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Each February Black History Month is celebrated with events all over America. Many important figures will be remembered, including a great athlete who lived in both segregation and post segregation eras....

Jesse Owens: American Hero

By Noel Agnew

The legend of Jesse Owens is well-known. Here is the man who shattered Hitler’s Ayrian propaganda by not only competing in front of the Fuhrer at the 1936 Berlin Olympics, but walking away with four gold medals around his neck. The story is told that after an Owens triumph, Hitler refused to acknowledge the achievement and stormed out of the stadium in disgust. Even if the story is accurate, more interesting than the treatment of Owens by the Germans is the discrimination he suffered in his own country.

Owens, born on September 12th, 1913 in Oakville, Alabama, was sent to the cotton fields to work at the age of just seven. At nine his family moved to Cleveland, where he picked up the name ‘Jessie’ - a teacher misunderstood his southern accent when he said his name was ‘JC’ (for James Cleveland). An average academic performer but by far the most athletic of his peers at school and college, Owens won 42 consecutive events including three Olympic trials. In August 1936 he set of with the rest of the US team for the Games in Berlin.

The stadium in the German capital was awash with swastikas. Brown-shirted Storm Troopers marched in step, and Hitler watched menacingly from his lofty box. It seemed no place for an African-American grandson of a slave, but Owens performed almost superhuman feats to take gold in the 100 meters, 200 meters, long jump, and 4x100 meter relay. In truth Owens had captivated the crowd, who came to enthusiastically chant his name: “Yes-say Ov-ens!” Another scene to bemuse Hitler was the sight of Luz Long, the tall, blonde, blue-eyed German, embracing his rival and offering advice after Owens had fouled a jump. The 100,000 in attendance roared their approval.

Owens may well have been seen by the Nazi regime as “non-human” as one minister put it, but he was always made aware that his race mattered in his homeland too. Despite acclaim heaped upon him and a ticker-tape parade held in his honor, 1930’s America was a divided society. Some years later, Owens explained, “I came back to my native country and I couldn’t ride in the front of the bus….I wasn’t invited to shake hands with Hitler, but I wasn’t invited to the White House to shake hands with the President either.” When a reception was given in recognition of his achievements at the Waldorf Astoria, he had to take the freight elevator.

A true American hero, a Black hero, Owens was finally recognized by his country with a Medal of Freedom in 1976. It was only eight years after the Supreme Court declared all forms of segregation unconstitutional.  He died four years later, but the legend of this humble and dignified man lives on, the celebration of his name tinged with the shame of the country he represented with such pride.

Website: http://www.history.com/minisites/blackhistory/