Odessa Grady Clay

Odessa Grady Clay
Odessa Grady Clay with Muhammad Ali
Born	Odessa Lee Grady February 12, 1917 Hopkins County, Kentucky, U.S.
Died	August 20, 1994 (aged 77) Louisville, Kentucky, U.S.
Occupation	Housewife
Spouse(s)	Cassius Marcellus Clay, Sr. (1912-1990) (m. 1933–90)
Children	Muhammad Ali (1942–2016), Rahman Ali
Parent(s)	John Lewis Grady, Birdie B. Morehead

Odessa Lee Clay (née O'Grady; February 12, 1917 – August 20, 1994) was the mother of three-time World Heavyweight Champion Muhammad Ali and Rahman Ali, and the grandmother of Laila Ali. She married Cassius Marcellus Clay, Sr. in the 1930s and worked for some time as a household domestic to help support her young children.

She was born in Hopkins County, Kentucky, one of six children of John Lewis O'Grady and Birdie B. Morehead. Her paternal grandfather was a white Irishman named Abe O'Grady, who emigrated to the United States from Ennis, County Clare, soon after the Civil War and married a daughter of Lewis and Amanda J. "Mandy" Walker of Todd County, Kentucky. Her maternal grandfather, Tom Morehead, was the son of a white Morehead and a slave named Dinah. Morehead served in the 122nd USCT.

Clay's parents separated when she was young, and her mother worked as a maid, taking care of the household chores and the young children of a white family. Clay was raised partly by her aunt. When she became an adolescent, she dropped out of school and also found work as a domestic. Then, when she was sixteen years old, she met twenty-year-old Cassius, whom everyone referred to as "Cash". They soon married and settled into their own house in Louisville, Kentucky. The Clays' marriage was troubled. Ali told boxing promoters, "She's afraid of him."

Through her strong Christian belief, Clay had a great influence on the life and spiritual upbringing of both of her sons. Muhammad Ali later said, "My mother is a Baptist, and when I was growing up, she taught me all she knew about God. Every Sunday, she dressed me up, took me and my brother to church, and taught us the way she thought was right. She taught us to love people and treat everybody with kindness. She taught us it was wrong to be prejudiced or hate. I've changed my religion and some of my beliefs since then, but her God is still God; I just call him by a different name. And my mother, I'll tell you what I've told people for a long time. She's a sweet, fat, wonderful woman, who loves to cook, eat, make clothes, and be with family. She doesn't drink, smoke, meddle in other people's business, or bother anyone, and there's no one who's been better to me my whole life."