On October 16, 1968, during the medal ceremony at the Mexico City Olympics, Tommie Smith, the gold medal winner in the 200-meter sprint, and John Carlos, the bronze medal winner, stood on the podium in black socks and raised their black-gloved fists to protest racial injustice inflicted upon African Americans. Both men were forced to leave the Olympics, received death threats, and faced ostracism and continuing economic hardships.
In his first-ever memoir for young readers, Tommie Smith looks back on his childhood growing up in rural Texas through to his stellar athletic career, culminating in his historic victory and Olympic podium protest. Cowritten with Newbery Honor and Coretta Scott King Author Honor recipient Derrick Barnes, Victory. Stand! paints a stirring portrait of an iconic moment in Olympic history that still resonates today.
Winner of the 2023 YALSA Excellence in Young Adult Nonfiction Award • Finalist for the 2022 National Book Award for Young People's Literature • A Coretta Scott King Award Author and Illustrator Honor Book • A Washington Post Best Book of the Year • A Kirkus Reviews Best Book of the Year • A Publishers Weekly Best Book of the Year • A School Library Journal Best Book of the Year • A Booklist Best Book of the Year • A Horn Book Fanfare Title
With bonus exclusive interviews with Tommie Smith and Derrick Barnes