February 2, 2016
New book looks at secret friendship between Muhammad Ali, Malcolm X
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. — The secret friendship between Muhammad Ali and Malcolm X is chronicled in a new book by a Purdue University historian.
"It's the story of a friendship of two people who loved each other but also were using each other," says Randy Roberts, distinguished professor of history and co-author of "Blood Brothers: The Fatal Friendship Between Muhammad Ali and Malcolm X." Roberts wrote the book with Johnny Smith, an assistant professor of American history at Georgia Tech.
The book, published by Basic Books, looks closely at the friendship that began in 1962 at a luncheon before a Detroit rally and ended when Malcolm X was assassinated in 1965.
"The story around their friendship has a lot of violence; there was violence in the civil rights era, violence in the boxing ring and violence in the Nation of Islam," Roberts says. "Violence runs through the book like a river."
The friendship, before it turned sour in 1964, was always kept secret because Ali's association with the polarizing minister could damage his boxing career. At the time, Ali was known as Cassius Clay, and during the civil rights era, he had to project an image of good behavior. Publicly associating with the Nation of Islam would damage his reputation.
"Clay’s management tried to protect Clay's image and that made it hard to get to the truth," says Roberts. "We discover Ali and Malcolm X are together dozens of times in 1962 and 1963. In the book we share these interactions and more details about the times when Malcolm X was with Ali before fights and even during a gathering in Africa."
Details of their friendship and interactions are based on FBI files, personal papers of Malcolm X and his biographer Alex Haley, as well as "clues" found in numerous media reports from New York to Florida.
Writer: Amy Patterson Neubert, 765-494-9723, apatterson@purdue.edu
Source: Randy Roberts, rroberts@purdue.edu
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