Winner of the Spring 2017 StMU History Media Awards for
Best Article in the Category of “People”
On January 30, 1933, Adolf Hitler was appointed Chancellor of Germany. Hitler quickly turned Germany’s fragile Weimar democracy into a one-party dictatorship. During his rule, Hitler pursued a plan to harass one half-million German Jews to leave Germany. Hitler promoted a “master race” scheme that sought to keep the so-called Aryan race pure from racial contamination from all other races he deemed to be inferior. This Aryan race consisted of only Germanic peoples who had the characteristics of blond hair, blue eyes, and light colored skin. Three years after taking power, Hitler hosted the 1936 Olympics in the German capital of Berlin. This was his opportunity to put his “New Germany” on display for all the world to see.
As Hitler’s Nazi government prepared for these Olympics, athletes from the United States were also preparing themselves for the coming competition in Berlin. In the United States, African Americans were dealing with their own problems of racism. Not only was life hard as an African American in the 1930s, but life was even harder as an African American athlete. One African American, who would later become one of the most famous athletes in the history of Track and Field, was James Cleveland “Jesse” Owens. At the age of eight, he had moved to Cleveland, Ohio with his family, who had sought for better work and educational opportunities. “On his first day of school, he introduced himself as ‘J. C.,’ but his teacher misunderstood him to say “Jesse.” The young Owens bashfully accepted the mistake, thus taking on the name by which he would become famous.”1 Jesse Owens would grow up loving to run. He was the fastest runner in his school and loved competing against others. His dream was to attend the University of Michigan, but there were no scholarships offered in those days and his parents could not afford tuition. Instead, he attended Ohio State University, where he worked for the boosters to pay for his expenses.
In the Summer of 1936, at the Olympic trials, Jesse finished first in all three of the events that he competed in. He had trained hard in the preceding months, and the hard training paid off, allowing Owens to attend the Olympics of 1936, known as “The Nazi Games” or as “Hitler’s Games.” In actuality, these Olympic games were not originally intended to be games hosted by the Nazis: the “Nazis were never invited to host the Games—and probably never would have applied to do so. Instead, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) had awarded the Olympics to Germany’s Weimar Republic in 1931 before the Nazi takeover as a way of welcoming Germany back to sports respectability.”2
Ironically, Adolf Hitler knew nothing about sports and expressed little interest in hosting the Olympics; instead he wished to host an all-German athletic celebration. “But Dr. Josef Goebbels, the influential minister of propaganda, glimpsed how Germany might score a tremendous public-relations coup and convinced Hitler to support both the Winter and Summer Games.”3 Influenced by Dr. Josef Goebbels, Hitler used these Olympic games as a political relation with other countries.
Several weeks after the Olympic trials, Jesse Owens competed in the Berlin Olympics and made a name for himself. He won four gold medals, in the 100m, 200m, 4x100m relays, and in the long jump. Jesse Owens had set records and represented America in a humble and most respectable way, considering the circumstances. Even though many have claimed that Adolf Hitler refused to congratulate Jesse Owens, others go further by claiming that Hitler actually “snubbed” Owens:
By the end of that fabulous week in Berlin, an attractive yarn attached itself to the name of Jesse Owens. Supposedly, he was ‘snubbed’ by Adolf Hitler, who reportedly refused to congratulate him publicly after his victories. Actually, the story was concocted by American sportswriters, who were all too willing to read the worst of motives into Hitler’s behavior and to assume innocent excellence from America’s newest hero. Although it had no basis in fact, the story of ‘Hitler’s snub’ was repeated so often that people took it as truth. It remains one of the great anecdotes of American popular culture.4
Racism was as alive in the United States as it was overseas in Germany in the 1930s. German Jews were a persecuted minority in the 1930s, and African Americans were experiencing similar treatments of racism in 1930s America. “World reaction to Hitler’s program resulted in a movement to boycott Nazi goods and services, which included a movement to take away the 1936 Olympics from Berlin in an attempt to force the German government to cease its discriminatory practice against the Jews.”5 It was not until the United States entered World War II that sentiment against racism began to penetrate the American social consciousness. Even though Owens continued to face white racism in his own country subsequent to his Olympic victories, he later reflected on his experiences of racism: “What I’ve done is no more than countless other Negros (and Jews, Poles, Greeks and just Americans in general) have done…. I’ve been a Negro in America for fifty-seven years, and I want to tell you that [being black in America] can be pure hell at times and can shake anyone’s sureness. Often it’s worse if you were the world’s fastest human.”6 When Owens returned to the United States after the Olympics, President Franklin Delano Roosevelt refused to acknowledge his accomplishments or even invite him into the White House. It was not until 1979 that President Jimmy Carter presented Jesse Owens with the Living Legend Award. Forty-three years after his Olympic victories, Jesse Owens had finally been properly recognized for his great achievements.
Despite all the controversy that Jesse Owens encountered while doing what he loved, he is a true representation of perseverance and determination. Jesse Owens passed away in March of 1980 from lung cancer.
