The 1968 Summer Olympics Black Power Salute occurred on October 16, 1968, in Mexico City, Mexico when two African American track and field athletes, Tommie Smith and John Carlos, raised their fists during the medal award ceremony for the 200-meter sprint. They raised their fists during the playing of the United States national anthem, The Star-Spangled Banner. Their gesture, the first of its kind at an Olympics ceremony, protested racial discrimination and social injustice experienced by African Americans in the United States at the time.
Smith won the 200-meter race and earned the gold medal with a world record time of 19.83 seconds. Peter Norman of Australia finished second and received the silver medal with a time of 20.06 seconds, while Carlos came in third and earned the bronze with a time of 20.10 seconds. After the race, the three athletes went to the podium for the medal ceremony, where the medals were presented by David Cecil, 6th Marquess of Exeter.
On the podium, Smith and Carlos stood shoeless, wearing black socks to protest Black poverty. Smith wore a black scarf around his neck to represent Black pride. Carlos who also wore a black scarf, had his tracksuit top unzipped in solidarity with blue-collar workers in the United States. He also wore a necklace of beads representing “those individuals that were lynched or killed and that no one said a prayer for—those who were hung and tarred, those thrown off the side of the boats in the Middle Passage.” All three athletes wore Olympic Project for Human Rights (OPHR) badges.
The OPHR was founded by sociologist Harry Edwards, who urged Black athletes to boycott the 1968 Olympic Games. Edwards’s advocacy inspired Smith and Carlos’s actions. When the national anthem played, Smith and Carlos each raised a black-gloved fist in the Black Power salute.
In response, International Olympic Committee (IOC) president Avery Brundage ordered Smith and Carlos to be suspended from the U.S. team and banned from the Olympic Village. When the US Olympic Committee initially refused, Brundage threatened to ban the entire US track team. As a result, Smith and Carlos were expelled from the Games. Despite the controversy, both men were allowed to keep their medals.
After the Olympics, Smith and Carlos were largely ostracized by the US sporting establishment and faced intense criticism and abuse. They and their families also received death threats. Despite the backlash, both men continued their athletic careers. Smith briefly played in the National Football League (NFL) with the Cincinnati (Ohio) Bengals before becoming an assistant professor of physical education at Oberlin College in Ohio. Carlos was drafted by the Philadelphia Eagles in the 15th round of the NFL Draft but was unable to play due to a knee injury. He later played one season with the Montreal Alouettes of the Canadian Football League (CFL) and eventually became a track and field coach at Palm Springs High School in California in 1985.
In 2008, Smith and Carlos were honored with the Arthur Ashe Courage Award at the ESPY Awards, recognizing their bravery and lasting impact on civil rights and sports history.
