>> for thousands of years, it plagued humanity. >> in the united states of america in the middle of a crisis that left our children unable to stand -- >> to jump. >> to walk. >> we united and we won. >> it left a sitting u.s. president unable to stand unassisted which led him to start a foundation. >> the u.s. people donated time and money. >> which resulted in the cure and a triumph group. [applause] >> clyde posley talks about the history of activism among black athletes, including the black power salute made by tommie smith and john carlos during the 1968 olympics in mexico. he is the author of "more than icons and images."

interviewed mr. posey, senior pastor at the antioch baptist church, at the annual black history luncheon in washington, d.c. >> clyde posley, you wrote a book about hidden protest narratives in the black american athlete. tell me where you feel it begins. clyde: i believe that the protest narrative actually began the moment that africans were brought to american soil. we are celebrating the dubious 400 year anniversary of that arrival here, and immediately upon the arrival of blacks on the american shores, slaveowners began to be enamored with the black male physique, so much so that it caused them to engage these black men, warriors, several types of warriors and chiefs into various types of sport -- headbutting, cockfighting, and what is familiar to many as mandingo

warrior fighting. many of the black males did not want to engage in this, so their first opportunity to show disdain or revolt or rebellion against treatment was through a mechanism that was thrust upon them, which was sports. so that started the evolution of black males using sport as a means to set forth political voice and create the expression of their radical desires to stop oppression. it was a small, menial beginning, but it was an important beginning and sports became a vehicle the moment we got to american soil. >> and when do you feel it transitioned once blacks became a part of professional sports -- when do you feel the protest began? clyde: i believe the most significant began began in the 1960's. it was propelled by actions like

sncc, the student nonviolent coordinating committee. what they did was bring education and protest together so as to create an intelligent thrust of protest for the black colleges students in the 1960's. so what we have is that producing a person like harry edwards, james farmer, and bill russell, and muhammad ali and others. that gave rise to the prominence that we began to understand later in the 1960's for the black athlete. harry edwards, who started ophr, the olympic project for human rights, corralled a group of people who were once a part of sncc and called the sncc workers and black athletes to come together and laid the foundation which later gave the voice of whom we came to know as tommie smith and john carlos and their prominent protest on october 16, 1968 in mexico city, mexico.

>> tell me a little bit about the background. clyde: harry edwards thought it necessary to bring all of the prominent black college athletes, professional athletes together for the purpose of becoming a sports connected civil rights arm to go with what malcolm x was doing, to go with what martin luther king was doing, and in harry edwards' book, he explains that what he was trying to do was bring intelligent black males to the forefront and use the one platform or mechanism they had, which was sports. that is no different than what lebron is doing today. that is no different than what colin kaepernick and eric reed are doing today. these two recently won a case, had their case is settled with the nfl. that is huge. that means they stood their ground. did they win all the money they wanted? probably not, but they won and the evolution continues. >> and you have mentioned muhammad ali was a part of that

movement. how long did that movement last as an athlete? clyde: well, for muhammad ali, it probably lasted longer to the 1960's for he than for any of the other athletes because, as you know, because of his political stance, cassius clay, who later became muhammad ali, actually was stripped of his heavyweight title. his struggle went on into the 1970's. it can be argued that the most prominent black athlete, or the one who lost the most in the 1960's, could easily be called muhammad ali. and even today, the fruit that we see happening from the life of muhammad ali and in the life of colin kaepernick and in the life of eric reed and in the life of lebron james is born from the stand, the courage of

muhammad ali. >> were there some other icons that we may be less familiar with that you can talk about? clyde: doug johnson from the 1920's, who was a prominent boxer who refused to allow himself to be paid in chicken feed. he was a world champion boxer in 1919 and 1920. he was the first to demand to be paid over $1000 for boxing. and jesse owens, in some people's mind, there are some in the black culture who consider him an "sellout." but there has to be trailblazers. jesse owens, the great four-time medalist in munich, germany was a trailblazer for the opportunities that many of our black athletes get today. if we don't get the platform, we don't get the opportunity. >> tell me a little bit about some of the negative impact of

their decision. clyde: these protests were life or death. tommie smith -- one little-known fact is that in mexico city, mexico, 400 college students who were protesting the mexican government had been slaughtered and buried right outside the mexico city olympic stadium where tommy smith and john carlos would later protest. they had been threatened -- you will be killed, black cats have been -- murdered, strangled black cats have been thrown into the dorm where they stayed in mexico city. according to john carlos, they expected to be assassinated. i say this in my book when john carlos lifted his hand, he expected to be shot. they not only endured that process, but it cost them thousands, millions maybe. john carlos ended up doing menial jobs. one of the athletes' wife

committed suicide as a result of the impact. harry edwards actually -- his relationship with tommie smith and john carlos broke because harry edwards did not go to the medal stand protest in mexico city. so the relationships were broken and money was lost. i think today -- just as a follow-up to that question -- that many athletes -- black athletes do not protest today because the black athlete of that day was less concerned about the money they made and more concerned about the future of their culture. today, many black athletes are so in love with the income that they might lose, that is the reason, in my view, that many black athletes today do not stand like lebron james. it could be argued that lebron james if he lost a lot of money would still have more than other people. to lose any of your money is your right. he doesn't have to do that. he is choosing to do that and i applaud him for it. i applaud colin kaepernick for

what he is doing but you have to make a decision, culture or cash. >> and why did you decide to write this book? clyde: i wrote this book because i was trying to participate in an ongoing discourse that i felt was being shaped by our current administration, the politics of today, and i wanted to do my share to stop that. i want the history, the foundational persons who functioned in painful social spaces to be heard. i wanted these bricks in the wall of protest for black males to be remembered. i didn't want jack johnson to go unheralded. i didn't want bill russell's work to be forgotten. i didn't want tommy edwards' work to be forgotten. i didn't want jesse owens to be thrown aside. i didn't want people to forget about tommie smith, even though there is a 50th anniversary of the medal stand protest, i didn't want lebron james, colin

kaepernick, eric reed to be the face of a historical movement and that is what african-american male protest is. it is an historical movement. >> i thank you for speaking with us. >> you are watching american history tv all weekend, every weekend on c-span3. >> army heritage days is an annual event held in may at the u.s. army heritage and education center in carlisle, pennsylvania. hundreds of living history hobbyists talk to the public about the military, from the american revolution to the war on terror. the theme this year was the d-day 75th anniversary. next, we visit an american history camp to learn about the experiences of the army's parachute regimental combat team. u.s. soldiers who fought in the maritime alps of