On October 30, 1974, Muhammad Ali delivered an eighth round knockout to heavyweight champion George Foreman in Kinshasa, the capital of Zaire (present-day Democratic Republic of the Congo). The fight, known as the Rumble in the Jungle, is a monument in sports history and a moment of equally potent social and political significance.

Leon Gast’s colossal collection of archival footage leading up to the fight in Zaire was assembled and released twenty years later in the form of a documentary entitled When We Were Kings. The film focuses on Ali’s preparation for the fight in the context of his controversial role in American society at the time. An overwhelming presence in American popular culture, Ali reaffirmed his athletic and cultural dominance …show more content…
A boxing prodigy, the twenty-two year old rose to prominence with the defeat of heavyweight champion Sonny Liston in 1964. His commanding presence in the ring was matched with an exciting and provocative public persona. Very few athletes have been subject to as much scrutiny and criticism as Ali. In fact, part of Ali’s legend is his tendency to solicit controversy from the public. Quick-witted and outspoken, Ali’s rhetoric is characterized as, “insult and hyperbole,” and noted for its, “verbal dexterity and metaphorical invention,” (Marqusee 1999: 52). Despite most of mainstream America’s distaste for him, Muhammad Ali thrived in the spotlight. The more media attention he received, the more he sought, perhaps out of necessity. As a black superstar in the early 1960s, Ali was forced to grapple with the circumscribed precedent of black athletes before him. Before Ali, the public image of black celebrities was cemented in contradiction. They carried the burden of representing the whole of the black community and its interests while simultaneously performing a “respectable Negro” caricature as expected by white Americans. They either stood in complete solidarity with the black community or, adversely, pursued a form of pseudo-assimilation in compliance with the expectations of white America. This dichotomy required Ali to continually shape and reform his public