Khaliah Ali’s father, Muhammad Ali, was one of the best-known men of the 20th century — a three-time heavyweight boxing champion who not only captivated millions around the world from the boxing ring but also turned the tables on what it meant to be a Black, Muslim man in an era of racial segregation and civil rights.
At the height of his fame, he spoke out for what he thought was right. Not an easy undertaking, said Khaliah Ali, who shared with the Chicago Tribune memories of her late father over a Zoom call a few days before Illinois’ first Muhammad Ali Day, which coincides with Martin Luther King Day this year.
A resolution, signed by Gov. J.B. Pritzker in 2021, made Jan. 17 (Ali’s birthday) a commemorative school holiday in Illinois, the state that held special meaning for Ali and his family during his formative years as an activist and new convert to Islam.
Khaliah Ali, 48, a designer, author and co-chair of a campaign for the National Public Housing Museum in Chicago, works with more than 10 philanthropic organizations with her son, Jacob Ali-Wertheimer, who joined her on parts of this conversation. She is the fifth of Ali’s nine children and lives in the Philadelphia area and Europe.
The following interview with Khaliah Ali is a slightly shorter version of a longer conversation, edited and condensed for clarity.
Q: There’s a lot to talk about it in a short amount of time, but let’s start with Jan. 17 being the first Muhammad Ali Day in Illinois. What do you think is the significance of Ali Day?
A: I think my father, just generically speaking, would have been so incredibly proud and touched that he was still remembered, still loved, and that people chose to curate his memory in such a wonderful way — to give it a day, his birthday to remember him by. My father never took anything for granted, he had gratitude for everything. For someone of his magnitude to still be able to appreciate the little things in life should tell you who he was as a man.
Q: I think a lot of younger people, especially now with Ali Day being a commemorative school holiday across the state, would be fascinated to know more about the connection your father had to Chicago and the Midwest.
A: Islam, No. 1, was one of his great connections to Chicago. Religiously, a lot of his leaders, people from his Islamic community, were based in Chicago. My father also had a farmhouse just outside of Chicago — it was Al Capone’s old farm — in Berrien Springs, Michigan — so I have memories of living there as a very young child, and as a teen, I’d spent some of my summers there, or when I’d visit my father and my stepmother, Lonnie. Chicago was never far away, so we always made the trip in. For me, Chicago is a little bit of home as well, which is one of the reasons working with the National Public Housing Museum was so significant for me. My father classically is not identified with Chicago, but if you take a look at history, Chicago is a huge piece of him and his heart.
Q: When you were young, when did you first realize that your father was, for lack of a better phrase, one of the most famous people in the world?
A: (Laughs.) I was somewhere between first and second grade, and I was going through my Encyclopaedia Britannica — promptly replaced by Google — and I remember when I got to his page, I was like, ‘Wait a minute, No. 1, what’s he doing in here? No. 2, why is he with the Beatles?’ I was raised with the Beatles, and I loved Paul McCartney — my favorite human to this day — and I called my dad and I said, “Daddy, what are you doing with Paul?” I was so confused, and he said, “They came to see me.” I said, “Why? Why would the Beatles come to see you?” And he laughed, “I think I’ve done my job too well.” It was so funny how he tried to explain to me who he was, that he wasn’t just my dad.
Q: You shared him with the world. Did you ever wish you had more of him to yourself?
A: Absolutely. That part wasn’t easy. You kind of look up and you have a problem or a question maybe, and just like any child, you miss your father when you realize he’s not with you, he’s halfway across the world doing something else. That position for me was something I had to mature and grow through, and as an adult, I was able to look back and understand and appreciate that now that he’s not here, the deeds that you leave and your legacy, keep your children’s hearts warm. There’s balance in that equation. But sure, it was difficult to always have to share him, and when I needed him not having him.
Q: Is there a moment or moments between you and your father that you hold on to?
A: I just loved the moments that in general, I had alone with him. It was very difficult to have time, truly, just to be alone with him and to talk to him. Those moments will always be among the most sacred. Whether we were laughing and singing a James Brown song, or eating something we probably shouldn’t, or me taking that moment to confide something in him and try to get a piece of his wisdom, to which he would never answer me, he would sing “it’s your thing, do what you want to do.” As an adult child, I now see the value in that because he was saying “trust yourself. You know what to do — you think your way through this.”
