Popular Culture

Athletes joined artists and community organizers in linking Black Power to their everyday experiences. Muhammad Ali was one of the major figures to address how his athletics reflected his abilities as a black man to think independently of a white sports industrial complex. The Olympic Committee for Human
 Rights used the 1968 Olympics as a platform to support the agenda of the Black Power Conferences. Kareem Abdul-Jabbar refused to play on the men’s U.S. Olympic basketball team to protest inequality and racism. Remembered through the iconic photo of their medal ceremony, Tommie Smith and John Carlos bowed their heads to pay respect to fallen warriors of the black liberation struggle, and held their gloved fists in the air to represent Black Power and unity.

Martial arts became important practices in black communities and in film. Martial arts schools served as critical sites for artistic production, resistance, and empowerment. Organizations such as the Congress of African People, Us Organization, the Nation of Islam, and the Black Panther Party practiced martial arts to teach body development and strengthening, self-defense, and creativity. Images of black martial artists also became popular due to their visibility on screen, mostly through the genre called Blaxploitation, Hollywood’s version of black urban life.

Maryam Aziz, University of Michigan