Marketing Muhammad Ali: Louisville’s Newest Museum Center

Marketing Muhammad Ali Louisville' s Newest Museum Center Catherine Fosl T he Muhammad Ali Center opened on Louisville's Ohio Riverfront in November 2005 amid a showcase of celebrities, headed of course by Ali hirnself. 1he museum promises to enhance regional culture in a number of ways if it fulfills its mission to preserve and share the legacy and ideals ofMuhammad Ali;to promote respect, hope, and understanding; and to inspire adults and children 1 1. everywhere to be as great as they can be. These tall orders exemplify the Ali Center' s strange yet engaging tensions and the experience one is likely to have there. The mission begins with an individual and his ideals but then quickly shifts to increasingly loftier,more general, but perhaps also more remote human qualities that Ali's example offers for the rest I " of the world' s societies: respect,hope,and understanding and, finally, simply being as " great" as one can be. il=%% Be Center built to accomplish this mission presents somethingmore than a museum or a mere monument to an icon, and something less than the lifetransforming extravaganza for which it seems to strive. What the Center might ES r * become remains to be A$* All 4 ... seen at this early stage Muhammid Ali of its existence, with r. Lenter opened significant portions of its programming and even architecture still to the world in incompleteincluding the Library and Archives that might hold special November 2005. interest for history lovers. Courtesy of the Muhammad Ali The Center' s most immediate attraction is its appearance, which Center has already boosted the beauty of Louisville' s downtown skyline. A colorful,blockv,towering structure,the Center appears to hover over the 6 OHIO VALLEY HISTORY city' s waterfront expressway. Among the building's most unusual and intriguing features are the massive, shapeshifting mosaics of various images of Ali imbeddedinits construction, which fade in and out of r- 1.:<'. focus almost holographically as one approaches from a distance, then disappear when up close. That aspect j,« '' ofthe building's artworkmay TS . altogether escape those who speedbyincars,givingitonly Aluhammad a cursory glance as they pass. Its eyecatching exterior color scheme of Ali's sti,ry is told through chronowhite ,black,aqua,gray,shades ofbrown,and bright copper checkerboard logical,interactive is less easily missed. 3] his site, like its patron, is bold and striking, Journeylines. not subtle. Courtesy ofthe Muliammad Ali The Center's main entry expects to be flanked by a tree and flower- Center filled, riverview courtyard that is still under construction ( and remains closed as of' spring of2006 ), forcing visitors to enter from a less appealing, sheltered,side entrance attached to the parking garage. Inside,however, the Center continues to impress,with regal ddcor,two and a half floors of exhibits,and technological innovations that go beyond stateof the art . Once tickets are purchased ( a nine dollar admission,less for children and groups of twenty), a long escalator carries a visitor to what feels like the top of the world, where the selfguided tour begins in a collecting : irea with an elating,wallsized view of the Ohio River. Turning one' s back on the world over which Ali lorded, one enters a dazzling,interactive odyssey ofthe more problematic one from which he originated. Between the two,visitors may find themselves hit up,as we were,for an expensive photograph snapped of each tourist emerging from the escalatora reminder that vanity,entertainment,and mammon are also · a part of the Center' s experience. The tour begins in the fifth floor " orientation theater" with a fifteenminute biographical film shown on a montage of five screens. The film traces Ali's odyssey to greatness through six thematic prisms ( which might more properly be called virtues), each of which is then expanded upon in a series of six exhibits on that floor that collectively form a Core Value Pavilion." Some of this terminology may sound a bit too touchyfeely for the average tourist, but in the " Spirituality" exhibit, SUMMER 2006 7 MARKETING MUI»lAMMADALI for instance, even the skeptic i or atheist can probably find at least relaxation in the video 9 imaeres of the natural world b i and the sleek comfort of the reclining lounges. Socialpolitical historians and history buffs will likely find these fifthfloor exhibits among the most compelling, as it is here that Ali' s life is contextualized historically most thoroughly. Touch screens embedded in the exhibits 1[ he Gre,itest" exhibit profiles spring to