On this day in 1986: Iconic Joe Louis fist sculpture is dedicated in Detroit 

Monument to Joe Louis, also known as "The Fist" in Detroit | Susan J. Demas

On Oct. 16, 1986, a memorial to boxing great and World War II veteran Joe Louis was dedicated at the corner of Jefferson Avenue and Woodward Avenue in downtown Detroit.  

The sculpture, commissioned by Time magazine and carried out by Robert Graham, is a 24-foot long arm with a fisted hand suspended by a 24-foot high pyramidal frame. 

It represented, according to Graham, the power of the longtime city resident and former world heavyweight champion, “both inside and outside the ring.”

“Joe gave the people someone to cheer for during the [Great] Depression,” said Detroit Mayor Coleman A. Young, a former Michigan state senator, during the Oct. 16, 1986, sculpture dedication.  

There is also another sculpture of Joe Louis located in downtown Detroit. It is located in the Huntington Place Convention Center. 

Louis, who was African American, was born in 1914 as Joe Louis Barrow in rural Alabama. His family moved to Detroit early in his childhood at a time when the Motor City’s population Black population skyrocketed from about 5,700 in 1910 to 120,000 in 1930. 

Louis became boxing’s World Heavyweight champion in 1937, which was a title that he held until 1949. He defended his title multiple times during that period. 

Between that time, he served in the U.S. Army during World War II. In 1945, Louis was awarded the Legion of Merit (a military decoration rarely awarded to enlisted soldiers) for “incalculable contribution to the general morale.” He was released from military service on Oct. 1, 1945.

Joe Louis died in 1981 at age 66 in the Las Vegas area. Then- President Ronald Reagan helped to lead the way for Louis’ burial at Arlington National Cemetery in Virginia. The cemetery is managed by the U.S. Department of the Army.

In 1993, the U.S. Postal Service unveiled a stamp celebrating Louis.