Jessie Owens

Jessie Owens, born James Cleveland Owens on September 12, 1913 in Alabama, was a famous track-and-field American athlete in the 1930's. One of his most defining moments came in the Summer Olympics of 1936 in Berlin, Germany, where he won 4 gold medals and set a world record for long jump (called "broad jump" at the time). It was an important historical moment because the Games were designed for Hitler to showcase his ideas on German superiority, specifically Aryan superiority, by winning as much as possible. An American, black man winning not one, not two, but four gold medals really stuck it to Hitler and struck a blow in his ideals. However, even with the politically-charged atmosphere of the 1936 Olympics and Hitler's ideals, Owen was well liked by the German public and even became a close friend of the German long jumper, Carl Ludwig Long. After retiring from running, he later became a public official and made goodwill visits to India and East Asia in the name of the U.S. Government. In 1976, he was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom. After dying in 1980, he was awarded a posthumous medal in 1990 (the Congressional Gold Medal).