Darrin Dewitt Henson, the famed choreographer behind the dance routines seen in videos for Britney Spears, Spice Girls and *NSYNC recently publicized that portions of the routine featured in *NSYNC’s video titled “Bye Bye Bye” was inspired by the black power fist.
“The choreography simply was a combination of a few things: the puppeteers-style dancing, which came from them singing about feeling like puppets on a string on the original track; then the black power fist — at the time the group did not know where the move come from, they just enjoyed doing the move,” Henson confirmed.
The fist became an iconic statement of discrimination towards blacks in the United States during the 1968 Olympic Games in Mexico City. Black sprinters John Carlos and Tommie Smith raised their fists in the air as they received their medals as the National Anthem played in the background.
The athletes were incensed to display their distaste for the horrendous behavior towards African-Americans that sparked the Civil Rights movement and began long before the Emancipation Proclamation.
Since, the fist has been used in many instances; some totally unexpected.
Here are 5 unexpected times the black power fist was used:
