Jesse Owens (1913-1980) Stars in the 1936 Summer Olympics in Berlin.
The youngest of ten born to an Alabama sharecropper, J. C. Owens was a sickly child, frequently too frail to assist his brothers in the fields. Seeking a better life, the family moved to Cleveland, Ohio, in 1821, as part of the Great Migration from the South.
Above, The New York Times announces that the great African American track and field athlete wins the gold medal in the 100 meter final in a record time of 10.3 seconds, the first of four golds he garnered. The others were the 200 meter race, the long jump, and the 4 × 100 m. relay team.
Adolf Hitler took great pride in having Nazi Germany host the games to showcase the athletic prowess of his master race. Although pleased with the victories of his own Olympians, the Fuhrer was upset by Owens’ singlehandedly crushing the myth of Aryan supremacy while scoring a moral victory for African Americans at home.
African American Gold medal winners were: Jesse Owens (4), Archie Williams, Ralph Metcalfe, Cornelius Johnson, and John Woodruff. Silver winners were: Mark Robinson, and Dave Albritton. Bronze winners were: Jimmy LaValle, and Fred Pollard.
Upon their return home, President Franklin D. Roosevelt invited white Olympians to a White House reception, while failing to include the above African American medal-winners, five of whom had won gold. Visibly, only a small minority of the team, they were awarded 8 of the 24 United States’ gold medals.