant in Downtown Louisville. Ali later threw his gold medal in the Ohio River, which to him served as a gesture of racial defiance of American Hypocrisy.

            Ali became more and more attracted to Islam. After winning the world heavyweight title for the first time, he changed his name to Muhammad Ali, which means “worthy of all praise.” Malcolm X believed that that Ali was “the finest negro athlete he has ever known, the man who will mean more to his people than Jackie Robinson, because Robinson is white man’s hero” (Ashe, 1993). February 1966, Ali was reclassified 1-A by the selective service. He issued a negative response in a form a poem: “keep asking me, no matter how long. On the war in Viet Nam, I sing this song; I ain’t got no quarrel with Viet Cog” (Ashe, 1993). Ali said “he refused to go ten thousand miles to help murder and kill and burn poor people simply to help continue the domination of white slave masters over the darker people” (Ashe, 1993). Ali’s stance on the War and the refusal to participate in the killing of innocent people, demonstrated that the “New Negro” was willing to do whatever it took to prove a point. The WBA and the NYSAC did not wait for indictment; they stripped Ali of his title. Prominent black athletes came to support Ali publicly, Lew Alcindor, Bill Russell, Sid Williams, Walter Beach, Curtiss McClinton, Bobby Mitchell, Wille Davis, Gale Sayers, etc. The traditional black civil rights leaders did not publicly support Ali, they became very cautious. It did not matter; Ali was declared free and went after his title that was stripped from him. Ali became the first man in boxing history to win the title three times. His rise to fame came in the midst of the black social revolution of the 1960s and America’s suffering over the Vietnam War.  Ali’s activism during the War demonstrated why he is in conversation with the New Negro concept.

Who is the "New Negro?"

Baldwin’s interpretation of the New Negro differs from Alain Locke’s in that the New Negro represent the “progressive era.” He starts to talk about Jack Johnson who became the first African American heavyweight champion. Jack Johnson destroyed the myth of white superiority and demolished the “Great White Hope.” Whites were always seen as the most intelligent and athletic, now they fear being inferior to Blacks. There is a reason why Tommy Burns did not want to fight Johnson. If he lost the title, it would now mean that a “negro” was the better. According to Baldwin the New Negro is more than an artist. Baldwin claims that the New Negro includes the artist along with athletes, singers, beauty culturists, etc. Jack Johnson became a worldwide symbol and example of ambition. Reverend Reverdy Ransom stated Jack Johnson accomplishments in the ring will now manifest into achievement for “negro” singers, poets, sculptors, and scholars. Now blacks will now challenge whites in every domain of human endeavor.

Alain Locke’s interpretation of the “New Negro” is slightly different. Locke believes that the New Negro is a part of the talented tenth. Individuals that work hard and are skilled truly represent the rebirth of the New Negro. For instance Alain Locke is a reliable figure to call to mind because of his upbringing and professional success. Locke excelled as a leader and a scholar at Central High School in Philadelphia. He enrolled in Harvard College in 1904 and focused on philosophy. When he finished his schooling, he was elected to Phi Beta Kappa. He also was named a Rhodes Scholar at Pennsylvania, and then studied at Oxford University. Locke success helped define what it meant to be a “New Negro.” Therefore in summary Locke interpreted the New Negro to represent the intellectuals. These intellectuals are the artists, scholars, poets…etc.

            The similarities between the artistic and entrepreneurial New Negro is that they try to eradicate the norms of African American. Blacks are portrayed as brutes, dumb, and violent. The artistic and entrepreneurial New Negro continues to destroy myths that have been in place for more than 300 years, while trying to claim respectability for the race.

Nothing is going to Change

Reading Warmth of Other Suns and the poem Escape, I see a lot of connections. The poem Escape talked about blackness and how it sticks with you no matter where you go. In the story titled Disillusionment on page 371, in Warmth of Suns, Ida Mae and her family were having troubles in Chicago. In high school I had this perception that in the North during the 20^th century meant freedom for blacks. People tried to escape the harsh and racist South in order to start their lives all over. The North to them symbolized economic, social, and spiritual freedom. Even though the North had more opportunities for African Americans, they still faced hardships.

Before even getting a chance to move to Chicago, Ida Mae and her family were being discouraged not to move and to stay in the South. During the 1950s, housing officials suggested a plan that would restrict 13,000 new public housing units to people who lived in Chicago for two years. This plan would “affect colored migrants and foreign immigrants alike” (p.372, Wilkerson).  In the same section the Clarks were being spotlighted in “Disillusionment” as well. Harvey Clark and his family were from the South just like Ida Mae.  The Clarks were both college educated and wanted a better life for their six year old son. As soon as they moved into Cicero, and all-white town, white protesters met them as they were unloading the truck.  The protestors told them to “Get out of Cicero” and told not “come back.”

The poem Escape first stanza says:

shadows, shadows,

Hug me round

So that I shall not be found

By Sorrow:

She pursues me

Everywhere,

I can’t lose her

Anywhere.

Ida Mae and Harvey Clark cannot get rid of the fact that they are Black. Their skin color cannot change and they are force to carry the “burden” that all black people must bear.  Nearly every colored family that wanted to live in a “white territory” was greeted with bombings, shootings, riots, or threats.  These were similar obstacles that almost every black family faces up North. No matter how much they try to better themselves for their family they could not “escape” oppression.

I have taken a lot of Black Studies courses and have gained insights on cultural back grounds of minorities, especially African Americans. Coming from a Nigerian background, I always felt that I lacked the knowledge of Black America. I slowly realized that the history of Black America can be linked to the present. There were a few courses that were exceptional and stood out to me. Here is a list of Black Studies Courses that changed my perspective:

•  Black Studies 4 Critical Intro to Race

• Black Studies 1 Introduction to Black Studies

• Black Studies 38A African American Literature 

• Black Studies 193CW

• Black Studies 106 Women Politics of the Body
• Black Studies 124 Race, Inheritance

My perspective on the world and everything in my life has changed because of some of the Black Studies courses I have taken.  The classes that I gained the most knowledge in were classes that focused on a specific topic such as Black Studies 124, 106, and 193. These classes touched on subjects that went into detailed and applied to the current state of minorities today. What makes Black Studies courses so interesting was that our perception of African Americans in the United States always seems to change when we go further into the past and present. For instance in Black Studies 124, Professor Lipsitz continuously repeated that housing discrimination is one of reasons that will not allow African Americans from accumulating wealth. In Black Studies 193CW, you learn that different ethnic groups are marginalized in different ways: economically, socially and academically. These courses have allowed me to think critically and look past the norms of society so that maybe one day, I can help alleviate the problems minorities face. The amount of information that I have accumulated over time, has always seem to change my perspective on society every quarter.