Black Power Salute at the 1968 Olympics: Meaning and Legacy

Introduction: The Power of a Single Image

Sensational images proliferate rapidly in the media, especially as social media has enabled the instantaneous reproduction of memes in popular culture. Even before social media and the Internet, sensational images could spread relatively quickly via film, television, and print media such as daily newspapers or weekly and monthly magazines. These images convey various meanings and mean different things to different audiences. A perfect example of how one image can convey different meanings to different audience groups is the 1968 photograph of U.S. Olympic athletes performing the Black Power salute, taken by John Dominis. That original image has left an indelible mark on the American public and caused an international sensation.

The photograph was taken during the Civil Rights era, at a time when celebrated Black athletes were using their fame to spread awareness about racism and unfair treatment in their home country. This is where the media, social justice, and the law intersect. In the image, Tommie Smith and John Carlos hold their fists high while wearing black gloves. This symbolic gesture represents the central icon of the Black Power movement's flag, signifying unity among people of color and the collective power they can wield when working together.

Moreover, the Dominis photograph clearly shows the men wearing black socks and no shoes. Their choice of dress represents the lack of support given to Black athletes compared to their white counterparts, and reflects the enormous disparities between white and Black Americans even beyond the world of sports. At the press conference following the medal ceremony, Smith admitted that not wearing shoes symbolized "black poverty in racist America" ("1968: Black Athletes Make Silent Protest"). In every arena of American public life — including public schools and the differential resources provided to predominantly Black versus white institutions — such instances of inequality are visible. When the photograph was taken, the Civil Rights era was at its peak: it had ended decades of legalized segregation, but had not ended centuries of overt, systematic, and institutionalized racism. This image remains powerful in the 21st century because Americans have yet to fully learn the lessons of the past. Contemporary images that echo the Black Power salute at the 1968 Olympics include those associated with the Black Lives Matter movement, which protests unfair treatment by police.

Symbolism in the Photograph

Tommie Smith and John Carlos also bow their heads in a moment of silence while on the podium — another physical gesture captured by Dominis in this iconic image. The act of bowing their heads signals the disillusionment and shame they felt toward a nation that professes to stand for liberty, justice, equality, and freedom. The athletes protest hypocrisy and challenge Americans to understand their cause rather than fear Black Power. A sensational image like this one not only impresses viewers with its visual or aesthetic power, but also influences the ways people think about the world, their values, biases, and worldview. The Black Power salute photograph from the 1968 Olympics proves that the value of images is not inherent in the technical tools a photographer uses or in the sophistication of composition and lighting. Rather, the true value of images lies in how they touch the hearts and minds of the audience and inspire action or political change.

From the perspective of a photographer, journalist, or any other artist, taking sensational images is not easy and cannot always be planned. In this case, the photographer likely did not know that these athletes were going to pose in such a way; the capture of the image was spontaneous and surprising. The public response was in part due to surprise: the gesture of accepting an award at the Olympics took place on an international stage, watched by audiences around the world. Viewers everywhere could see that not all Americans were satisfied with their country and that some felt compelled to use their moment of triumph to bring attention to a social cause. Photographers at the Olympics generally expect to capture pure victory and the face of a proud champion — not the image of athletes who are ashamed of the way their people have been treated.

Photographers must use different colors and angles to catch the facial expressions or actions of their subjects. Every photographer brings a different approach to portrait or documentary work, along with unique insight into technique. This image was taken on black-and-white film at the 1968 Olympics in Mexico City. John Dominis was an American documentary and war photographer, and so must have already encountered political content in his subjects. The subtlety of the political action embedded in this photograph is one of the reasons it has become so famous. The two athletes had just won medals in the name of a nation that had enslaved their ancestors and sponsored segregation against them — and they had won in spite of these obstacles, overcoming enormous barriers to achievement. The Black Power salute underscores the magnitude of their accomplishments. The picture, known as the "1968 Olympics Black Power Salute," became one of Dominis's most famous images and will forever be a part of American history, functioning as a piece of documentary evidence much like a presidential speech.

Tommie Smith and John Carlos were Olympic sprinters. Smith earned the gold medal and Carlos the bronze. What the photograph cannot capture is the audio. As the image was being taken, the American national anthem was playing over the stadium's loudspeaker system. The entire world was listening to that anthem while watching these two athletes perform a quietly subversive act: instead of placing their hands on their hearts in the traditional patriotic fashion, they bowed their heads and raised their black-gloved fists. The raised fists symbolize a direct statement against the laws, politics, and policies of racism in the United States. Moreover, their salute represents union and solidarity with their fellow citizens back home who experienced the effects of overt and institutionalized racism every day.

Racism in America and the Context of 1968

Racism has been one of the defining features of the United States since before the nation's founding, when the transatlantic slave trade ensured the creation of a Black underclass. Ending slavery required a Civil War, so entrenched was racism in the American consciousness. Moreover, the official end of slavery did not mean the end of racism. For too long, Americans had believed that persons of color were inferior human beings. The Constitution had to be amended to allow Black Americans and women to vote, because these groups were deemed lesser than white males. Racial inequality has therefore been a profound problem in American society since its inception.

Despite the substantial progress made toward a more egalitarian society — including the Civil Rights movement of the 1960s — issues of race, ethnicity, and discrimination persist today. Many problems can be found in areas such as unequal treatment by law enforcement and a general denial that racism still exists. Some of the most fundamental challenges that minorities face in the United States concern equal opportunity in the workplace and in society at large. Because minorities are often unable to find equal employment opportunities, a number of subsidiary consequences follow, including backlash against affirmative action — a policy that exists precisely because many white Americans do not recognize that white privilege is real. Racism has generated a profound divide along the lines of race and socioeconomic class, the two of which are deeply linked in America.

Works Cited

"1968: Black Athletes Make Silent Protest." BBC. 17 Oct. 2005.

Cosgrove, Ben. "The Black Power Salute that Rocked the 1968 Olympics." Time. 27 Sept. 2014.

Cushing, Lincoln. "A Brief History of the 'Clenched Fist' Image." Docs Populi.

DuBois, W.E.B. The Souls of Black Folk.

Griot. "The White Man in That Photo." Griot. 2015.

Hamilton, Charles, and Kwame Ture. Black Power: Politics of Liberation in America. Knopf, 2011.

Hartmann, Douglas. Race, Culture, and the Revolt of the Black Athlete. University of Chicago Press, 2003.

Younge, Gary. "The Man Who Raised a Black Power Salute at the 1968 Olympic Games." The Guardian. 31 March 2012.