When he announced his name change, Muhammad Ali said, “Cassius Clay is a slave name. I didn’t choose it and I don’t want it.” But the origin of his name is actually much more interesting than that comment suggests.
The boxer Cassius Marcellus Clay, Jr., later known as Muhammad Ali, was named for his father Cassius Marcellus Clay, Sr., who was himself named for Kentucky abolitionist Cassius Marcellus Clay, one of the most notable and controversial men of his day.
The original Cassius Clay became an abolitionist while attending Yale. When he returned to his home in Kentucky he freed his slaves and began a career as a politician and activist, in a state where abolitionism was extremely unpopular.
Cassius Clay was a fearless brawler. Although he carried two pistols (and kept his own personal cannon at his home), his preferred weapon was his Bowie knife. While Clay was giving a speech in 1843 a paid assassin jumped onto the stage and shot him in the chest. Fortunately for Clay the bullet was deflected by Clay’s knife. With the bullet in his chest, Clay tackled his attacker and stabbed him repeatedly, cutting off the man’s nose and an ear in the process. On another occasion, after giving an anti-slavery speech Clay was jumped by six brothers. Even though they stabbed and beat him nearly to death, Clay fought off all six of them with his Bowie knife, killing one of them.
During the Civil War Cassius Clay served briefly as a general in the Federal army, before becoming the U.S. minister to Russia. He was instrumental in assuring Russian support for the North during the war and later in procuring the purchase of Alaska.
As a husband and father, Clay left much to be desired. In 1878, at age 68, Clay divorced his 65-year-old wife, Mary Jane, leaving her homeless. Clay had been an absentee father most of his life and their children had been raised almost entirely by Mary Jane. Two of their daughters, Mary Barr Clay and Laura Clay, became prominent suffragettes and women’s rights activists, in part as a result of witnessing how their mother was treated and how unfair property rights were to women. At age 84, Clay married the 15-year-old sister of one of his tenants. He died in 1903 at age 92.
Cassius Marcellus Clay was born on October 19, 1810, two hundred twelve years ago today.
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