Jesse Owens and the 1936 Olympics Race 2016 Jesse Owens and the 1936 Olympics

Race Race is the story of Jesse Owens, One of the greatest Track stars in American History, and his experiences at the Nazi Germany Olympics of 1936.

Jesse Owens James Cleveland Owens, 1913-1980 Born in Alabama, but his family decided to leave during the “Great Migration” and moved to Cleveland, Ohio in 1922. He was a great runner, but always had to work after school to help his family, so he ran in the morning before school, starting in Junior High.

Jesse Owens In High School he matched the world record for the 100-yard dash (9.4 seconds) Setting a high school record at the national track meet in 1933. He also set new high school records for the 220 and the long jump at that meet in Chicago.

Jesse Owens He went to Ohio State University, even though he didn’t get a scholarship, so he could stay close to his family. He had to work to support himself and his wife and daughter while going to school and running track. He worked a bunch of different jobs before landing a coveted spot as page in the Ohio State house.

BIG TEN Jesse and his OSU team mates, Dave Albritton and Mel Walker Jesse at the Alpha Phi Alpha fraternity chapter at OSU

1935 Jesse was part of the first integrated track program in the US. Coach Larry Snyder- OSU 1932-1965 Jesse was part of the first integrated track program in the US. He was a major star at the big ten conference in 1935., where he set three records and matched another in 45 minutes.

Ralph Metcalfe and Frank Wykoff 1936 Olympics He qualified for the 1936 US Olympic Track team, with Dave Albritton, Mack Robinson*, Marty Glickman and Sam stoller, among others. Marty Glickman and Sam Stoller were pulled from the 4x 100 m relay at the last minute because they were Jewish and replaced with Ralph Metcalfe and Jesse Owens. Mack Robinson was Jackie Robinson’s older brother. He got a silver in the 200

1936 Olympics The whole Olympics were controversial because they were in Berlin, Sponsored by Nazi Germany. Germany had been under the rule of Adolph Hitler for 3 years, and he wanted the Olympics to be an opportunity for him to show off the ways he had made Germany Great Again and his ideas about Aryan Racial superiority and Anti-Semitism. Germany had been chosen in 1931, well before the Nazis had taken the government over. Hitler and his beliefs had clouded the international opinion about the Olympics being in Germany and many countries had threatened to boycott because of Hitler’s attitude towards Jews and blacks. (He didn’t want Either group to have representatives at the games)

1936 Olympics Hitler was very focused on keeping records of all of his accomplishments. He hired a cinematographer to make “documentaries” of his political rallies and the Olympics. Her name was Leni Riefenstahl. She believed that her work was important and rejected criticism about the nature of her work.

Other important characters in the film- Avery Brundage- President of the Int. Olympic Committee Joseph Goebbels- Minister Of Propaganda

Other important characters in the film- Judge Jeremiah Mahoney- head of efforts to boycott Olympics Dave Albritton, teammate

Jesse Owens Jesse met his future wife, Minnie Ruth, when they were in Junior High. He was 15 and she was 13. They had their first daughter, Gloria, in 1932 and married in 1935. They were together until his death from lung cancer in 1980.

Jesse and Ruth