A Stamp for a Champ

Heavyweight boxing champion and civil rights icon Muhammad Ali is being commemorated on a U.S. postage stamp.

Courtesy of USPS

The new Muhammad Ali postage stamps feature Ali’s name and a photo from his boxing career.

Muhammad Ali has already stamped his name in the record books as the greatest heavyweight boxer of all time—and now he’s getting an actual postage stamp. The stamp honors the athlete and activist just in time for Black History Month, a celebration of the achievements of African Americans.

Before he was known as Muhammad Ali, Cassius Clay was born in Louisville, Kentucky, in 1942. He began boxing at 12 years old and quickly rose through the ranks to become a gold-medal Olympic champion by 1960. In 1964, when he was 22, Clay won the world heavyweight boxing title by defeating Sonny Liston. At the time, Liston was the reigning heavyweight champion and was favored to win the fight. Shortly after his victory, the newly crowned champ renounced his birth name and took the name Muhammad Ali.

Ali would go on to win a total of three heavyweight championships. His overall boxing record of 56 wins and five losses cemented his legacy as an unlickable (unbeatable) boxer. At some point in his career, Ali joked that having his photo on a postage stamp would be “the only way I’ll ever get licked.” (At the time, people had to lick stamps to get them to stick to envelopes.)

Ali’s status as a champion fighter does not stay within the bounds of the boxing ring—he is also remembered for his fight to end racial inequality. Ali knew his image as a sports hero could help draw attention to the harsh discrimination Black people faced in the United States, so he used his voice to be a champion for change.

“When you saw me in the boxing ring fighting, it wasn’t just so I could beat my opponent. My fighting had a purpose,” said Ali. “I had to be successful in order to get people to listen to the things I had to say…. I wanted to be a champion who was accessible to everyone. I hoped to inspire others to take control of their lives and to live with pride and self-determination.”

Ali died in 2016 at age 74 after struggling for years with the symptoms of Parkinson’s disease. He is remembered for a lifetime of championing social justice and humanitarian causes that promote peace and equality.

Click through the slideshow for photos from Ali’s remarkable life.

Muhammad Ali stands on a sidewalk and holds his fist to the camera as if punching it. — Muhammad Ali playfully pretends to punch the camera during a 1973 interview in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

Muhammad Ali and the three other medal winning boxers stand on the Olympic podium while wearing their medals. — Gold medal winner Muhammad Ali (on the tallest podium) stands with the winners of the silver and bronze medals at the 1960 Olympic Games. (The bronze medal was shared that year.)

Muhammad Ali sits at a table where microphones have been set up and is surrounded by other athletes. — Muhammad Ali (seated, second from left) had support from other Black athletes including basketball player Kareem Abdul-Jabar (seated, right) in 1967, when he refused to fight in the Vietnam War due to his religion and his opposition to the war.

Young Muhammad Ali sits on a couch and feeds one of his infant twins while his toddler plays with the other twin. — In this 1970 photo, Muhammad Ali feeds one of his twin daughters as his older daughter, Maryum, sits with him.

Muhammad Ali lights an Olympic torch that reads Salt Lake City 2002. — In this 2001 photo, Muhammad Ali lights the torch in Atlanta, Georgia, to begin the Olympic relay before the 2002 Salt Lake City Olympics.

Older Muhammad Ali is seated while his wife stands behind him and embraces him. — Muhammad Ali and his wife, Lonnie, appear onstage at Ali’s 70th birthday celebration on February 18, 2012.

© Bettmann/Getty Images, © Central Press—Hulton Archive/Getty Images, © Bettmann/Getty Images, © Bettmann/Getty Images, © Chris Stanford/Allsport—AFP/Getty Images, © Ethan Miller—Keep Memory Alive/Getty Images

NEWS EXTRA

Celebrate Black History Month

Black History Month occurs during the birth month of Abraham Lincoln (left) and Frederick Douglass.

February is Black History Month in the United States. It’s a time to celebrate the contributions Black Americans have made to U.S. history and culture.

Although Black History Month became official in 1976, its history dates back 100 years. In 1926, a group called the Association for the Study of Negro Life and History began observing “Negro History Week” in February. The group chose February because it was the birth month of two important figures in the history of civil rights: U.S. president Abraham Lincoln and civil rights activist Frederick Douglass.

Black History Month celebrations take place in schools, libraries, museums, and more. You can also ask a librarian or a teacher for books about Black history and by Black authors. There are so many opportunities to learn more about people and events that have shaped the history and achievements of the United States.

Did You Know?

Willie O’Ree made history as the first Black hockey player in the National Hockey League when he joined the Boston Bruins in 1958. The trailblazing Canadian received his own commemorative stamp in 2023!

Willie O’Ree (number 25) of the Boston Bruins during a 1960 hockey game.

Winter Olympics Begin in Italy

Athletes in action during the 2025 ISMF Ski Mountaineering World Cup in Austria. This was a qualifying event for the 2026 Winter Olympics.

This winter, more than 3,500 athletes from 93 countries will gather in Italy to compete in the 2026 Winter Olympics and Paralympics. The Olympic Games will start with an opening ceremony on February 6, and the Paralympic Games, a competition for athletes with disabilities, will begin a month later, on March 6.

The Olympics include just about any snow and ice sport you can think of, including alpine skiing, bobsleigh, curling, figure skating, ice hockey, luge, ski jumping, snowboarding, and speed skating.

Ski mountaineering, also called skimo, is a new addition to the winter sport lineup. The sport mimics the skills used by mountain explorers and requires racers to ski up and down a mountain course. Skimo competitors tackle slippery slopes with the help of “skins,” which they put on the bottom of their skis. The skins look like pieces of sticky carpet and provide traction so that the skis won’t slide backward down the mountain.

African American History at a Glance

(Top row, left to right) Dancer Misty Copeland, musician Louis Armstrong. (Bottom row, left to right) Mathematician Katherine Johnson, basketball player Kareem Abdul-Jabar.

Trailblazing African Americans have made history in countless ways, from Katherine Johnson’s critical calculations that sent astronauts to the Moon to Louis Armstrong’s thrilling jazz music. Read about the cultural and historic contributions of African Americans at Britannica!

WORD OF THE DAY

firebrand

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noun

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: a person who tries to get people to become angry and to do things for a political or social cause

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