CARSON — Tommie Smith raced to the victory stand some 50 years ago after winning the men’s 200 meters at the 1968 Olympics. Smith and American teammate John Carlos are more known today for what they did on the medal podium than their first- and third-place finishes at the Mexico City Olympics on Oct. 16 of that year. Smith and Carlos’ human rights salute with their raised black fists, drew the rebuke and scorn of the International Olympic Committee and journalists around the world. The duo was sent home and would not be welcomed back with warmth once they reached American soil. The two men would become sports pariahs, hated by many in the country they represented. Extended unemployment ... Read More
Social Justice
Civil Rights Icon Tommie Smith Keynotes Inaugural Presidential Distinguished Lecture Series
“Some of us may feel protected from social bias because we have a good job, we are the right color, we smile a lot, or because we have friends in high places. You know, the higher you think with that love of social ignorance, the further you will fall when you realize what is all around you.” This profound reality check was offered by Tommie Smith, the legendary Olympic gold medalist who bowed his head and raised a clinched fist in a black glove on the medal podium at the 1968 Mexico City games as a gesture against inequality and injustice. The civil rights icon shared those words as the keynote speaker during California State University, Dominguez Hills (CSUDH) inaugural Presidential ... Read More
Olympian and Civil Rights Icon Tommie Smith to Speak at Presidential Distinguished Lecture Series
(Carson, CA) CSU Dominguez Hills (CSUDH) will kick off its inaugural Presidential Distinguished Lecture Series on Nov. 7 at 4 p.m. with a program titled “Silent Gesture: Athletics and Courageous Conscience.” The featured speaker will be legendary Olympic athlete Tommie Smith, whose raised his fist on the medal podium at the 1968 Mexico City games became an iconic moment in civil rights history. The event commemorates the 50th anniversary of Smith’s protest. He will speak about the difficult decision to transform his personal achievement into a platform for speaking out against inequality and injustice, and how that decision impacted his own life and the course of the civil rights ... Read More
Japanese American Digitization Project Receives $238,520
(Carson, CA) – California State University, Dominguez Hills’ (CSUDH) Donald R. Beverly J. Gerth Archives and Special Collections has received a two-year $238,520 archival grant from the National Historical Publications and Records Commission (NHPRC) to continue its work on the CSU Japanese American Digitization Project (CSUJAD). The NHPRC grant will support a project that makes accessible online 10,400 archival records from 19 collections featuring 20th century Japanese American history held at eight institutions throughout California. The project, which began June 1, will digitize such artifacts as photographs, manuscript collections from families and organizations, and oral ... Read More
Faculty Highlights: February 2018
Our faculty members participate in conferences around the world, conduct groundbreaking research, and publish books and journal papers that contribute to their field and highlight their expertise. We feature those accomplishments and more in this section. College of Arts and Humanities Salim Faraji, professor of African Studies, has co-authored the article “Déjà vu: The Crisis of the Black Intellectual Again: Ta-Nehisi Coates, Cornel West and the Omission of the Pan-Africanist Tradition,” which was published in the Black Star News on Jan. 20. Faraji also hosted a weekly four-part series titled “Ancient Nubia and Sudanic Africa” throughout February 2018 at Shades of Afrika in ... Read More