- Salem Press Biography Encyclopedia, January 2017, s.v. “Jesse Owens,” by William J. Baker. ↵
- John Rodden and John P. Rossi, “Berlin Stories,” Commonweal 143, no. 13 (August 12, 2016): 25. ↵
- John Rodden and John P. Rossi, “Berlin Stories,” Commonweal 143, no. 13 (August 12, 2016): 26. ↵
- Salem Press Biography Encyclopedia, January 2017, s.v. “Jesse Owens,” by William J. Baker. ↵
- D. A. Kass, “The Issue of Racism at the 1936 Olympics,” Journal of Sports History, no. 3 (1976): 223. ↵
- Joseph Boskin, “Jesse Owens: Running in the American Dilemma,” Review in American History, no. 3 (1987): 457. ↵
161 comments
Eugenio Gonzalez
First of all, congratulations on your winning article. The author does an excellent job telling readers about Hitler’s intentions behind the 1936 Berlin Olympics. I found it interesting the origin of the nickname ”Jesse” and how Owens would stick with it. Unfortunately, President Roosevelt would not acknowledge the accomplishments of Owens, but late than ever, Owens was recognized for his achievements by President Carter.
Joshua Marroquin
Jesse Owens is an amazing athlete, and he is an inspiration to many people worldwide including my high-school friend. Through his entire life he had to face obstacles and other issues, but even with these complex situations that he was put in, he pulled ahead and accomplished his goal, which everyone thought was impossible. Even though people doubted him, he went straight forward into the fire and came out on top and for that he has three gold medals to show for it.
Paula Ferradas Hiraoka
This is the first time that I read about Jesse Owens and his achievements and I think it’s a proof that with effort and dedication we can succeed in life. This article is also a good way to introduce the American culture to international students. It’s sad that he faced racism in his own country and wasn’t recognized years later of that big event. Very inspirational and make us remember that we should persevere and be determined of what we want.
Gabriel Gonzalez
When imagining the mental fortitude and discipline it took for Jesse Owens to not only train and enter the Olympics; Winning Gold entirely must have been a mental battle all on its own. The article deeply dives into the atmosphere of the race. When talking about the context and events happening outside the race helps show how winning for Jesse was more than just passion for his sport.
Madeline Bloom
This article caught my attention with the creative title. I never really heard of Jessie Owens until now. It was a pleasure to read this great article. In his career he was facing a great amount of adversity with racism. He proved to his home country that skin color does not matter with winning four gold medals in the Olympics. To the average person, Jessie Owens inspired many people and athletes around the world.
Elliot Avigael
Imagine the courage it took for Jesse Owens to compete at the Berlin Games. He was in the lion’s den; black man in a sea of Nazis who would never take him seriously for the color of his skin, and to top that off, the most evil man in the world was there to judge him. And that’s already besides the fact that he was already a target of vicious racism back in America, the very country he was representing.
It must have been a huge blow to Hitler’s ego to see that Jesse Owens exceeded all expectations. I’ll never forget the picture of Jesse Owens with his hand over his heart, honoring his country, while his fellow German competitors and the crowd around him are all throwing up the Nazi salute. It is testament to the fact that Owens’ determination trumped all else, and that not even racism would hold him back from achieving what he wanted.
It’s shameful to see that there are American athletes or Olympians today that refuse to stand for the national anthem, or even go out of their way to insult the very country they’re representing for the sake of of making a political statement. Jesse carried himself with courage and grace, and that proved to be a huge blow to those that hated him.
Jake Faryniarz
This article is very interesting about Jesse Owens and the obstacles he had to go through during the Olympics in Germany. He showed that skin color didn’t matter when determining the outcome of a competition. He had to fight through racism in his home country, America and while at the Olympics as well. He showed the world by winning 4 gold medals that year in different events. This was a very inspiring article and takes one step forward to allowing more African American athletes to play sports.
Nicolas Llosa
The most important message I take from this article is perseverance and dedication. Jesse Owens is the perfect example of someone that doesn’t stop until he reaches his goal. At that time, discrimination was strongly present in America and Germany. Adolf Hitler was an extremely racist man. He wrote Mein Kampf, in which he highlighted three main goals as chancellor of Germany. One of them was to unite all german people and at the same time eradicate Judaism. These goals clearly show that Adolf Hitler thought Aryan people were the only “acceptable” race. The way Jesse Owens participated in the Olympics while facing discrimination shows how strong he was. Even though he was able to compete, every time he won, he wasn’t greeted by Hitler, just because he was African American. There were many obstacles like this that certainly influenced Jesse Owens, and made the journey hard for him. This article shows the strong mentality and perseverance Jesse Owens had in order to keep going and don’t give up on his dreams of winning in the Olympics.
Daniel Gimena
It has been a pleasure to read about Jesse Owen: one of the most important American and worldwide athletes.
It is really ironic that in one of the most racist times of human history, a Black African athlete was the best athlete in the world at that time. Despite the racism of Adolf Hitler, who claimed that white people (particularly German people with blue eyes and blond hair) were a superior race, one single black man showed the world that anyone who works hard and has enough talent, can win in any discipline, no matter if he is black, white or asiatic.
Jesse Owens has always inspired me as both an athlete and a person. Like the author explains, he reached the “throne” of Athletics despite the difficulties he had to face because of his skin color.
With his hard work, faith in himself and love for what he was doing he became an inspiration for black (and white) people of his time and became the best Athlete for centuries until, ironically another black athlete (Usain Bolt), accomplished the same and broke his records.
Marcus Saldana
Jesse Owens is my second favorite athlete ever. That day in Germany he proved to everyone that skin color does not matter. Its sad that he was facing racism in his own home county. He was not even acknowledge for his achievements in Germany winning four gold metals. At the end of the day no one can take those gold metals away from him. Very inspirational article and well written over a legendary icon.