Jesse Owens

Jesse Owens was the son of a sharecropper and the grandson of a slave. He was one of seven children and was originally called James Cleveland. When he was nine he moved to Cleveland Ohio where a teacher mistakenly called him Jesse and then the name stuck.

In junior high, he cleared 6 feet at the high jump and cleared 22 ft 11 ¾ inches in the long jump. He went through high school winning all of the major track events and setting records. He set records in the 100-yard dash, the 220-yard dash, and in the long jump. He was being recruited by dozens of colleges and later went to Ohio State University.

When recruited he was not offered a scholarship and so he worked in order to put himself through school while supporting his wife and himself. He worked as a night elevator operator, a waiter, pumped gas and worked in library stacks.

Jesse went on the compete at the Big Ten Championships in Ann Arbor on May 25, 1935, where he set three world records and tied a fourth. He had injured his back and yet still ran in the 100-yard dash to yet again tie the world record.

At the 1936 Olympics, Jesse became the first American to win four gold medals in a single Olympic. This in itself was an achievement but the fact that he did this in front of Hitler in a time where segregation was on the mind of everyone is what made this victory so remembered in the hearts of American people.

When Jessie came back to the United States after his victory he was treated the exact same as when he had left, he continued to be segregated and wasn’t allowed to dine in the same restaurants as the whites nor allowed to use the same facilities. Although this win may have outraged Hitler as this showed fault in the idea of a superior race, Jesse's treatment when he returned showed that this was also a thought process in the United States. A "white" winner would have come back to glory and celebration yet Jesse came back to what he had left. School, and debt to keep him and his family afloat.