Notes

Under Hitlers command, the politics of the time, as Noel detailed, were inseparable from the event itself. During the 1963 olympics in Berlin, the Nazi regimes propaganda machine in full effect. Banners sullied the olympic village, the Sport Field, and anywhere else fathomable. The grand scheme, to peacefully display Aryan supremacy on the world’s stage, even saw Nazi Germany removing anti-semetic displays to promote an image of tolerance. At the same time, the olympic village was heavily guarded against the threat of Jewish terrorists and Jewish athletes were barred from competing. Although many nations felt as though they should boycott the event, ultimately some forty-nine teams globally decided to participate in the 1936 Olympics, the most of any Olympics to that point in time. Within the US itself, Black athletes participating in the games was again a contentious issue. While they were allowed to excel in individual sports, the US national teams barred them from participating in any team activities. Although this is a rough idea, I plan to explore this angle. Although the proponents and organizers of the boycott movement had valid reasons to declare that the multinationality of the olympics makes it inseparable from larger political contexts, it remains important that Black athletes forge their own path and compete how and when they wish.