By Eyal

Main idea

Jesse Owens won 4 gold medals at the 1936 Olympic Games in Berlin and became known as the fastest man alive at that time.

Background information

Jesse Owens lived when Jim Crow laws existed. This meant that white people got better treatment, access to pools, restaurants, stores, schools. They also got better pay than Black people. Jesse Owens was the 13th child in his family and he grew up poor on a farm. He got sick a lot when he was young and there were no doctors or nurses nearby. At that time it was thought that Black people were two-thirds of a human and they were not as smart and weaker than other races.

Fun facts

Jesse was best at 100-meter dash and 220-dash.

Jesse went to Ohio for College. Jesse fell down some stairs and hurt his back. He still set three world records at a track meet. Jesse did this in less than 4 hours!

Character Traits

Jesse is brave. Everybody thought blue eyes and blond hair was the best and nobody believed he could win. Jesse shattered all of those thoughts, he never gave up.

Jesse is talented. He went to the Olympics and won 4 gold medals!

Jesse is fast. He was the fastest man in the world. Ever since he was little he loved to run.

Relevance into today

One question I would ask Jesse Owens: Do you think you can beat Usian Bolt?

Jesse Owens was an inspiration to a lot of people. He showed that Black people were able to do more than what other people had thought for so long.