(1942-1964)
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Boxer Cassius Clay rises up the amateur ranks to win gold at the 1960 Olympics. He turns professional, sharpening his boxing skills and honing his genius for self-promotion. In 1964, he upsets Sonny Liston to become heavyweight champion..
(1964-1970)
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Cassius Clay publicly joins the Nation of Islam and takes the name Muhammad Ali. When he refuses induction into the Army, he is stripped of his title and forced into exile. After three years he returns to the ring, but he’s lost a step.
(1970-1974)
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Muhammad Ali battles his fiercest rival, Joe Frazier, and the U.S. government, as he attempts to regain the heavyweight title. He first loses to and then defeats Frazier, but to become champion again, he will have to beat George Foreman.
(1974-2016)
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Muhammad Ali shocks the world by defeating George Foreman, winning back the heavyweight title and becoming the most famous man on earth. After retiring in 1981, he travels the world spreading his Islamic faith, and becomes a symbol of peace and hope.
In Dunnington’s latest work, Muhammad Ali, directed by famed documentarians Ken Burns, Sarah Burns, and David McMahon, she made use of music of Ali’s era as well as tracks from hip hop producer and Meek Mill, Jay-Z, and 50 Cent collaborator Jahlil Beats to weave an immersive and propulsive soundscape.
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At an early age he identified himself as “The Greatest” and backed up his words inside and out of the boxing ring. Filmmaker Ken Burns joins “Black Voices” to discuss the sweeping new four-part documentary “Muhammad Ali.”
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He was bigger than boxing and larger than life — a true icon of the 20th century. Filmmaker Ken Burns and Donald Lassere of the Chicago History Museum join us to discuss the sweeping new four-part documentary on the life and legacy of Muhammad Ali.
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Muhammad Ali was born in Louisville and attained global fame, but Chicago played an important role in the boxing legend’s life. Discover some of the locations that marked Ali's remarkable life during his time in Chicago.
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Three of the most famous world heavyweight champions—most famous athletes in general—have lived in and had some of their most formative experiences and bouts in Chicago, a city that has also always been a stepping stone for amateur boxers.
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Muhammad Ali was the greatest; a symbol of a strong, unapologetically Black man; an example of how a person can grow and change. WTTW's Tim Russell reflects on his memories of Ali and the boxer's importance.
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"Muhammad Ali lived here for some of the most important years of his career," says his biographer Jonathan Eig. "Chicago was really where he began to find a national stage and to realize that he could be special." Plus, he had his "racial awakening" here.
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Ken Burns, Sarah Burns, and David McMahon take on "the greatest of all time" in their upcoming four-part documentary, examining the three-time heavyweight champion who was also a lightning rod for controversy around activism, pacifism, religion, and race.
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“Muhammad Ali is the athlete equivalent of an artist," says the visual artist Rahmaan Statik, a South Side native and former Nation of Islam member who has painted a mural of Ali at 2847 S. Kedzie Avenue in Little Village.
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There’s more to Muhammad Ali, both positive and negative, than many people know, and quite a bit of it is uncovered for the first time in Jonathan Eig's biography.
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