Zora Folley and the Civil Rights Movement Lesson

Zora Folley and the Civil Rights Movement
Lesson Plan
Grade Level: 11th Grade
Lesson Length: 2 class periods
Learning Objectives
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Students will learn about local celebrity/Chandler icon Zora Folley
Students will understand the racial climate of America during Folley‟s life and be able to contextualize his
career within the broad scope of post-war American racial thought
Essential Questions
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In what ways does Zora Folley‟s career reflect racial tensions in the 60‟s and 70‟s?
How is public perception affected by mass media?
How does Folley compare to other Civil Rights leaders?
Background
Zora Folley was a professional boxer whose career coincided with the American Civil Rights Movement. A
quiet, devoted family man, Folley was defined by his integrity and respect for others. He served in the Korean War,
and it was in the army where he got his first taste in boxing. Known for his exceptionally quick hands, Folley was a
number one contender during Floyd Patterson‟s reign as heavyweight champion. Patterson refused to fight Folley,
and so the Chandler product wasted his prime waiting for a title that never came.
Folley was finally given his shot at the heavyweight title in 1967. The 35 year old veteran challenged
Cassius Clay, the boxer who had just adopted the Muslim name Muhammad Ali and was embroiled in national
controversy over his refusal to join the army after being drafted. Folley demonstrated his respect for others by
referring to Clay as Muhammad Ali at a time when many sportswriters refused to do so; earning Ali‟s admiration. Ali
defended his title, defeating Folley, and they left the ring together, a sign of mutual respect in the boxing community.
Folley retired from boxing a few years after his defeat at the hands of Ali. He served for three months on the
Chandler City Council before he died in 1972.
Materials
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Zora Folley Biography
Analysis Worksheet
Writing Prompt
Article 1: “New Era for Boxing” (Newspaper Article, caption-----Arch 29-19E7)
Article 2: “Chandler‟s Quiet Man Could Be Next Champ” (Newspaper Article by Jon Morris)
Article 3: “Chandler Honors Zora with Plaque” (Newspaper Article by Dennis Wood)
Article 4: “Community Joins in Last Tribute to Zora B Folley” (Newspaper obituary)
Article 5: “A Book Fighter who may Change Ali‟s Style (excerpts,
http://www.si.com/vault/1967/03/20/545720/a-book-fighter-who-may-change-alis-style)
Article 6: “For Ali, a Time to Preach” (excerpts, http://www.si.com/vault/1968/02/19/547283/for-ali-a-time-topreach)
Article 7: “The Art of Ali” (excerpt, http://www.si.com/vault/1969/05/05/611006/the-art-of-ali )
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Article 8: “Live! Booze! Girls! Ali! Is this Boxing?” (excerpt, http://www.si.com/vault/1972/12/04/613640/livebooze-girls-ali-this-is-fighting)
Article 9: “Taps for the Champ” (excerpts, http://www.si.com/vault/1967/05/08/609339/taps-for-the-champ)
Photo 1: Zora Folley and family
(chandlerpedia.org/Collections/Collections_Committee/2014/May_15%2C_2014/Folley_Family_Picture)
Photo 2: Muhammad Ali Sports Illustrated cover (http://5toolcollector.blogspot.com/2012/04/muhammad-aliand-me.html)
Activity
1. Ask students if they are familiar with Chandler‟s Folley Park, Folley Pool, or Folley Street. Find these
locations on a map. (Note that Folley Street is not continuous.) Distribute or discuss the Zora Folley
Biography so students are familiar with Folley and his career.
2. Have students choose and read at least two of the excerpts about Folley and two about Ali. The
“important” parts of the articles have been highlighted in the longer articles, but encourage the students
to read the article in its entirety if time permits or if they are interested. Students can choose different
articles from the set. Have students examine both photographs.
3. Give students the Analysis Worksheet, asking them to compare and contrast Muhammad Ali and Zora
Folley. Ask the students to focus on life outside the ring (family life, social life, religion, etc.) and public
perception (i.e. how the authors of the articles portrayed them or the setting of the pictures).
4. Using the readings, photos, and the chart, have students compose a ½ page to page argument that
claims either: racism was apparent in the lives of black boxers or racism did not affect black boxers.
