Nicknamed the “World’s Fastest Human,” Jesse Owens grew up in a poor farming community. A sickly child, he went on to become one of history’s most talented track athletes. The first man to win four gold medals in a single Olympics, Owens set six World Records and discredited Nazi leader Adolph Hitler’s racist beliefs by showing his superior athletic skills at the 1936 Berlin Olympic Games. From his childhood in Alabama through his death in Arizona, this book follows the spectacular life of this incredible athlete.
Before Usain Bolt or Tyson Gay, Bob Beamon or Carl Lewis, Jesse Owens was perhaps the greatest and most famous athlete in track and field history. Jesse Owens was born on a farm to a large family with many siblings. His grandparents had been slaves, and his sharecropper parents were poor. But against all odds, Jesse went on to become one of the greatest athletes in history. He learned to run with such grace that people said he was a "floating wonder." After setting multiple world records as a college athlete, including three in less than an hour—"the greatest 45 minutes in sport"—Owens competed in the 1936 Olympics in Berlin. Adolf Hitler intended for the games to display Aryan superiority, but Jesse disrupted that plan. He became the first American track-and-field athlete to receive four Olympic gold medals and established his legacy as a hero in the face of prejudice. This child friendly entry in David A. Adler's well-known series contains an accessible mix of biography, facts, and history supported with lifelike illustrations. Back matter includes an author's note and a timeline. For almost thirty years, David Adler’s Picture Book Biography series has profiled famous people who changed the world. Colorful, kid-friendly illustrations combine with Adler’s “expert mixtures of facts and personality” (Booklist) to introduce young readers to history through compelling biographies of presidents, heroes, inventors, explorers, and adventurers. These books are ideal for first and second graders interested in history or who need reliable sources for school book reports.
Both Jesse Owens and Adolf Hitler grew up in poverty, and each of the two men struggled to find their footing later in life. Owens represented the United States in the 1936 Olympics, after which he found it difficult to sustain a well-paying job. In turn, Adolf Hitler moved to Vienna as a teenager, following his parents' death, but he never found the financial success he so desperately craved as an artist. He spent most of his time in the city a penniless, unemployed young man.The similarities between the two men end there. While Adolf Hitler became angered and enraged by his circumstances, and by the fate of Germany following the First World War, Jesse Owens went out of his way to help people. Even when he faced the cruelty of racism in the United States, Owens saw the best in others. He spent most of his days working with children and teenagers, making a conscious effort to give them the guidance and support they needed to enact positive change in the world. In contrast, Hitler turned to hatred, divisiveness, and conflict in his attempts to change the world in his image.Owens was an open-minded man who spent his life bettering the lives of his family and the community at large. Even when others asked him to denounce the racist tendencies of Adolf Hitler, he chose to grudgingly respect the German leader. Meanwhile, Hitler's experiences only fuelled his hatred of anyone who was not Aryan and German. In this book, we will explore the lives of both men leading up to the 1936 Berlin Olympics. Then, we will take a closer look at the effects of that summer on the rest of their years. 30 Minute Book Series Welcome to the ninth book in the 30-Minute Book Series. Each book in the series is fast-paced, well-written and accurate, covering the story in as much detail as a short book allows. In less than an hour, you can read or listen to the full book. The text is a perfect companion for your lunch hour, or perhaps a nice distraction on your train ride home from work. About the Author Doug West is a retired engineer, small business owner, and an experienced non-fiction writer with several books to his credit. His writing interests are general, with special expertise in science, biographies, and "How-To" topics. Doug has a Ph.D. in General Engineering from Oklahoma State University.
Civil rights icon, Ambassador Andrew Young and his daughter, Paula Young Shelton, deliver a powerful oral history about a special day in Andrew’s childhood that changed him forever. This story of race relations in the 1930s South is illustrated by bestselling Caldecott Honor winner Gordon C. James. As a boy, Andrew Young learned a vital lesson from his parents when a local chapter of the Nazi party instigated racial unrest in their hometown of New Orleans in the 1930s. While Hitler's teachings promoted White supremacy, Andrew's father, told him that when dealing with the sickness of racism, "Don't get mad, get smart." To drive home this idea, Andrew Young Senior took his family to the local movie house to see a newsreel of track star Jesse Owens racing toward Olympic gold, showing the world that the best way to promote equality is to focus on the finish line. The teaching of his parents, and Jesse Owens' example, would be the guiding principles that shaped Andrew's beliefs in nonviolence and built his foundation as a civil rights leader and advisor to Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. The story is vividly recalled by Paula Young Shelton, Andrew's daughter.
In this “must-read for anyone concerned with race, sports, and politics in America” (William C. Rhoden, New York Times bestselling author), the inspirational and largely unknown true story of the eighteen African American athletes who competed in the 1936 Berlin Olympic Games, defying the racism of both Nazi Germany and the Jim Crow South. Set against the turbulent backdrop of a segregated United States, sixteen Black men and two Black women are torn between boycotting the Olympic Games in Nazi Germany or participating. If they go, they would represent a country that considered them second-class citizens and would compete amid a strong undercurrent of Aryan superiority that considered them inferior. Yet, if they stayed, would they ever have a chance to prove them wrong on a global stage? Five athletes, full of discipline and heart, guide you through this harrowing and inspiring journey. There’s a young and feisty Tidye Pickett from Chicago, whose lithe speed makes her the first African American woman to compete in the Olympic Games; a quiet Louise Stokes from Malden, Massachusetts, who breaks records across the Northeast with humble beginnings training on railroad tracks. We find Mack Robinson in Pasadena, California, setting an example for his younger brother, Jackie Robinson; and the unlikely competitor Archie Williams, a lanky book-smart teen in Oakland takes home a gold medal. Then there’s Ralph Metcalfe, born in Atlanta and raised in Chicago, who becomes the wise and fierce big brother of the group. From burning crosses set on the Robinsons’s lawn to a Pennsylvania small town on fire with praise and parades when the athletes return from Berlin, Olympic Pride, American Prejudice has “done the world a favor by bringing into the sunlight the unknown story of eighteen black Olympians who should never be forgotten. This book is both beautiful and wrenching, and essential to understanding the rich history of African American athletes” (Kevin Merida, editor-in-chief of ESPN’s The Undefeated).
A remarkable self-portrait of the black man who carried this country to greatness in the 1936 Olympics. More than a retelling of the athletic triumphs and the personal tragedy of his life, Jesse is a remarkable spiritual pilgrimage.
This New York Times–bestselling author’s account of the 1936 Olympics in Berlin offers a “vivid portrait not just of Owens but of ’30s Germany and America” (Sports Illustrated). At the 1936 Olympics, against a backdrop of swastikas and goose-stepping storm troopers, an African American son of sharecroppers won a staggering four gold medals, single-handedly falsifying Hitler’s myth of Aryan supremacy. The story of Jesse Owens at the Berlin games is that of an athletic performance that transcends sports. It is also the intimate and complex tale of one remarkable man’s courage. Drawing on unprecedented access to the Owens family, previously unpublished interviews, and archival research, Jeremy Schaap transports us to Germany and tells the dramatic tale of Owens and his fellow athletes at the contest dubbed the Nazi Olympics. With incisive reporting and rich storytelling, Schaap reveals what really happened over those tense, exhilarating weeks in a “snappy and dramatic” work of sports history (Publishers Weekly). “A remarkable job of tackling a complex subject and bringing it to life.” —John Feinstein “Add[s] even more luster to the indelibly heroic achievements of Jesse Owens.” —Ken Burns
