The future American icon, Jesse Owens, was often overlooked as a child. His legal name, “J.C.” was mispronounced by one of his teachers, which gave way to his commonly known name “Jesse.” Owens was born on September 12th, 1913, in Oakville, Alabama. The son of a sharecropper, Jesse was often too frail and weak and unable to help his brothers and father with work in the field when he was young. (Encyclopedia of World Biographies). Through his upbringing, he had to work hard to overcome these weaknesses. Thus, Owens was no stranger to overcoming difficulty en route to profound success as an African American male. By dominating the Berlin Olympics, Jesse Owens proved on a global stage that African Americans were as capable as anyone. His success highlighted the fact that Hitler’s Aryan supremacy theory was incorrect, which caused a profound impact in both athletic and political fields. Through his journey, Jesse Owens demonstrated humility and god-like characteristics.
At the Berlin Olympics of 1936, Owens disproved Hitler’s racist and antisemitic Aryan supremacy theories that were at the heart of the Nazi regime. In 1936, Owens had one of the greatest days of achievement that the world has ever seen. "At the
…show more content…
“According to Pete Axthelm in Newsweek, Jesse Owens ’made a mockery of the Fuhrer's [Hitler's] words’—and the Aryan `master race' philosophy. His medals could not divert the dark propaganda wave that was sweeping Germany at the time.... But he did lift American spirits to giddy heights, and he seemed to embody the Olympic dream that sportsmen can reach across political and military lines in a noble quest for friendship and glory” (The Columbia Encyclopedia). Owens victory embodied something much more than the Olympics, and much more than the impending war itself. Rather, Owens victory embodied how representing one’s country through sport can be globally impactful to billions of