Victory. Stand!: Raising My Fist for Justice

by Tommie Smith, Derrick Barnes, Dawud Anyabwile

Overview

Notes From Your Bookseller

The inspiring story of Tommie Smith reaches a new generation in Victory, Stand! detailing his act of silent protest for the racial injustices imposed upon African Americans at the 1968 Mexico City Olympics. Stunning illustrations by Dawud Anyabwile help bring Smith’s journey to life.

Winner of the 2023 YALSA Excellence in Young Adult Nonfiction Award

Finalist for the 2022 National Book Award for Young People's Literature

A Coretta Scott King Award Author and Illustrator Honor Book

A Washington Post Best Book of the Year

A Kirkus Reviews Best Book of the Year

A Publishers Weekly Best Book of the Year

A School Library Journal Best Book of the Year

A Booklist Best Book of the Year

A Horn Book Fanfare Title

On October 16, 1968, during the medal ceremony at the Mexico City Olympics, Tommie Smith, the gold medal winner in the 200-meter sprint, and John Carlos, the bronze medal winner, stood on the podium in black socks and raised their black-gloved fists to protest racial injustice inflicted upon African Americans. Both men were forced to leave the Olympics, received death threats, and faced ostracism and continuing economic hardships.

In his first-ever memoir for young readers, Tommie Smith looks back on his childhood growing up in rural Texas through to his stellar athletic career, culminating in his historic victory and Olympic podium protest. Cowritten with Newbery Honor and Coretta Scott King Author Honor recipient Derrick Barnes and illustrated with bold and muscular artwork from Emmy Award–winning illustrator Dawud Anyabwile, Victory. Stand! paints a stirring portrait of an iconic moment in Olympic history that still resonates today.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781324003908
Publisher:	Norton Young Readers
Publication date:	09/27/2022
Pages:	208
Sales rank:	455,122
Product dimensions:	6.60(w) x 9.60(h) x 0.70(d)
Age Range:	12 - 18 Years

About the Author

Tommie Smith is a former Olympic track-and-field gold medalist. He lives outside Atlanta, Georgia.

Derrick Barnes has received both a Newbery Honor and a Coretta Scott King Author Honor. He lives in Charlotte, North Carolina.

Dawud Anyabwile is an Emmy Award–winning illustrator and comic artist based in Atlanta, Georgia.

Editorial Reviews

"Smith, Barnes, and Anyabwile’s artful collaboration translates the consistently impressive perseverance of Smith’s real life into grounded and thoughtful motivation for readers."

Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books

"With vivid black-and-white artwork that emphasizes Smith's athleticism and powerful messages about allyship, conviction, family, and resistance, this is compelling and engaging account of an iconic moment and an important period in U.S. history."

Booklist (starred review)

"In his phenomenal graphic memoir, "Victory. Stand! Raising My Fist for Justice,” Smith teams up with the award-winning author Derrick Barnes to tell his own riveting story of balancing athletic prowess and social activism. . . . Anyabwile's stirring black-and-white illustrations propel this magnificently paced story, and underscore the infuriating professional repercussions of Smith's activism. . . . Timely and timeless, Smith's "Victory. Stand!" is a must read not just for sports fans but for everyone."

New York Times Book Review

★ 09/23/2022

Gr 8 Up—Smith's life story, centered around the historic raising of his fist at the 1968 Olympic games, is also a portrait of resistance against inequality in America. The narrative alternates between a chronological recounting of Smith's life, beginning with his humble roots working on a farm in Texas, and one of the most significant races of his athletic career. As a Black athlete, Smith experiences racism on multiple levels from childhood up through college and adulthood, and these life experiences inform his worldviews and reflections on his community's treatment based on race. Throughout, the determination and joy he derives from his family and Christian faith keep him focused on the high road in any conflict, and the narrative highlights various coaches, politicians, educators, activists, and fellow athletes who made an impression on Smith as well as on America. The balance between the personal and the broader historical perspectives makes this book as accessible as it is educational. For example, Smith's titular stand is given full context regarding the preparation, execution, and aftermath, including fallout. Anyabwile's black-and-white illustrations achieve the same balance and then some as they portray Smith's tumultuous periods as well as his hard-fought triumphs. There is nothing saccharine about this view into the past, but there is plenty worth remembering and considering. VERDICT An illuminating example of the power of a moral stance, no matter when it occurs in one's life.—Thomas Maluck

School Library Journal

★ 2022-06-22
“We had to be seen because we were not being heard.”

Gold medalist Smith teams up with award-winning creators Barnes and Anyabwile to vividly share the freedom dreams that inspired his iconic protest at the 1968 Olympics. Born in Texas to sharecropping parents, Smith and his large family followed the Great Migration that sent thousands of Black families out of the Deep South. Landing in California, he navigated racist misconceptions from peers and authority figures alike. Arriving at San Jose State at the height of the civil rights movement, Smith met like-minded friends who balanced athletic excellence with a commitment to justice. After achieving gold and bronze, respectively, in the 200-meter sprint, Smith and John Carlos arrived at the podium prepared to make a global statement protesting racial injustice. During the playing of the U.S. national anthem, they raised black-gloved fists in support of impassioned ideals that emerged from the Black student–led Olympic Project for Human Rights. Smith navigated post-Olympics professional repercussions and remained committed to his principled stance; decades later, reverence for his protest would return in the form of honors and awards, yet the struggle to upend racial injustice continues. The black-and-white illustrations’ realism echoes the visual influences of the Black Power period. Art and text present an unflinching look at the physical and verbal racist violence of the time. This evocative undertaking extends histories of 20th-century Black struggles for new generations, reminding us to continue to be brave, courageous, and organize for change.

Authentic and inspiring. (Graphic nonfiction. 12-18)

Kirkus Reviews

★ 07/04/2022

With collaborators Barnes (I Am Every Good Thing) and Anyabwile (Becoming Muhammad Ali), Smith details his childhood leading up to his historic Olympic protest—and its aftermath—in this compelling graphic memoir. Before Smith, who is Black, was an Olympic gold medalist, he and his family of 14 lived in a house with “no running water. No central air-conditioning or heating.” When he was seven, they relocated from Texas to California, where he faced racism from white classmates and school administrators before his white PE teacher Mr. Focht, described as a “good man,” encouraged him to run track. Smith was eventually recruited by San José State University in 1963. Even as his career flourished, however, he couldn’t ignore the racial violence surrounding him. Realizing he “had an obligation—not just to carry the banner of San José State” but “to carry an even larger banner for my people,” Smith raised a fist while on the podium at the 1968 Mexico Olympics. Anyabwile’s grayscale art features kinetically illustrated athletic competition, tense racial dynamics, and a large, intricately detailed Black family. Smith’s timely story, whose nonlinear timeline highlights both prominent events during the civil rights movement and Smith’s interpersonal struggles, is a powerful celebration of resistance. Ages 13–up. (Sept.)

Publishers Weekly

"Anyabwile conveys great emotion in his fluid black-and-white art, which pairs well with the conversational first-person text."

Horn Book Magazine (starred review)