John Dominis’ photograph of Tommie Smith and John Carlos

Who/What/When/Where: The 1968 Olympics Black Power salute was a political demonstration conducted by the African-American athletes Tommie Smith and John Carlos during their medal ceremony at the 1968 Summer Olympics in the Olympic Stadium in Mexico City. As they turned to face their flags and hear the American national anthem, they each raised a black-gloved fist and kept them raised until the anthem had finished.

Why: On the morning of 16 October 1968, US athlete Tommie Smith won the 200 meter race with a world-record time of 19.83 seconds. Australia's Peter Norman finished second with a time of 20.06 seconds, and the US' John Carlos won third place with a time of 20.10 seconds. After the race was completed, the three went to the podium for their medals to be presented. The two US athletes received their medals shoeless, but wearing black socks, to represent black poverty. 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 US 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.” This protest was that was caught on camera and put on the front cover of the New York Times is an important reminder of the suffrage minorities had to face. I think this moment was a turning point in African American rights.

Source: http://www.smithsonianmag.com/ist/?next=/people-places/olympic-athletes-who-took-a-stand-593920/