The 1968 Black Power Salute
The fight for civil rights was at its height in 1968, with the Civil Rights Act passing in August of that year. In 1968 in Mexico City, when Americans Tommie Smith and John Carlos won gold and silver, respectively, in the 200 m, they raised their fists in an act of solidarity with black Americans. They were booed. They were condemned by the IOC. They were ostracized in the US. Tommie Smith said, “If I win I am an American, not a black American. But if I did something bad then they would say ‘a Negro’. We are black and we are proud of being black. Black America will understand what we did tonight.”