Clare Keating

M9 Nano-History Paper

Jesse Owens in the 1936 Olympics

Jesse Owens was an African American track star in the 1936 Olympics. What made him

standout was his color and his elite athleticism in a very unequal society. Jesse Owens full name

is James Cleveland Owens. Jesse Owens was born in Oakville Alabama on September 12, 1913.

Most people do not know the history if you lived as a child. As a four-time medal winner at the

Berlin Olympics, you would think Jesse was also a very athletic child. Jesse defeated the battle

of his health and defeated the moral battle for African American athletes in the Olympics.

Jesse Owens Grew up as a very young child. He is not the runner he grew up to be. There

were times when Jesse was too early to even get out of bed. This left his father and his very own

brothers struggling to work on the farm to make a living. His big break happened when he joined

the fifth-grade track team. Of course, he was a skinny boy, but he grew stronger and stronger the

more that he ran. This helped him set records even in middle school. University recruiters

dreamed of having him on their team and at their school. He made a deal with Ohio State

University. Deal was he would commit to the school if the school helped his very own father find

employment.

Jesse Owens, like every other African American during that time, expedited racism. This

was the idea that a specific face was superior or better than any other races in the world. He

experienced racism most at the Ohio State university. He’s a very strong-willed person, and this

only motivated him to be better. He eventually got the offer to be an Olympian after breaking

three world record’s. This took place at the Big Ten Conference track and field championship in
1935.

Jesse Owens is not the only African American to experience racism on his way to the Olympics.

He also had to face Adolf Hitler and his idea of a supreme race. Adolph Hitler ‘s idea of

the perfect race was the furthest thing from African-American. The 1936 U.S. Olympics was

held in Berlin Germany. Having African Americans on the US team angered Hitler. It angered

him even more when Jesse Owens won four gold medals. Hitler was seen leaving the Berlin

arena in a very aggressive manner.

This was seen as large victory for African Americans in America. Jesse Owens was seen

as an absolute hero when he returned back to US grounds. His athleticism and victories at the

Berlin Olympics “scored A moral victory for African-American athletes, (Ott, Tim).”

Jesse became the first American of any race to win for gold medals in track and field in a

single olympics. What really made this Olympics different than the rest was the propaganda. The

entire beginning of the Olympics highlighted the Nazi party and even almost celebrated them.

Jesse basically stole that glory from the Nazi Party, Hilter’s perfect machine Olympians and even

from Hitler himself.

Jesse Owens perfectly Displayed how black man can succeed. He showed the world that

race is just a color, and prove that there is no such thing as the perfect race. Jesse Owens truly

thrived when push came to show of and the spotlight was only on him. These victories “push the

door open a little why her for the civil rights movement to eventually emerge, (Ott, Tim).”
 Reference

Ott, Tim. “How Jesse Owens Foiled Hitler's Plans for the 1936 Olympics.”

Biography.com, A&E Networks Television, 21 June 2019,

https://www.biography.com/news/jesse-owens-adolf-hitler-1936-olympics.

https://www.biography.com/news/jesse-owens-adolf-hitler-1936-olympics

https://www.notablebiographies.com/Ni-Pe/Owens-Jesse.html