Q: In 1967, your father’s refusal to (be drafted) is a defining point in the story of Muhammad Ali, and really, American history. He was stripped of his heavyweight title, banned from boxing and faced five years in prison for draft evasion. Growing up, did you and your siblings ever talk to him about that experience?
A: As the child who was always academically driven and politically interested, that was an extreme point of interest for me. Naturally I was very proud of that passage of his life in history. It wasn’t anything that he ever specifically sat down and talked to us about, it was more me inquiring and asking him.
Ali-Wertheimer: He didn’t have that extended conversation with his children, but for him taking that stand was simply the right thing to do. When you make a decision that feels so right and is so important to you, it’s not one that you necessarily feel you always need to explain to everybody. That willingness to sacrifice everything was just second nature to him.
Q: It was in Chicago where your father experienced the beginning of his religious journey and where he really immersed himself in the Nation of Islam and the Muslim faith. How did his relationship with religion affect you and your siblings?
A: Each child had an individual experience based on their mother. For me, I lived a Muslim upbringing and a Muslim life; I prayed with my father, my father would share passages in the Quran with me; he would take us to the mosque to pray. A lot of the principles and values to this day that I hold so dear are based in Islam that my father instilled in me. And at the same time, being a good Muslim, my father was very conscious and respectful of other religions — I had a Jewish grandmother, my son was bar mitzvahed. My father came to the bar mitzvah and hugged and kissed the Torah. My father respected the beliefs of all people, but Islam was central in his life and as a father, its probably the single most valuable thing he imparted in me and my life.
Q: In 2016, the televised funeral procession in Louisville, Kentucky, was a sight to behold. What do you remember most about that day?
A: I was so touched that my father took the time to organize everything before he passed away. It was like the one last, loving thing he did as a father for us. He (wanted) the procession to go through the most impoverished, and what he felt were forgotten parts of Louisville to say goodbye. He knew that there would be hundreds of thousands of people there as we laid him to rest to wish us well. I remember as we entered the cemetery when things finally got quiet, I was so filled with love for him, for everyone around me, and gratitude for the life he lived.
Q: Rumor has it that while you and your family were flying your father’s casket to Louisville ahead of the funeral, thousands of bees were in a tree outside of the Ali Center?
A: Yes. It’s incredible. While on the plane with my family bringing my father to Louisville, my brother Asaad (Lonnie’s son), was on social media and he came and brought the story to us. And we thought, this can’t be real. A swarm of bees, just kind of really randomly appeared out of nowhere, and swarmed the statue at the Ali Center in Louisville …. thousands of bees. And apparently seasonally that wasn’t correct, the bees had never been there before, and as we’re flying in, the story is now being picked up and documented. And as that plane touched down and landed, those bees took off and left. No beehive, nothing … thousands of bees. It’s one of those things that’s great, but I kind of hesitate to share, because it feels so unbelievable! It was as comforting as it was incredible.
Q: How would you want Ali Day to be celebrated and his legacy to live on?
A: A day for people to reflect about the things that were most important to my father, like self-love and self-respect. My father loved children, so in some way, developing around them through the school curriculum. I think the Ali Center is just terrific to always mention and something called Fighter’s Heaven in Deer Lake, Pennsylvania, where my father trained for all of his big fights, and where he lived in between his fights. The Beatles photograph, the famous Michael Jackson photograph, the Elvis Presley photographs were all taken there. It’s been totally reconditioned into its original state; so along with preserving my father’s legacy through Muhammad Ali Day, I know from my own family how important it is to create these centers to connect with the community to house all the core values of my father and what was important to him.
Ali-Wertheimer: So much of what was important to my grandfather was inspiring others and the importance of self-love. We live in a country where we’re often told we’re not beautiful, or we’re not great. And it’s for those reasons that my grandfather, as a Black man, during the height of the civil rights movement, in an era where segregation was prevalent, and you could be lynched or killed for whatever action, said, “I am beautiful, I am the greatest.” I hope that is a message that is spread to the people who need it most.