Answers can fall anywhere along this spectrum, but make sure the student‟s argument is supported
textually.
Additional Resources
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Sports Illustrated Vault: filled with countless articles about Ali, and provides a perspective of how Folley was
viewed by national sportswriters. www.si.com/vault
Concerning the mysterious circumstances surrounding Zora Folley‟s death, see “Rise and Fall of Zora
Folley” by Pete Ehrmann.
Lesson Extensions (optional)
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Lead the students in a discussion based on their responses to the articles they have read. There are a few
ways this discussion can occur.
1. The first is as an intellectual conversation: have students share their arguments and then respond to
one another‟s points.
2. The second is as a debate. Have the students break up into two groups: those who think racism
constantly affected the lives of the two boxers and those who see it as a marginal part of their
existence. Give the students five to ten minutes to formulate an opening statement, and then allow the
debate to commence.
3. The final way is to have the students create a spectrum based on their response. Designate one part of
the room as “racism heavily affected Zora Folley” and then an opposite side as “racism hardly affected
Zora Folley”. Have students physically line up where they fall on the spectrum. This allows for neutral
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opinions to be at the forefront, as well as physically demonstrating each student‟s opinion. When every
viewpoint has been accounted for, have the students discuss these results.
Encourage students to write a paragraph response after the discussion to see if talking with their peers has
changed their opinion at all. Students may gain different insights from the articles they did not read
Teach this lesson in conjuncture with lectures about Malcolm X, Martin Luther King Jr., and other Civil
Rights leaders. To get a better understanding of the American racial climate during the Civil Rights Era, the
biography of Malcolm X and King‟s “Letters from a Birmingham Jail” are particularly illuminating.
AZ, High School,
Strand 1, Concept 1,
PO 3
AZ, High School,
Strand 1, Concept 1,
PO 5
AZ, High School,
Strand 1, Concept 9,
PO 2, b
AZ, High School,
Strand 1, Concept 9,
PO 3, b
AZ, High School,
Strand 1, Concept 9,
PO 3, c
Common Core
9-10.RH.1
Common Core
9-10.RH.6
Common Core
11-12.RH.1
Common Core
11-12.RH.6
Standards
Formulate questions that can be answered by historical study and research
Evaluate primary and secondary sources for:
a. Authors main points
b. Purpose and perspective
c. Facts vs. opinions
d. Different points of view on the same historical perspective
e. Credibility and validity
Describe aspects of American post-World War II domestic policy: Civil Rights (e.g.
Birmingham, 1964 Civil Rights Act, Voting Rights Act, Constitutional Amendments
Describe aspects of post-World War II American Society: Popular culture (e.g.
conformity vs. counterculture, mass-media).
Describe aspects of post-World War II American Society: Protest movements (e.g.
anti-war, women‟s rights, civil rights, farm workers, Cesar Chavez).
Cite specific textual examples to support analysis of primary and secondary sources,
attending to such features as the date and origin of the information.
Compare the point of view of two or more authors for how they treat the same or
similar topics, including which details they include and emphasize in their respective
accounts.
Cite specific textual evidence to support analysis of primary and secondary sources,
connecting insights gained from specific details to an understanding of the text as a
whole.
Evaluate authors‟ differing points of view on the same historical event or issue by
assessing the authors‟ claim, reasoning, and evidence.
Name:
Zora Folley, Muhammad Ali, and Racism in Boxing
Analysis Worksheet
Zora Folley and Muhammad Ali were African American boxers who fought during the height of the Civil Rights era. Ali
was a controversial figure, as he converted to Islam and refused to be drafted into the United States Army and fight in
Vietnam. Zora Folley, a Chandler legend, was known as a quiet family man who lived a life of integrity. Were the two
fighters really that different? And did race affect how people viewed them?
Using the excerpts you have read, describe the characteristics of Folley and Ali. In the outer columns, list
characteristics that are different between Folley and Ali. In the middle column, list characteristics that are similar.
Focus on areas such as character, social life, religion, family, and public opinion/ media coverage. Draw conclusions
from the text of the articles, and be sure to cite direct quotes. Each boxer must have at least seven descriptions from
the text, and at least three similarities must be identified.
