Becoming Ali: digital history, newspaper discourse, and America’s most famous boxer, 1960–1975

Abstract

Cassius Marcellus Clay Jr. publically changed his name to Muhammad Ali on 6 March 1964. In doing so, he signalled his allegiance to the Nation of Islam – a controversial religious sect that advocated racial separatism and black nationalism – as well as his intention to defy established cultural expectations for black athletes in the United States. Through his name change, he provoked diverse reactions from the media that changed over time. This study analyses the discursive significance of Ali’s two names – Clay and Ali – as a way to analyse complex and shifting journalistic attitudes toward him between 1960 and 1975. To do so, it employs a mix of digital and traditional methodologies: specifically, distant and close reading. As such, this thesis is part of a growing body of digitally driven scholarship that is re-shaping sport history in the new millennium.The foundation of this study is a distant reading of almost 40,000 articles written about Ali between 1960 and 1975 from 13 newspapers. This group of publications was selected to be geographically and culturally diverse, and includes three major white-run dailies and ten black newspapers from across the United States. Distant reading – a form of quantitative analyses that uses graphical representations to visualise trends and themes within large bodies of literature – indicates that rather than moving gradually toward acceptance of his Muslim name and its associated identity, journalists shifted their attitudes toward Ali at three key junctures. In March 1964, journalists overwhelmingly referred to him as Cassius Clay, not Muhammad Ali. This practice continued until September 1967, when newspapers began to print the two names almost interchangeably. The final shift occurred in March 1971, when journalists reversed their earlier rejection of the Muslim name completely and began referring to him almost exclusively as Muhammad Ali.Guided by the shifts identified by distant reading, this thesis then moves to a detailed close reading of individual articles with the aim of uncovering the deep, discursive forces that shaped usage of Ali’s two names. An analysis of articles published between March 1964 and September 1967 reveals that although both black and white newspapers comprehensively rejected Ali’s Muslim name, there were important differences in their motivations. The rejection of the name by white newspapers was symptomatic of their broader refusal to engage critically with racial issues during the mid-1960s. By comparison, the black press rejected the name because it signified Ali’s affiliation with the Nation of Islam, whose program of black nationalism and racial separatism threatened to undermine the integration movement.The relatively interchange way that newspapers used the two names between September 1967 and March 1971 was influenced predominantly by Ali’s refusal to be drafted into the United States Army. Close reading also reveals a number of deeper discursive factors that prompted journalists to display less animosity toward Ali’s Muslim name. Ali’s punishment at the hands of legal and athletic authorities earned him a measure of sympathy from the press. However, close reading indicates that this changing personal narrative was augmented by broader cultural shifts occurring in the United States throughout this period. The rise of radical black power groups and growing criticism of the Vietnam War made Ali’s activism appear increasingly moderate by comparison, and enhanced his appeal to mainstream audiences. The influence of these personal and cultural factors culminated in March 1971, after which journalists referred to him almost exclusively as Muhammad Ali.These trends are then examined within a single publication: the Louisville Defender. Examining journalistic narratives from the Defender – Ali’s hometown black newspaper – enables a more granular examination of the factors that shaped press attitudes toward the boxer. By incorporating analysis of Louisville’s unique racial culture as well as the influence of individual personalities at the Defender, this close reading further reveals the diversity of attitudes toward Ali across the United States. Rather than being swayed by hometown parochialism, the Defender energetically critiqued Ali’s racial and religious beliefs and aligned itself with the attitudes of other black publications around the country. Distant and close readings show that American newspapers did not embrace the name Muhammad Ali until March 1971. At the height of his career, he provoked complex and critical reactions from journalists with a diverse range of racial, religious, political, cultural and geographical backgrounds. Modern cultural memories of the late boxer tend to eschew these aspects of Ali’s cultural identity, favouring more benevolent visions of the late boxer as a peacemaker or civil rights hero. By analysing shifting attitudes toward Ali between 1960 and 1975, and interrogating the complex discursive factors that drove these shifts, this thesis contributes to a more nuanced historical understanding of his cultural significance.