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-Henrique Adri-Luca Terada
-Pedro de Paula Eduardo
-Renata Rouhana
-Sophia Pazos
Jesse Owens
Being known as the man who destroyed Adolf Hitler’s intentions to use the 1936 Olympics, situated in Berlin, as a demonstration for aryan superiority; it is easy to say that Jesse Owens, American track-and-field athlete, can be seen as a national hero and a great asset to the movement for racial equality.
CHILDHOOD
Very little has been gathered about Jesse’s childhood before moving to Ohio; all that is known is that he used to help his family picking cotton. He was born in Oakville, Alabama, on September 12, 1913, but when he was 8 years old his family decided to move to Ohio to look for job opportunities in order to improve their lifestyle. There, Owens studied at a public school, where his teacher, by mistake, wrote his name as “Jesse” instead of James Cleveland, and people started calling him by that. When Jesse was in fifth grade, his talent started to be noticed, and soon after his athletic supervisor asked him to take part in the track team.
ADULTHOOD and ACCOMPLISHMENTS
Before he started to compete for the US, Owens entered in Ohio State University. As he was an exceptional athlete, Jesse began to represent the school, and, on May 25, 1935, he participated in the Western Conference of track-and-field in the University of Michigan. Owens’s participation was completely perfect, by matching the world record for the 100-yard dash, and breaking three other ones, like the 220-yard dash, the 220-yard low dash and the long jump.
Jesse Owens achieved his greatest moment of fame and glory at the 1936 Olympics, when he reached the memorable mark of 4 gold medals. Unfortunately, after the end of the Olympics in Berlin, he was struck down by poverty. Attempting to earn his living, he worked as a gas station attendant, was a playground janitor and even ran against horses for money. Around the 50s, he tried to use his fame to his advantage, earning money by making paid appearances at public events.
In 1980, Jesse Owens died at the age of 66 from lung cancer caused by his heavy smoking; being a huge loss to his wife Minnie Ruth Solomon, whom he married in 1935, and his three children Beverley Owens, Gloria Owens and Marlene Owens. After his death, in honor of his great performance at the 1936 Olympics, a street in the city of Berlin was renamed after him. The US government also presented the deceased athlete with the congressional gold medal.
CONCLUSION
The phrase: “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.” said by Jesse Owens can really tell how this amazing athlete led his life even after its many difficulties and the racial discrimination he had to face. Owens proved with his hard work and effort that people can't define your worth based on the color of your skin, defeating Adolf Hitler’s plan to use the olympics as proof of arian superiority and always voicing his issues about the way black people are treated in the US and all over the world.
