Jesse Owens
There were lots of famous people in the World War II era. Anne Frank was a young girl who hid from Nazi police. Neville Chamberlain was the prime minister of Great Britain at the time the war started. Adolf Hitler was the leader of Germany and the Nazi police during World War 2. Jesse Owens is another person who was famous during the era of World War II.
On September 12, 1913 the United State’s most prolific track and field runner was born. Jesse Owens was born in a small town in Alabama named Oakville. At around age 9 his family moved to Cleveland, Ohio where he grew up in great poverty. His father a sharecropper and his mother a stay at home mom. At his new school, he became very popular among the students and teachers. One of his teachers gave him the nickname J.C. which he became known. He studied very hard and also became a star runner in high school. This was Jessie’s way out of poverty. In high school, he set many state track records, he also won three major titles at the National Interscholastic competitions in Chicago. In Chicago, he broke the national high school record in the 100 and 200 yard
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Jesse Owens had to overcome not only the other star athletes but also racism. He was doubted greatly because Hitler wanted the “Aryan” people or the perfect race to exceed all of the medals and win the gold medals. Jesse overcame that and he became the first American Olympic participant to win 4 gold medals. He won the four gold medals in the 220-yard dash, 220-low hurdles, 400-yard dash, and running broad jump. He also tied the world record for 100-yard dash. He proved to himself and to everybody that it doesn’t matter the color of your skin is a great athlete is a great athlete. He also made Adolf Hitler’s “Aryan dominance theory look dumb at the Olympics. Hitler stormed out of the arena and in great anger because Jesse Owens won defeated Hitler's ideas.