Jesse Owens's Role In The 1936 Berlin Olympics

Skin color doesn't define if one race is superior to other races. Jesse Owens was a participant in the 1936 Berlin Olympics. He was among the few African Americans who represented America. Even though all the odds were stacked against him, because of his color skin, he still went to Berlin to compete. Owens father, Henry Cleveland, was a sharecropper. Mary Emma Fitzgerald, Owen's mom, took care of him. Jesse Owen took a stand against racism at home and abroad through his defiant performance in the 1936 Berlin Olympics.

First of all, during the 1936 Berlin Olympics, the Jim Crow Era was still going on. The Jim Crow Era was a time period where whites and blacks were separated. They had to eat at different restaurants, sleep in different hotels,

African Americans were viewed as the lowest of the lowest. Jesse Owen states, “ The battles that count aren’t the ones for gold medals. The struggles within yourself, the invisible, inevitable battles inside all of us, that's where it's at” (Jesse Owens Biography). Jesse Owen’s saying that winning a race within yourself is more important that winning a race and getting a medal for it. Sometimes a medal is not the actual reward, the actual reward is taking part in something. Jesse Owens also states, “ Life was marked by poverty and was forced to take menial jobs such as delivering goods and working in shoe repair shops” (Jesse Owen’s Biography). Owen is pretty much saying that people only focus on the money that other people have or make. That's how other people label other

At the 1936 Berlin Olympics, “African American sprinter Jesse Owen amazed the world by breaking records and winning, four gold medals in Berlin, the headquarters of Hitler’s Nazi regime” (Jesse Owens). Owens shocked the world when he won four gold medals in one olympic. He shocked Americans and Hitler, but mostly Hitler. Hitler became really mad and left the stadium so he wouldn't have to congratulate Jesse Owens. Also, “Owen became known not only for his athletic triumphs but for his epic embrace with Aryan German competitor Luz Long and for the social barriers he broke down in the face of Hitler’s Nazi regime. Rather than protesting ‘Hitler’s Games’ Owen used his position in the spotlight to display the greatness and compassion that can be achieved outside of the political and cultural constraints of society” ( Jesse Owens). Owens played it smart in the Olympics. He used his popularity to show people what can be achieved with greatness and