Victory. Stand!: Raising My Fist for Justice

The prologue serves several purposes, prompting readers to appreciate the novel’s unique medium while also setting the tone for the novel, as Tommie introduces the race that will change his life forever. Using this race as an opening device creates a visual juxtaposition between the young Tommie in Texas and the man he grows up to be. The prologue thereby illustrates the strength of the present medium to tell this story. Showing both young Tommie in the field in Texas and older Tommie on the track highlights the similarities and substantial growth between the two Tommies. The imagery also prompts the reader to consider how the illustrations and text interact, such as with Tommie’s comment that he “found it hard to be still” (11). This line, paired with the illustration of young and old Tommie, is more impactful: In a literal sense, Tommie is high energy and loves moving fast, so he will grow up to be a track star. In a metaphorical sense, though, Tommie is also someone who resists accepting the status quo; he has the stamina and drive to keep sprinting toward a different future, despite the odds. Though highly accessible, the language is intentional and nuanced, too.

Chapter 1, with its focus on Tommie’s earliest years, plants the first seeds of the theme of The Struggle for Equal Rights and Treatment of Black Activists. At this point, Tommie is uncertain what his life will look like when he’s older; he has not experienced much beyond the house he lives in with his family, the fields where they work, and the church and attached school in town. This lack of experience parallels his lacking understanding of racism in the United States, both in terms of its pervasiveness and the long history of Black activists who have fought it. He knows it exists. But on the whole, segregation and racial separation keep him largely ignorant: Tommie “would go days, even weeks, without seeing white folks at all” (29).

This chapter offers insight into how Tommie, as a young Black man, first came to recognize and understand racism. Later chapters capture in more detail how Tommie’s attitude changes dramatically as he becomes an athlete and observes the difference in treatment of white athletes and Black athletes. However, in this chapter on his early years, the reader sees how younger Tommie initially feels that segregation doesn’t affect him much. Because the novel is told in flashbacks, though, the older Tommie’s awareness informs the narration, and it becomes clear younger Tommie was more aware of injustice than he may have realized. As a child, Tommie starts considering how he would be looked at differently from a white child, making things not “match up in [his] mind” (29). He notes as well the strangeness in seeing his father call the man who owns the land they farm “boss” or “sir” despite the two men appearing to be equal: “[T]hey were both grown men, men that, in my young eyes, both deserved to be called ‘sir,’ especially my father” (25). As Tommie grows older, he will become acutely aware of what segregation is and what effects it has on the Black community.

The theme of Education as Providing Access to Opportunity is also established in this chapter by way of laying the foundation for later contrast. In Texas, Tommie attends a small school, learning from a teacher who is in charge of several grades. In California, his experience will be very different. Younger Tommie does not yet see education as something that can provide him a way out of his life. Again, though, older Tommie’s reflections indicate that his mind will change.

Finally, Chapter 1 illustrates the importance of Tommie’s family and religion in Tommie’s life, both of which are important motifs throughout the novel. Tommie’s family and religion both help represent Tommie’s strong connection to the Black community and the strength that this connection provides him in return. Family and religion work together to elevate Tommie’s awareness to intangible concepts, shifting his attention to higher purposes from a young age: “[Our] parents taught us not to focus on worldly things, only our own efforts and our faith and God” (24). Tommie will continue to anchor himself to his faith for the rest of his life, praying even during his time on the Olympic podium, and his reflections often return to his family.