Standing up for (Black) America

Paper Summary:

This paper describes the protest by John Carlos and Tommie Smith at the 1968 Summer Olympic Games, during a period when the U.S. was at war with Civil Rights. It looks at what these men hoped to achieve and whether their protests had any significant ramifications.

From the Paper:

"The 1960s were a time of racial upheaval in the Untied States. From Martin Luther King, Jr. to Malcolm X and the Black Panthers, the decade symbolizes an outbreak of the Civil Rights Movement. When remembering the political upheaval, many images come to mind. One of the most powerful illustrations of the time is two black men fighting societal oppression at the 1968 Mexico City Summer Olympics. On October 16, 1968, Tommie Smith and John Carlos stood on the medal stand, Olympic medals around their necks, heads bowed, and gloved fists raised high in defiance while the Star Spangled Banner played pompously from the loudspeakers. On the podium, both wore black socks and carried their track shoes. Smith had a black scarf tied around his neck, while Carlos wore an African beaded necklace. A few bars into the national anthem, the protest drew crowd attention. Carlos and Smith later reported they could feel the hatred in the air. Catcalls, boos and hisses rang out, interrupted by a few sparse cheers."

More papers on Standing up for (Black) America:

• Essay # 42052 : "The Shaping of Black America"
• Book Review # 75766 : "Philip Dray's "... The Lynching of Black America"
• Essay # 25568 : "Abolitionism"

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