Zora Folley
Life
Outside
the Ring
Public
Perception
Similarities
Muhammad Ali
Name:
Zora Folley, Muhammad Ali, and Racism in Boxing
Writing Prompt
Having completed the analysis worksheet, use the textual examples to write a conclusion about the plight of AfricanAmerican boxers. Was racism an ever present evil in the lives of these two heavyweights, or was it an issue they
never had to confront? Was Muhammad Ali a controversial figure because of race? Did race ever affect Zora Folley‟s
daily life? How did public perception affect public opinion of these two boxers? Responses should be ½ to a page
long.
Zora Folley and the Civil Rights Movement
Article 1: “New Era for Boxing” (printed in 1967)
Zora Folley and the Civil Rights Movement
Article 2: “Chandler‟s Quiet Man Could Become Next Champ” by Jon Morris (further citation not found)
Zora Folley and the Civil Rights Movement
Article 3: “Chandler Honors Folley with a Plaque” by Dennis Wood (further citation not found)
Zora Folley and the Civil Rights Movement
Article 4: Community Joins in Last Tribute to Zora B. Folley (The Chandler Arizonian, Vol. 60, NO. 12, July 12, 1972)
Zora Folley and the Civil Rights Movement
Article 5: “A Book Fighter who may Change Ali‟s Style”, by Mark Kram, March 20, 1967
(http://www.si.com/vault/1967/03/20/545720/a-book-fighter-who-may-change-alis-style, excerpts)
“Maybe it is not necessary to identify Zora Folley, but there is an urge to do so, to say Zora Folley is a fighter. Zora
Folley (a beautiful name, easily comparable to Mahatma Kane Jeeves, Larsen E. Whipsnade or Gaston B. Means)
has been in 85 fights, you see, but few are aware that Zora has ever been near a ring, or, for that matter, that he
even exists. First of all, who ever heard of a fighter coming from Arizona and, second, who ever heard of a fighter
whose idea of a big time is standing in line to make a bank deposit? He is even quite fond of his wife. The Junior
Chamber of Commerce has got to be handling Zora Folley.
„He's the only heavyweight champion,‟ says George Nader, mayor of Chandler, Ariz., „they'd put on the back of a
Wheaties box. If he wins.‟
The mayor can forget it. Barry Goldwater had a better chance in the last election than Folley has against Muhammad
Ali next week in the first heavyweight title fight in Madison Square Garden in 16 years. Curiously, this is not because
Folley does not possess the skills. On the contrary, he is certainly the most competent fighter Ali has had to defend
against. He is the best combination puncher among the heavyweights, a great „book fighter‟ and a counterpuncher
who can lay back and pick an opponent to pieces. „Leave him alone, and you're in trouble,‟ says Angelo Dundee.
Nobody, it seems, doubts Folley's abilities. The big question with him, aside from his age (he's 34, maybe 36), is
located below the neck. Hemingway had another word for it, but the less literate and less sensitive in boxing just say,
majestically waving their cigars, „Da bum has a lot of dog in 'im.‟ This is a rap handed out often and quickly in boxing,
but who really knows? Unfortunately, Folley has fought across 14 years with this tag on him: no Heart. The case? He
does not always get up off the floor, and he does not win the big fights; Sonny Liston, Doug Jones and Alejandro
Lavorante knocked him out, and Henry Cooper and Ernie Terrell decisioned him. „I got heart, don't nobody have to
worry about that,‟ says Folley.”
Zora Folley and the Civil Rights Movement
Article 6: “For Ali, a Time to Preach” by Tex Maule, Feb 19, 1968 (http://www.si.com/vault/1968/02/19/547283/for-alia-time-to-preach, excerpts)
Muhammad Ali: […] “„Integration," he said. "It's like that wolf and sheep trying to integrate together. God didn't mean
it that way. He made brown and black and red and yellow and white and meant them to be separate. Like I saw a
little red ant wandering around on the ground. Maybe he was lost or maybe he was looking for something to eat.
Anyway, he walked into a nest of black ants, and the next thing you know they carried him out of their nest dead. Red
ants stay with red ants, black with black. Sharks stay together, dolphins stay together. You don't see them trying to
integrate. You say maybe in another 5,000 years or so all the races going to be the same, but it ain't so. You say we'll
all be the same color, maybe the color of that dog's ear over there." He pointed to a small stuffed dog with long
honey-colored ears.
