Was Muhammad Ali a direct descendant of KY Sen. Henry Clay? DNA may give us the answer

All their lives, the great boxer and activist Muhammad Ali and his family members were told they were related to Sen. Henry Clay. It was a strong oral history reaching all the way to Ali’s great-grandfather, John Henry Clay, an enslaved man from Clay’s Ashland plantation accompanied Henry Clay’s son, Henry Clay Jr., to the Mexican-American War in 1847.

One of Ali’s third cousins in Louisville, Keith Winstead, decided to find out if it was true. He asked Rahman Ali, Muhammad’s brother, and two of Ali’s first cousins, and several direct descendants of Sen. Clay to take DNA tests. He says the DNA tests proved that Ali is direct descendant of Sen. Clay.

“They had the same paternal DNA, which proves a direct descent,” Winstead said.

At Ashland, the Henry Clay Estate and historical site, folks aren’t so sure. Executive Director Jim Clark said recently that he understood the DNA results proved a connection between the white Clay family and Black Clay family in some aspect, but not a direct line between Sen. Clay and Ali.

That reluctance is no surprise. Although it’s one of the most commonplace facts about Southern history, it’s uncomfortable to admit that some “great men of history” — and their lesser counterparts — raped women they enslaved.

Through the years, many white families have denied these connections. But just as it took cell phone footage to convince many people about the widespread problem of police brutality, so has DNA testing changed much of what we thought we knew about Southern history and identity.

But now, Clark says the nonprofit has agreed to partner with the African American Genealogy Group of Kentucky to submit a grant application to underwrite DNA testing of African Americans in central Kentucky to find connections to Henry Clay and possibly people who were enslaved at Ashland. The results make a more positive connection to Ali.

“The relations and connections are clear,” Clark said in a recent interview with the Herald-Leader. “The discerning who is a direct descendant is more difficult for the Black side of this family than the white side, but I think what cannot be ignored is the voice of the elders who make claims and pass that information along.

“It would be a very extraordinary thing if, in fact, these two men —some of the greatest and most noted Kentuckians — are connected this way. What’s fascinating is that both are famous for their way with words and for using their voice to take stands, and I think that’s a very powerful thing. Kentucky has always punched beyond its weight, starting with Henry Clay, his shaping of US government and politics and then Ali, who shook American politics.”

Clay connections

Cedric Turner is an actor and author in New York City. But he grew up in Louisville as a first cousin of Muhammad Ali with a constant oral history about their family’s connection to Henry Clay.

“My entire side of my mother’s family never let us forget it,” he said in a recent phone interview. “It was not anything to be proud about, but we didn’t back down from our ancestry.”

John Henry Clay brought Henry Clay Jr.’s body back to Kentucky after he was killed at the Battle of Buena Vista. He ended up in Louisville and fathered Herman Heaton Clay, Ali and Turner’s grandfather. Herman’s son and grandson were both named Cassius Marcellus Clay, after the famous Lexington abolitionist who was a cousin of the Senator.

Cassius Clay changed his name to Muhammad Ali in 1964 after he converted to Islam.

When Winstead asked Turner to do a DNA test, he gladly agreed.

“I’m not afraid of that knowledge being out there. I believe in the connections. I am proud of my DNA makeup, how far it’s gotten me.”

Bo List is an actor and writer who lives in Lexington, a direct descendant of Anne Clay, one of Sen. Clay’s daughters. He was also glad to do the DNA test, which he was told cemented the connection between him and the Ali family. He wants Ashland to put resources toward establishing the truth once and for all.

“I think the closer we get to the truth in all its forms, the closer we get to see one another clearly,” List said. “The fact there is a very thick and high racial divide between two of Kentucky’s greatest citizens, well, that wall comes down a bit when we can see the true familial link between those two figures.

“That this great person known internationally might be a descendant of this other person who was flawed, and in many ways fell short, it shows accountability, and it tears down the illusion that there’s darkness between those two points of view.”

True history

In recent years, Ashland has been exploring the lives of the many enslaved people there, including tours that focus specifically on slavery.

There is much to be discovered beyond Ashland’s own archives, says Sharyn Mitchell, co-founder of the African-American Genealogy Group of Kentucky.

For example, where did people enslaved at Ashland go to church? Where are they buried? Where did their descendants go after emancipation? What happened to the children of an enslaved woman named Phoebe Moore, who claimed that Henry Clay had fathered her two children?

The Genealogy Group is holding an in-person workshop at Ashland Feb. 22, where she and others will talk about exploring documents and online resources when researching family trees.

“It’s easy to run into brick walls,” Mitchell said. “Who keeps the records? Generally, it’s white men. The bottom line is the record keepers controlled what we saw.”

Mitchell is from Berea, and is a descendant of Cassius Marcellus Clay, who lived in Lexington and on a farm called White Hall outside of Richmond.

“He was my grandfather’s grandfather,” she said. “It’s been in the family history all along, and I have DNA that proves some kind of connection. But we’re only just beginning to be allowed to look at some of these records.”

Leontyne Clay Peck has spent the past 20 years establishing her link to John Clay, who came to Jamestown between 1612 and 1613.

“For those of us connected to Virginia Clays, most of us descend from that man,” said Peck, who lives in Virginia. “Muhammad Ali descends from different lines, but we both descend from John Clay.”

John Clay was Henry Clay’s great-great-great grandfather, according to Peck. She shares DNA with Rahman Ali, Muhammad Ali’s brother.

But another reason that DNA is confusing is that people inherit different amounts of it, and if you go back far enough, you might not inherit any from a certain ancestor. That’s why genealogy is such a difficult puzzle to put together.

Shea Brown, Deputy Fayette County Clerk who also helps run the Digital Access Project, now serves on the Ashland board of directors. Like most people, he thinks it would be interesting to find an Ali-Clay link, but it’s even more important to flesh out the lives of the 120 enslaved and their descendants who lived at Ashland.

“They are progressing toward a more complete story,” Brown said.

For Yvonne Giles, the grand dame of Black history in Fayette County, wants things to move more quickly.

“I think it is time for a more open conversation, but it needs to be a facilitator who is open and not afraid of bad light,” she said. “Henry Clay created his bad light — you can’t change that, you admit it. At this point, they want to always present him as the statesman, not the human being who made mistakes.”

This story was originally published February 12, 2025 at 5:00 AM.