Jesse Owens's Journey To The 1936 Berlin Olympics

"If you fall behind, run faster. Never give up, never surrender, and rise up against all odds." That’s Jesse Jackson at one of his speeches in 1984, he went against all odds himself, overcame the risks and proved to America that color didn’t matter making him one of the most influential characters in American history.  Jacksons rough childhood, bravery, and human rights activism is what I think it took to get the courage to do something as big and selfless as Jackson brought himself to do.

because of how the Olympics were broadcasted around the world. A visitor to Berlin during this time

“Although I wasn’t invited to shake hands with Hitler, I wasn’t invited to the White House to shake hands with the President either.” - Jesse Owens. Jesse Owens was an African American athlete that won four gold medals in the 1936 Olympics at Berlin during the Nazi regime. The 1936 Olympics was quite controversial because of the Nazi’s and their policies for minority groups like the Jews. It was so controversial that the United states nearly pulled out of the international spectacle. Germany wanted to use the Olympics to showcase their country. But Jesse Owens took much of the attention away due to his athletic display. Even with his legendary performance in Berlin, it didn’t change much of his status in the US as a black man. In the

Can you imagine embarrassing the infamous Adolf Hitler in front of the whole world? Jesse Owens did that in the 1936 Berlin Olympics. It was not an easy road for him to get there, but he did it by putting enough effort and hard work forward. Jesse Owens was able to overcome racial judgment by surviving a poverty struck childhood, training hard in school, and by winning the 1936 Berlin Olympics.

LeBron James was born December 30, 1984 in a poor neighborhood in Akron, Ohio (Smithwick 6). His mother gave birth to him when she was 16 and still in high school (Smithwick 6). All this goes back to how he was born in a

Jackie Robinson known as the man who broke the color barrier, was both a hero of baseball, and a hero for the fight against racism. He took two of the things Americans valued most: freedom and sports, and brought them to the grand stage. When we take what Robinson did and put it in perspective of when and where it occurred we see the true struggle, and see just how despicable and bitter this time was. It really highlights how the search for freedom and equality coincided with the country’s fight to hold on to segregation and racism.

First of all, Jackie Robinson showed and proved his heroism for how he went against the social norms to be the first African-American to play in a previously all-white sport;the courage required to break this barrier is an example of social heroism. In “What is Heroism?” it states, “Yet social heroism is costly in its own way, often involving loss of credibility or financial stability, lower social status, arrest, torture, risks to family, and, in some cases, death.” This statement rings true to Jackie Robinson because, when Jackie went against the strict views of racist baseball players and fans, he risked everything that the evidence stated! In the text,” How Jackie Robinson Changed Baseball,” the hero broke the “color barrier” by joining Major League Baseball, a professional sport. This hero defied discrimination at a time when people of color were not allowed to play baseball. He did not accept the racist idea of what a professional baseball player should look like cause he just wanted to be a part of baseball.

Cesar Chavez was born on March 31st, 1927 in Yuma, Arizona to immigrant parents. Throughout his youth, Cesar grew up watching his parents work all day, in very harsh conditions, for such minimal pay. After

Jesse James was born September 5th, 1847 in Kearney, Missouri. He grew up on a Hemp farm and his parents owned a few slaves. This upbringing led to him serving in the confederate army alongside his brother Frank during the Civil war, as a Quantrill, or someone who raided towns for cash. Frank was old enough to serve previous terms, which also inspired Jesse to join a part of the army. When his work as a Quantrill was done, he spiraled into a criminal state, desperate not to be a farmer.

Cesar Chavez was born on March 31, 1927 in a small town called Yuma in Arizona. Chavez was born to immigrant parents and was named after his grandfather. The depression forced Chavez’s family off of their farm in 1937. They then had to move to California. Chavez was 10 years old when he began working in the fields while constantly moving.

Jesse Jackson was born on October 8, 1948, in Greenwood, South Carolina. His actual name when his was born was Jesse Louis Burns. His parents were Helen Burns and Noah Robinson, but were never married. A year after Jesse’s birth, his mother married Charles Henry Jackson, an office maintenance worker, who later adopted him. That’s how Jesse’s last name became Jackson.

Jesse Owens was born on September 12, 1913, in Oakville, Alabama. Jesse’s father was a sharecropper which meant he was paid to farm other peoples’ land. Jesse had six siblings who picked cotton with him on a rich man’s farm in Alabama when they were young. At age nine the Owens family moved to Cleveland, Ohio. Jesse

People do not acknowledge the struggles that African Americans had to endure for them to be treated equally, the way a true American is supposed to be treated. One of the ways they were not treated equally was by not being able to participate in sports with whites. From the beginning of our nation, colored people were highly disrespected and treated as if they were some type of animals, which have no say in what happens to them. They were not given any opportunities and were treated harshly because their skin color was different. Whites were able to practically do anything they wanted, unlike blacks, who were racially discriminated or beaten for no apparent reason. African Americans were among the worst treated races in the US; however,

Racism in sports has been around of hundreds of years, but recently it has shown that it’s still a major concern that needs to be taken care of. Years ago, Jack Johnson, the first African American heavyweight boxing champion dealt with the hardships of racism. “America has come a long way since those times” said Johnson, describing how America has developed through the years dealing with racism in sports.

Some might say Jesse Owens is not controversial because he did not change the racism in America. Jesse Owens said “When I came back to my native country, after all the stories about Hitler, I couldn't ride in the front of the bus," Owens said. "I had to go to the back door. I couldn't live where I wanted. I wasn't invited to shake hands with Hitler, but I wasn't invited to the White House to shake hands with the President, either." This quote may be true, but Jesse Owens was influential and was an example that it does not matter the ethnicity or nationality, a hero is a hero.