"I don't want to be that color," he said vehemently. "And I don't want my children to be that color. A man naturally
wants his children to look just like him. I don't want no child with a speckled black and white skin and blue eyes and
you don't want no black child. You want your child to look like you.‟”
Zora Folley and the Civil Rights Movement
Article 7: “The Art of Ali” by Martin Kane, May 5, 1969 (http://www.si.com/vault/1969/05/05/611006/the-art-of-ali,
excerpts)
[…]“A close friend observed that „the champ is the kind of man who will do right and try to get back in the Muslims.‟
(He was suspended for a year.) „He is committed, man,‟ the friend continued, „that's what he is, committed. At the
same time, it is in his soul to fight and what a shame to keep a man who does his thing so beautifully—the best in the
world, ever—not to let him do it. I can't understand it. Elijah must know how much the champ cares for him and the
Muslim religion. No black man ever loved his people more than the champ. Before the first Liston fight [the one in
which Clay won the title] the promoters told the champ to 'tell the people you are not a Muslim or the fight's off.' 'Pack
the bus,' he said, 'we are leaving.' The Muslims told him to divorce Sonji, so he divorced her. They said to get rid of
his friend Bundini [originator of the 'float like a butterfly, sting like a bee' line], so he got rid of him. They told him not
to go into the Army and he refused to cross the line. Now isn't that proof enough? Isn't that sacrifice enough? What
did he do wrong?‟”
Zora Folley and the Civil Rights Movement
Article 8: “Live! Booze! Girls! Ali! Is this Fighting?” by Edwin Shrake, Dec 4, 1972
(http://www.si.com/vault/1972/12/04/613640/live-booze-girls-ali-this-is-fighting excerpts)
“At 10 o'clock in the morning there were two couples at the counter in the hotel coffee shop on the Nevada south
shore of Lake Tahoe. They were solid-looking people who talked about the snow and played Keno while they ate
breakfast, glancing up at the electric scoreboard on the wall.
"Does Mo-hammid Alley eat in here?" one of the men asked a waitress.
"Sometimes."
"Does he eat regular food like everybody else?"
"Sure. Steak and prunes. Things like that."
"Steak and prunes! Hear that, Ethel?"
Just then Muhammad Ali himself walked up to the counter and ordered a cup of tea. Ali had been running. He still
wore his sweat clothes and had a towel around his neck.
"That's him, Ethel."
"Think I don't know it? I want to touch him."
"So touch him," her husband said.
"Ethel, you're kidding," the other woman said.
The two women looked at each other. They both wanted to touch him. Ethel stood up first. "I'm going to," she said.
"Watch me and see if I don't."
"Listen, get an autograph for the kids," her husband said. "Be sure and don't call him Clay."
Ethel laid down a place mat and a felt-tipped pen in front of Ali and asked for his autograph. He nodded and started
signing. Ethel bent close. Her hair brushed his ear. "I'm going to touch you now," she said.
Ali looked up, vaguely alarmed. Ethel poked a long finger into his ribs and then did it again. Ali kept looking at her.
Ethel snatched up the place mat and stepped back.
"Mo-hammid, you behave yourself!" she said loud enough for the whole room to hear. She went back to her seat,
giggling like a broken pipe, and showed the place mat to her friends.”
Zora Folley and the Civil Rights Movement
Article 9: “Taps for the Champ” by Edwin Shrake, May 8, 1967 (http://www.si.com/vault/1967/05/08/609339/taps-forthe-champ, excerpts)
[…]“On the third floor Ali was taken down the hall past a barrier guarded by soldiers. After roll call he began his
physical examination. A mental examination was not required, because the results of Ali's previous mental exam
were available to the processing personnel. „It was great, the way he came in," said Ron Holland, a PIE transfer from
Escondido, Calif. „ 'You all look very dejected,' he told us. 'I'm gonna tell you some jokes.' He was very cheerful. He
cheered us all up. He talked about Floyd Patterson. I asked him about that Russian who is supposed to be such a
good boxer, and he said, 'We'll take care of him.' He told us his mind was made up. He said if he went into the Army
and the Viet Cong didn't get him, some red-neck from Georgia would. He was in good spirits. I got his autograph. I've
been in this examining center before, and this was the first time I've been treated so well. I think the Army was trying
to impress the champ. He even told me to hang around and he'd see that I got out of the building all right in case
there was a riot or something outside.‟”
Ali talks with some Negro university students:
[…]“"Hi, soul," somebody yelled.
