---
title: "John Carlos — AP African American Studies Definition"
description: "John Carlos raised a Black Power fist with Tommie Smith at the 1968 Olympics, a nonviolent protest tested in AP African American Studies Topic 4.19."
canonical: "https://fiveable.me/ap-african-american-studies/key-terms/john-carlos"
type: "key-term"
subject: "AP African American Studies"
unit: "Unit 4"
---

# John Carlos — AP African American Studies Definition

## Definition

John Carlos was the American sprinter who, alongside Tommie Smith, raised a gloved Black Power fist on the medal stand at the 1968 Mexico City Olympics, a nonviolent protest against racial discrimination and a show of solidarity with the Black Freedom movement (EK 4.19.B.3).

## What It Is

John Carlos was an American track and field sprinter who won the bronze medal in the 200-meter dash at the 1968 Olympics in Mexico City. During the medal ceremony, he and [gold](/ap-african-american-studies/unit-1/2-the-african-continent-a-varied-landscape/study-guide/L3yyHr3J5cbNL1pD "fv-autolink") medalist [Tommie Smith](/ap-african-american-studies/key-terms/tommie-smith "fv-autolink") each bowed their heads and raised a black-gloved fist as the national anthem played. The raised fist was a Black Power salute, and the moment turned an Olympic podium into a stage for the Black Freedom movement in front of a global audience.

In the [AP African American Studies](/ap-african-american-studies "fv-autolink") CED, Carlos appears in Topic 4.19 (African Americans and Sports) as a core example of how Black athletes used their public platforms to contest discrimination and advocate for racial equality. The protest was nonviolent, but it was also deliberately visible. That combination is exactly what the course wants you to notice. Carlos and Smith faced immediate backlash for the gesture, including expulsion from the Games, which shows the real costs athletes accepted when they brought activism into sports.

## Why It Matters

John Carlos lives in **[Unit 4](/ap-african-american-studies/unit-4 "fv-autolink"): Movements and Debates**, specifically **Topic 4.19 (African Americans and Sports)**. He directly supports learning objective **AP African American Studies 4.19.B**, which asks you to explain how African American athletes in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries contested discrimination and advocated for racial equality. EK 4.19.B.3 names Smith and Carlos explicitly, so this is not optional background. It's a CED-listed example you can deploy. The 1968 salute also gives you a clean piece of evidence for a bigger Unit 4 theme, the debate over how Black Americans should pursue freedom and equality. Carlos chose symbolic, nonviolent protest on the world's biggest stage, sitting in a long tradition that runs from [Jack Johnson](/ap-african-american-studies/key-terms/jack-johnson "fv-autolink") through Muhammad Ali to Colin Kaepernick.

## Connections

### [Muhammad Ali (Unit 4)](/ap-african-american-studies/key-terms/muhammad-ali)

One year before the 1968 salute, Ali refused induction into the Army during the Vietnam War, saying "The real enemy of my people is right here" (EK 4.19.B.2). Ali and Carlos together show a late-1960s pattern of Black athletes accepting career-ending consequences to protest [racism](/ap-african-american-studies/unit-4/1-the-ngritude-and-negrismo-movements/study-guide/eK9QyiGxxk1iteQm "fv-autolink").

### [Colin Kaepernick (Unit 4)](/ap-african-american-studies/key-terms/colin-kaepernick)

Kaepernick kneeling during the national anthem in 2016 is the modern echo of the 1968 salute. Both are silent, symbolic gestures performed during a patriotic ritual, and exam questions love asking which earlier tradition Kaepernick's protest reflects. Carlos is your answer.

### Jesse Owens and the 1936 Berlin Olympics (Unit 4)

Owens challenged racism by winning four golds in front of Nazi Germany, letting his performance speak. Carlos went a step further and added an explicit political gesture to the victory. Comparing the two shows how athletic activism evolved from achievement-as-statement to direct protest.

### [Desegregation movement in athletics (Unit 4)](/ap-african-american-studies/key-terms/desegregation-movement-in-athletics)

Athletes like [Jackie Robinson](/ap-african-american-studies/key-terms/jackie-robinson "fv-autolink") broke barriers by entering segregated spaces. By 1968, Carlos's generation had access to elite sports but used that access to call out discrimination that integration alone hadn't fixed. That shift is the arc of Topic 4.19.

## On the AP Exam

Carlos shows up in multiple-choice questions that ask you to categorize the 1968 protest as nonviolent, symbolic activism, identify its immediate consequences (Smith and Carlos were expelled from the Games and faced intense backlash), or explain how it differed from other forms of athletic activism (it was a silent gesture broadcast to an international audience, not a boycott or a speech). You should also be ready to connect Carlos forward to Kaepernick and backward to Ali and Owens, since questions frequently test the continuity of athlete activism across the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. No released FRQ has used Carlos's name verbatim, but he's a CED-listed example, so he's fair game as named evidence for any prompt about Black athletes contesting discrimination under LO 4.19.B.

## John Carlos vs Tommie Smith

Smith and Carlos protested together, so they often blur into one memory. Keep them straight by medal. Smith won gold in the 200 meters and Carlos won bronze, and both raised a gloved fist on the same podium. For the AP exam, you'll almost always cite them as a pair, but know that Smith was the gold medalist if a question pins down the detail.

## Key Takeaways

- John Carlos won bronze in the 200-meter dash at the 1968 Mexico City Olympics and raised a Black Power fist on the medal stand alongside gold medalist Tommie Smith.
- The salute was a nonviolent protest against racial discrimination and a public show of solidarity with the Black Freedom movement (EK 4.19.B.3).
- Smith and Carlos faced immediate consequences, including expulsion from the Games, showing the personal cost of athlete activism.
- Carlos supports LO 4.19.B, which asks you to explain how Black athletes in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries contested discrimination and advocated for racial equality.
- The 1968 salute sits in a longer tradition of athlete activism that includes Jesse Owens in 1936, Muhammad Ali's 1967 draft refusal, and Colin Kaepernick kneeling in 2016.

## FAQs

### What did John Carlos do at the 1968 Olympics?

After winning bronze in the 200 meters at the Mexico City Games, Carlos raised a black-gloved fist on the medal stand with gold medalist Tommie Smith. The [Black Power](/ap-african-american-studies/unit-4/11-the-black-panther-party-for-selfdefense/study-guide/OutbdTcb0vtWaJwt "fv-autolink") salute was a nonviolent protest against racial discrimination in the United States.

### What happened to John Carlos after the protest?

Carlos and Smith were expelled from the 1968 Games and faced intense public backlash. AP multiple-choice questions specifically ask about these immediate consequences, so know that the protest carried a real professional cost.

### Was John Carlos's protest violent?

No. The salute was completely silent and nonviolent. The CED frames it as nonviolent protest, and exam questions test whether you can classify it as symbolic activism rather than confrontation.

### How is John Carlos different from Jesse Owens?

Owens protested racism implicitly by dominating the 1936 Berlin Olympics in front of Hitler, while Carlos protested explicitly with a political gesture during the 1968 medal ceremony. The contrast shows athlete activism shifting from performance-as-statement to direct, visible protest.

### Is John Carlos on the AP African American Studies exam?

Yes. Carlos is named in essential knowledge statement EK 4.19.B.3 under Topic 4.19, so he's a CED-required example of athletes advocating for racial equality and can appear in multiple-choice questions or as evidence in free-response answers.

## Related Study Guides

- [4.19 African Americans and Sports](/ap-african-american-studies/unit-4/19-african-americans-and-sports/study-guide/24ZHPg1RpUXznVdn)

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