Description:

Ali Muhammad

Muhammad Ali Signed Prompt Card Regarding Origins of his Name, PSA Slabbed

 

A PSA slabbed prompt card fully engrossed by championship boxer Muhammad Ali (1942-2016), and signed by him within the text as "Muhammad Ali" at center. The 8" x 5" blue-ruled index card is inscribed with 27 words in black felt tip marker. PSA certified as authentic. Expected light overall toning. The slightest of upturned corner at lower right recto and a faint red smudge verso mentioned just for accuracy. Else near fine. The slab measures 10" x 6.5" overall.

 

In the seventeenth prompt card of an unknown speech, Muhammad Ali wrote in full:

 

"I know that this is true. {17} /

After T.H.E.M. Gave me the /

name of Muhammad Ali /

_____________________

T.H.E.M. teaches us that we /

Must Help Self Before /

Helping others,"

[...not present, would have been continued on next card]

 

Ali was born Cassius Marcellus Clay, Jr. (His namesake was the unlikely abolitionist Cassius Marcellus Clay (1810-1903), a Kentucky planter who emancipated his father's slaves.) Ali stated elsewhere that he eschewed his given name as a "slave name", adding, "I didn’t choose it and I don’t want it". Instead, after Ali's 1964 acceptance as a member of the Nation of Islam, he was given the name Muhammad Ali, meaning "beloved of God".

 

Ali is best remembered for his championship boxing career, but he was also a man of many causes. Ali's conversion to Islam in the late 1950s informed his refusal to serve in the U.S. military following the mandatory Vietnam War draft. An increasingly visible symbol of pacifism as well as the Civil Rights and Black Power movement, Ali became a popular choice for college and university speaking engagements as well as rallies. This prompt card, entirely written in Ali's clear and fluid handwriting, was almost certainly used by him at one such event.

 

This item comes with a Certificate from John Reznikoff, a premier authenticator for both major 3rd party authentication services, PSA and JSA (James Spence Authentications), as well as numerous auction houses.

 

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