At the 1968 Olympics, held at a Mexico City stadium, 200-meter-record-setting gold medalist Tommie Smith, along with 200-meter-race bronze medalist, John Carlos, gave the “black-power salute” on the podium when receiving their medals.

Both of the Olympians also accepted their medals shoeless, with their feet covered with black socks. The world-class athletes stated that the socks represented the poverty that Black Americans suffered. Also, Wikipedia states: Smith wore a black scarf around his neck to represent black pride, Carlos had his tracksuit top unzipped to show solidarity with all blue collar workers in the U.S. and wore a necklace of beads which he described “were for those individuals that were lynched, or killed and that no-one said a prayer for, that were hung and tarred. It was for those thrown off the side of the boats in the middle passage.”