Muhammad Ali was named after Cassius Marcellus Clay, an ardent abolitionist who emancipated the 40 slaves he inherited from his father. Clay edited an anti-slavery newspaper, commanded troops in the Mexican-American War and served as minister to Russia under Abraham Lincoln.

Muhammad Ali originally named for ardent abolitionist and Yale alumnus Cassius Clay

When heavyweight boxing champion Cassius Clay changed his name to Muhammad Ali after converting to Islam, he stated that his birth name was “a slave name,” adding, “I didn’t choose it and I don’t want it.” His new name, he noted, is “a free name” meaning “beloved of God.”

The name Ali inherited from his father — Cassius Marcellus Clay — was in fact given to his dad in honor of Cassius M. Clay, a fervent abolitionist who graduated from Yale in 1832.*

Judith Schiff, chief research archivist in the Yale University Library’s Manuscripts and Archives, alerted YaleNews to the connection following Ali’s death on June 3 at the age of 74.

Schiff noted that in “Memorials of Eminent Yale Men,” Anson Phelps Stokes said of the Yale-educated … Continue Reading (3 minute read)