Becoming Muhammad Ali

In the section’s prose introduction, Lucky explains that losing to Green makes Cassius work even harder. He doesn’t drink soda because of the sugar, nor does he smoke. Every night, he goes to bed at 10 p.m.

Lucky and Cassius are always together, especially, as Lucky explains, when they go downtown, which is the white part of Louisville. Everyone seems to be watching them there, expecting them to mess up. One day, as they walk past a bike shop, Cassius stops to admire the merchandise, touching the handlebars of brand-new bicycle. The owner and his wife come out, shooing them off.

Lucky and Cassius live in the West End, which is a mostly Black part of Louisville. It is one of the only areas in the city where banks are willing to offer loans to African Americans so that they can buy a house there. Many businesses are still segregated. Lucky explains that when Cassius was five, he was crying outside a store. When his mother went in to ask for a glass of water for the boy, she was refused service. She thought that Cassius would forget the incident, but Cassius never has.