1968 Olympics Black Power salute

A raised-fist protest by American sprinters Tommie Smith and John Carlos during the 200-meter medal ceremony at the 1968 Mexico City Olympics. It drew global attention to racial injustice and prompted their expulsion from the Olympic Village.

Olympic Project for Human Rights: A 1967 campaign led by Black athletes that called for racial justice and challenged discrimination in sport. The organization behind the protest’s demands and the proposed boycott of the Mexico City Games.
Raised fist: A hand gesture made by clenching the fingers into a fist and lifting the arm. Smith and Carlos used the gesture to express Black solidarity and resistance.
International Olympic Committee: The organization responsible for leading the Olympic Movement and overseeing the Olympic Games. It demanded that the U.S. Olympic team remove Smith and Carlos from the Games.
1968 Olympics Black Power salute controversy: The dispute over Smith and Carlos’s protest, its Olympic punishment, and its political meaning. Supporters and critics interpreted the same podium gesture in sharply different ways.
Tommie Smith: An American sprinter who won the 200-meter race at the 1968 Mexico City Olympics. Smith raised a gloved fist while standing on the medal podium.
Black Power: A movement for Black self-determination, political power, and community control that grew in the United States during the 1960s. The salute drew on Black Power’s language of collective pride and resistance.
United States Olympic & Paralympic Committee: The nonprofit organization that governs the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic teams. It complied with the IOC’s demand and sent Smith and Carlos home.
1968 Olympics medal ceremony: The awards ceremony for the men’s 200-meter race at the 1968 Mexico City Olympics. The formal medal presentation contrasted with the protest made during it.
John Carlos: An American sprinter who won bronze in the 200-meter race at the 1968 Mexico City Olympics. Carlos joined Smith’s protest with a raised fist and other symbolic gestures.
Black glove: A glove covering the hand, often used in protest imagery to make a raised fist more visible. Smith and Carlos wore one black glove each, raising their fists in turn.

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