"Hi, brother," shouted Ali.
The students gathered around him, while Hodges and Covington waited in the car.
"Burn their babies," a student said.
"Stokely, he tell the word to burn Whitey," said another.
"I'm telling you religion," Ali said.
"Naw, not religion. We want to burn Whitey."
"Don't do nothing violent. We're not violent," said the champion.
"This is rebellion, man. They take you in the Army, they see a rebellion."
"Stokely say burn their babies."
"We don't want violence," Ali said.
"You don't put down a black brother," said a little guy with a mustache.
"Are you married?" Ali asked a girl.
"Yeah, man. I'm married to SNCC," she answered.
After a few more minutes of listening to shouted slogans, Ali returned to the car. "They're a bunch of young fools," he
said. "I don't want any of this violence. I hear there'll be demonstrations Friday morning in New York, Chicago,
London, Egypt. There are 16,000 Muslims in Cleveland who'll demonstrate. Jim Brown's organization called me
about that. Muslims are flying in from all over the country. Nearly every Negro is a Muslim at heart. The trouble is,
first thing you got to do to be a Muslim is live a righteous life. Most people, white or black, don't want to do that."”
Zora Folley and the Civil Rights Movement
Image 1: Folley Family
Caption reads: NXP1546 506 - 2/21/67 - CHANDLER, ARIZONA: Heavyweight contender Zora Folley, who's slated
to fight world heavyweight champion Cassius Clay in New York 3/22, relaxes with his large family at a playground
near his home here. At left is Mary, 10, while on the ladder (top to bottom) are: Denise, 11; Zora, Jr., 12; Robert, 8;
Jeffrey, 7; Francine, 5; and Tanya, 3, who sits on father's knee. Wife Joella holds 3-month-old Dorothy. UPI
TELEPHOTO
http://chandlerpedia.org/Collections/Collections_Committee/2014/May_15%2C_2014/Folley_Family_Picture)
Zora Folley and the Civil Rights Movement
Image 2: Muhammad Ali Sports Illustrated cover, May 5, 1969
(http://5toolcollector.blogspot.com/2012/04/muhammad-ali-and-me.html)
Zora Folley Biography
Heavyweight Boxer, Veteran
May 27, 1932- July 9, 1972
Zora Folley was born in Texas but moved to Chandler, Arizona with his
family in 1942. He joined the U.S. Army in 1948 and fought in the
Korean War. During the Korean War, he earned five battle stars. He
started boxing after he entered the Army and showed great athletic
talent. He won the 6th Army title, the All-Army championship, and the
All-Services title. After he was discharged from the Army in 1953,
Folley signed a professional boxing contract.
Throughout his twenty-two year professional boxing career, Folley
competed in 96 fights. He won 79 fights, lost 11, and had 6 draws.
More than half of his fights were between 1953 and 1959 including eighteen straight wins and another
streak with seventeen wins. In 1967, at the age of 34, Folley faced heavyweight champion Muhammad
Ali (then called Cassius Clay). The match was broadcast on the radio across the nation and hundreds
of Chandler residents gathered at the football field behind Chandler High School to listen to the match.
Before the fight Ali commented that Folley was such a nice person that it would be difficult to fight him.
Folley was knocked out in the seventh round. Later Ali said that if he had fought Folley in his younger
days, the results may have been very different.
Folley and his wife, Joella, had nine children who lived in Chandler. After his boxing career, Folley was
appointed to the Chandler City Council but only served for a few months. He died in a pool accident at
a Tucson hotel in 1972, at the age of 41.
The City of Chandler dedicated Zora Folley Memorial Park in his honor. The park is located at 601 E.
Frye Road and includes baseball fields, basketball courts, a pool, and pavilions. Folley also had a
Chandler street named after him and was inducted to the Chandler Sports Hall of Fame in 2004.