life with the press of a finger,drawing viewers in with striking Muhammad Ali' s multimedia and historical films. Exhibits surrounding the first theme, profes.s) 11.tl= in ' Confidence," firmly locate Ali's development of self and sport within the Muhammad Ali the framework of racial segregation and the everyday degradation of Center African Americans that plagued his generation. Part of the project here is to deconstruct what might still seem,to many whites,like the egotism in Ali's numerous brash claims from very early on in his boxing career to being unbeatable, unequalled, superhuman almostin short, " the greatest. The exhibit succeeds admirably at illustrating such bravado as a normal reaction, perhaps even a necessary prerequisite for success, in relation to the constant assumptions of inferiority Ali faced as a young African American coming of age in segregated Louisville. It forcefully presentizes that message for contemporary youth: " Confident black man, reads one sign, The world better get used to it." Entering next a recreated lunch counter, a voice begins shouting loudly that you cannot be served,placing the visitor virtually in the same position that black youths like Ali ( then Cassius Clay)would have faced in the 19505 just for trying to sit down and have a hamburger. 1[ he scene packs an effective emotional punch, but its power cuts in other directions too. Does it turn a serious and painful historical moment segregation)into an amusement ride? Does it give white visitors the misleading sense that they are really able to know what it was like with the help of some simple but expensive technology? A timeline of Ali' s youth correlates his coming of age with the blossoming of the Civil Rights movement and Black Consciousness and later,with the Vietnam War and the protests it evoked, which Ali entered in a forceful way with his antidraft stand beginning in 1966, two years after he had defeated Sonny Liston to win his first heavyweight 8 OHIO VALLEY HISTORY Nej_ UK." A title. Much of the sociopolitical upheaval of those years comes to life through a montage of photos, newspaper clippings, and artifacts of protest such as posters, buttons,and banners,interspersed with the more individual achievements and challenges that those years brought Ali. Ihe area also does a nice job explicating Ali' s embrace of Islam in 1964 and countering the demonization in much of popular culture of the Rev. Elijah Muhammad' s racialized brand of Islam. Even heroes have their human flaws, however,aiid the Center deals with some of these,as do many such hagiographic projects,with silence. Thus,the issue of Ali's four marriages and even the family lives of his children receive little attention here,other than a few photos in the " Respect" exhibit, accompanied by a caption that alludes to the " contradictions" in his relationships with women and the observation that he " grew beyond"those contradictions. Sidestepping gender dynamics also deprives visitors ofthe chance to learn how women have progressed in boxing, a development that has allowed Ali's youngest daughter, Laila, to make a name for herself in the sport. One also has to wonder at the choice of actor Billy Crystal, even among celebrities, to reflect on Ali s greatness as the visuals trace his rise to stardom. Presumably,this was the result of the men' s friendship and Crystal's comic popularity Such personal relationships form the basis of other exhibit choices that work bettersuch as the 1964 heavyweight Howard L. Bingham Gallery on the third floor,featuring an array of title fight between extraordinary photographs that Bingham,identified as Ali's best friend, Sonny Liston and Cassius Clay ( later took of the champ, as well as of other provocative cultural figures and Muhammad Ali) moments from the past half century. Situating the new Muhammad Ali Center in Louisville seemed an obvious choice because the iconic prize fighter and champion of racial and human equality was born and grew up there ( as did his current wife, Lonnie,who seems to have been a driving creative force in bringing the Center to the city). Yet for locals,there is also a missed opportunity in the presentation of Louisville' s history. Ali's ( or Cassius Clay' s)youth in the city receives only generalized treatment,with little to no examination of his neighborhood,his schooling,or how Louisville's racial and political The Filson I listorical Society SUMMER 2006 9 MARKETING MUHAMMADALI the I loward L. Bingham Gallery a changing exhibit sp·ace showcases collections of artwork from featured artists. Courtesy of the Muh·immad Ali Center dynamics refracted segregation