Smith navigated post-Olympics professional repercussions and remained committed to his principled stance decades later, reverence for his protest would return in the form of honors and awards, yet the struggle to upend racial injustice continues. national anthem, they raised black-gloved fists in support of impassioned ideals that emerged from the Black student–led Olympic Project for Human Rights. After achieving gold and bronze, respectively, in the 200-meter sprint, Smith and John Carlos arrived at the podium prepared to make a global statement protesting racial injustice. Arriving at San Jose State at the height of the civil rights movement, Smith met like-minded friends who balanced athletic excellence with a commitment to justice.
Landing in California, he navigated racist misconceptions from peers and authority figures alike. Born in Texas to sharecropping parents, Smith and his large family followed the Great Migration that sent thousands of Black families out of the Deep South. Gold medalist Smith teams up with award-winning creators Barnes and Anyabwile to vividly share the freedom dreams that inspired his iconic protest at the 1968 Olympics. “We had to be seen because we were not being heard.”
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