Victory. Stand!: Raising My Fist for Justice

Tommie Smith is one of the authors and the narrator of Victory. Stand!. Tommie is widely known for his choice to raise his fist during the United States national anthem during the 1968 Olympics, a move that resulted in his being blacklisted from participating in professional sports for the rest of his life (though, later, he would be inducted in the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Hall of Fame). In this graphic memoir, Tommie frames his life through his actions at the Olympics while offering the readers, via flashbacks and reflections, context for what it meant to be African American in the latter half of the 20th century.

The novel ties Tommie’s high energy and endurance with both his athletic skill and, later, his resilience in the face of racism, emphasizing the theme of Using Sports to Persevere. Tommie was born in 1944 in Texas, and it’s clear from the start of the novel that, as a child, he was “antsy, a bright ball of energy that found it hard to be still” (11). This mention of his high-energy nature, along with the races he has with his siblings, foreshadows his career as a runner and activist.