in everyday life. General themes of the southern African American experience are well developed in this portion of the Center, yet the particularities of an African American childhood in this southern border city are left largely unexplored. For example, desegregation ofthe city' s schools begin when Ali was fourteen, a process that although token was nonetheless completed relatively peacefully by comparison with communities farther south. Yet the exhibit depicting Ali' s school years makes no mention of this fact, nor whether such dynamics touched the young boxer' s life. We do learn that Ali was introduced to boxing by a white police officer responding to the theft of his bike,but it might have been fruitful to use this relationship to examine more fully blackwhite relations in a city known for its " polite racism." Even the Civil Rights movement exhibits primarily reference Louisville only to show how the city exemplified what the captions call « middle America." One wonders how the Ali Center might have dealt differently with these and other local history questions had it benefited from greater collaboration with and pollination from other African American history ventures in the city, especially the Kentucky Center for African American Heritage,which has not yet opened owing to the lack of funds for its completion: t[ he Ali Center contains plenty to like for sports enthusiasts. Moving past the socialpolitical context and consequences of Ali's meteoric rise to fame, one proceeds through a large, semicircular exhibit that traces his boxing career,moving chronologically through his first big win in the 1960 Olympics, to his stubborn, ultimately successful recapture of the heavyweight championship after boxing officials stripped him of it in 1967 because of his antiVietnam War draft resistance, to his retirement in 1981. In the center of the circle, the viewer's gaze is drawn downward onto an actual boxing ring,one floor below,that doubles as a movie screen broadcasting a film pastiche of highlights from Ali's most outstanding boxing moments. The audio narrator has the intonation of classic ringside sportscasters from television' s early years, and the 0 . tension builds to the moment when Ali reclaims the heavyweight title from George Foreman in the 1974 " Rumble in the Jungle" in Kinshasa, Zaire, after which he defeats Joe Frazier at last in the 1975 " lhrilla OHIO VALLEY HISTORY 10 in Manila" in the Philippines. « Coretta' s Kitchen" nearby features a simulated training area with an actual ring, where , tourists may spar,under video instructions issued by Ali' s prizefighter daughter,Laila, or shadow box with a computergenerated opponent who actually seems to respond to punches. The fourth floor continues the boxing focus, with several videoon demand stations upon which one can select and view in their totality up to fifteen of Ali's most famous fights. The third floor is devoted to a celebration of youth using the 1996 Olympic Torch as the metaphorical entry point for a variety of interactive, mostly hightech exhibits aimed at youth '. f selfdiscovery and selfaffirmation . In crafting the Ali Center, its creators faced an almost inevitable problem in Signed photograph relation to its audience. On the one hand, ofMuhammad Ali, the Center is committed to humanizing Ali the man and thus dismantling ca. 1964.The Flson for mostly white " babyboomers "and their families the rnythology of Ilistorical Society fear and loathing that surrounded Ali throughout his boxing career in much of mainstream popular culture. At the same time, the Center is mindful of the importance of reaching out to today's stillstruggling African American youth,which it attempts through an imaginative use of technology,artistry,and various messages of affirmation suggesting Ali's value as a role model. The needs of these two audiences are not always compatible, and the result is that the experience there is somewhat uneven, especially becauseat least at this early juncturethe technology does not always function smoothly That unevenness does not,however deter the Center from entertaining, educating,and at times awing its visitors. Its lovely,massive,still underutilized space and its ambitious vision for advancing human understandingundergirded with wh·at looks like a solid financial basehold the possibility of more good things to come for the city of Louisville and the Ohio Valley. 4 1. The historian George C. Wright coined the phrase " polite racism" in liis Li) 2 Behind a Veil: Blitcks in Louisville, Kennickv, 1865-/ 930 Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 1985). SUMMER 2006 11 ...