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 Olympic Basketball Team to protest inequality and racism.
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 on screen due to the genre called Blaxploitation, Hollywood’s version of black urban life.
-Maryam Aziz, University of Michigan
Books
Race, Culture, and the Revolt of the Black Athlete by Call Number: Sc E 04-664ISBN: 0226318559Publication Date: 2004-01-01
Watch
Electronic Resources
- EBONY: The Black Revolution
August 1969
Sound Recordings in NYPL Collection
Videos in NYPL Collection
BaadAsssss cinema: a bold look at 70's blaxploitation films by ISBN: 9780767049634
The best of soul train. 1-3 by Call Number: DVD 784.7 B
