Oct. 16, 1968 – When Sports and Race Converged

It was on this date 46 years ago, Oct. 16, 1968, that U.S. Olympic sprinters Tommie Smith and John Carlos gave their famous Black Power salute at the Mexico City Olympics. On that same day, 1,400 miles north in Nashville, Godfrey Dillard was demoted to the Vanderbilt basketball B-Team, a move he believed was racially motivated, setting in motion a series of events that led to his controversial exit from the school. All explored in Ch. 24 of Strong Inside.