When you think of an amazing athlete you think of Lebron James or Bo Jackson, but Jesse Owens was one of the greatest athletes to walk this earth. Growing up and becoming a successful African American young man in the early 1900s was hard because of the way society treated them. Jesse Owens went against the stereotype than average African American person. He had the perfect legs of a runner. As Jesse grew up, he did not realize how valuable his legs were and their journey takes him to fame. Although Jesse Owens was one of the best athletes in the world, he had a great deal of hardships that he had to persevere through.
Jesse Owens was born on September 12, 1913, in a small town down in the south called Oakville, Alabama. Jesse Owens’s
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Jesse Owens was arguably the best track runner going into the 1936 Berlin games. Jesse had one hard choice in front of him deciding if he should run in the games. One of the main reasons Jesse might not run was because of Adolph Hitler’s regime in Germany and his beliefs. Adolph Hitler believed any person who was not white with the exception of Jews, was inhuman like and lower class. Since Jesse was a black African American he, fell right into that category. Jesse reported to the New York press he was going to run, but he was having second thoughts after getting a letter from NAACP. NAACP told Jesse, “that he should take a high stand for the black community and boycott the games”, but Jesse had something else on his mind. If Jesse were to go, it would be a dangerous trip because of Hitler, but if Jesse was to march in a place a gold medal he would make a stand. It would be saying that Hitler’s beliefs were wrong. Plus if Jesse were to medal gold he would make a great deal of money. Also with Jesse being the most acclaimed black at the time Jesse knew he had to make the tough decision. Jesse had finally confirmed in his mind he that was going to run in the games. Jesse was soon going to become one the greatest Olympians in the