June 5 |

John Carlos Photo: US Embassy London, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Words That Matter

Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr.

“We Are Not Makers Of History. We Are Made By History.”

John Wesley Carlos

John Wesley Carlos is a former Olympic Track athlete and professional football player was born on June 5, 1945. John Carlos and Tommie Smith created political controversy at the 1968 Mexico Olympic Games. While receiving their medals on the Olympic podium, Carlos and Smith raised the "Black Power Salute" while wearing no shoes to symbolize poverty in Black America.

American sprinters Tommie Smith and John Carlos, along with Australian Peter Norman, during the award ceremony of the 200 m race at the Mexican Olympic games. Photo: Angelo Cozzi (Mondadori Publishers), Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Tommie Smith said of their political stand "If I win, I am an American, not a black American...But if I did something bad, then they would say I am a Negro. We are black and we are proud of being black. Black America will understand what we did tonight." Carlos and Smith were honored with the Arthur Ashe Award for Courage at the ESPY Awards in 2008.