The New York Public Library Podcast features your favorite writers, artists, and thinkers in smart talks and provocative conversations. Listen to some of our most engaging programs, discover new ideas, and celebrate the best of today’s culture.

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American athletes John Carlos and Tommie Smith made history on the Olympic podium in October 1968. The photograph of the two men in Mexico City receiving their medals for the 200-meter sprint—heads bowed, black-gloved fists lifted up—is one of the most iconic images of the 1960s, probably of the 20th century. Dr. Carlos marked fifty years since that event with Dave Zirin, sports editor at The Nation and co-author of Carlos’s memoir. He told the story around that moment in 1968, recounting his meeting with Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. before the Olympics, the challenges he faced afterward, and the message he has for athletes continuing the movement for racial justice today.

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