Not the Triumph but the Struggle
Subtitle: The 1968 Olympics and the Making of the Black Athlete
Publisher: University of Minnesota Press
Published: October 2002
Language: eng
Format: Hardcover
Number of pages: 438
ISBN-13: 9780816639441
Subjects: American history: postwar, from c 1945 -; Black studies; Olympic Games; 20th century; Mexico City, Mexico); Political And Civil Rights; Sports & Recreation; Sports; USA; Ethnic Studies - African American Studies - Histor; History; Olympics; African American athletes; General; Political Freedom & Security - Civil Rights; (19th :; 1968 :; Participation, African American
Description: "Jesse Owens. Muhammad Ali. Michael Jordan. Tiger Woods. All are iconic black athletes, as are Tommie Smith and John Carlos, the African American track and field medalists who raised black-gloved fists on the victory dais at the Mexico City Olympics and brought the roiling American racial politics of the late 1960s to a worldwide television audience. But few of those viewers fully realized what had led to this demonstration - events that included the assassination of Dr.

Martin Luther King Jr., uprisings in American cities, student protests around the world, the rise of the Black Power movement, and decolonization and apartheid in Africa.".

"In this far-reaching account, Amy Bass offers nothing less than a history of the black athlete. Beginning with the racial eugenics discussions of the early twentieth century and their continuing reverberations in popular perceptions of black physical abilities, Bass explores ongoing African American attempts to challenge these stereotypes.

Although Tommie Smith and John Carlos were reviled by Olympic officials for their demonstration, Bass traces how their protest has come to be the defining image of the 1968 Games, with lingering effects in the sports world and on American popular culture generally."--BOOK JACKET.