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James Cleveland Owens was born in Oakville,
Alabama on September 12, 1913. He was the seventh of ten
children born to Henry and Emma Owens. James' family worked as
sharecroppers on an Alabama farm and by the time he was seven he was
expected to pick 100 pounds of cotton a day. James was afflicted with
chronic bronchitis as a child and also suffered several bouts of
pneumonia during the winter months. The family was too poor to afford
doctors and hospitals so James had to recover on his own.
When he was nine years old his parents
moved to Cleveland, Ohio in search of work and James entered the
public school system. On his first day at the new school one of
his teachers asked him for his name and he replied J.C. The teacher
misunderstood his Alabama drawl and thought he said Jesse. Jesse was
his name from that day forward.
Jesse excelled at track and field in
both Junior High School and High School. He set Junior High world
records in the high jump and the broad jump.
In High School , Jesse won every major
track event and the state championship three years in a row. During
Jesse's senior year at the National Interscholastic Meet,
he set the world record for high schools, running the 220 yard dash in
only 20.7 seconds.
Jesse enrolled at Ohio State University
in 1933. Although he was one of the university's star athletes, he
still had to put up with racial prejudice and intolerance. Jessie and
the other black athletes were required to ride to the meets in
separate vehicles from the white athletes. They were forced to live
off (the all white) campus and when traveling had to stay in Blacks
Only hotels and eat in Blacks Only restaurants.
In 1935 while participating in a Big
Ten track meet, Jesse set three new world records in the Broad
Jump, the 220 Yard Dash, and the 220 Yard
Low Hurdles.
The 1936 Olympics were held in Nazi
Germany and Hitler intended the events to be a showcase for his
Superior Aryan Athletes. The black athletes from the United States
were ridiculed and called non-humans by Nazi officials.
Jesse won his first event, The 100
Meter Dash on July 3. Another African American, Ralph Metcalfe placed
second. In spite of all the Nazi propaganda, the German crowds loved
Jesse and cheered him whenever he appeared. The next day Jesse won the
Long Jump with an Olympic record jump of twenty-six
feet, five and one half inches.
On August 5, Jesse set another Olympic
record, winning the 200 Meter Dash in 20.7 seconds.
Jesse and Ralf Metcalfe also were a part of the 400 Meter Relay
team that won the gold medal and set another world record time.
Jesse left Ohio State in his senior
year. He worked at odd jobs and raced professionally to provide a
living for his family. He even raced against horses and dogs at
carnival shows.
In the 1940s Jesse began earning money
as a public speaker and he opened a public relations firm in the
1950s.
In 1976 Jesse was awarded the Medal
of Freedom by President Ford and in 1990 President Bush
posthumously awarded him The Congressional Medal of Honor.
Jesse Owens died of Lung Cancer on
March 31, 1980 in Tucson,
Arizona.
Sources:
Encyclopedia
Africana
Encyclopedia
Britannica
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