Yale ’68 Black Power Salute – Call for Information

Several discussions at our 50^th Reunion touched on two memorable themes from our senior year:  the Black Power movement and the football team. These themes intersected in historic fashion at the Dartmouth game at Yale Bowl on November 2, 2018, when our two black cheerleaders stood at the front of the cheerleading squad during the national anthem with heads bowed and arms raised in a black power salute.

See also the brief discussion about this picture on Facebook.

One of the protesters was our classmates, Bill Brown. He was also probably the first black cheerleader in the history of the school. Bill entered Yale in the fall of 1965, residing in Durfee Hall and continuing to Trumbull College. He was my friend. As captain of the cheerleading squad for the 1968 season, I’m the one who recruited him as a cheerleader.  (I still have my sweater!)  Bill, in turn, recruited the second protester, Greg Parker, who was a year or two behind us.

Before the Dartmouth game, Bill and Greg informed me that they intended to do the black power salute during the national anthem, emulating the famous Olympic protest by track stars Tommie Smith and John Carlos. My reply was something like:  It’s your decision. I won’t stop you. Not surprisingly, the protest gesture raised hackles among many Yale alumni, as well as some members of the student body. In retrospect, photos of that protest have become an iconic symbol of the turmoil facing Yale and the nation at large at that time.

Bill Brown did not graduate with our class, and his name does not appear in the Class Book. I asked several classmates at the reunion if they had any contact with Bill, but none of them had a clue about his life after Yale or his current location.  If anyone has information about Bill, I would be very interested in contacting him. Aside from my personal interest, I submit that Bill deserves a special place in our class history.