Biography of Jesse Owens

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You have probably never felt what it is like to wear four beautiful, Olympic, gold medals around your neck. But a man by the name of Jesse Owens has. He was an African-American track and field star who lived in the 1900’s and felt the sensation of winning too many times to count. Jesse Owen’s life was filled with childhood poverty, along with constant segregation and discrimination, and yet he managed to entertain and prove to the world his outstanding capabilities in track and field can come from any person, no matter how different they are.
Jesse Owens’s childhood began in Oakville, Alabama on September 12, 1913 (source 3). He lived with his father, Henry Cleveland Owens, mother, Emma Alexander Owens, and six siblings (source 2). When Jesse was a young boy, he was constantly fighting off pneumonia and chronic bronchial congestion which made him very vulnerable to diseases and sicknesses (source 3). Yet with many mouths to feed, everyone had to contribute. Due to their African-American race, the family did not get well-paid jobs. So at age seven, Jesse was forced to work in the fields, picking around one hundred pounds of cotton a day to get food on their table (source 3). Even with this hard childhood, Jesse Owens managed to get a decent education.
Mr. Owens’s future career was discovered in 1928 at Fairmount Jr. High School in Cleveland (source 6). Jesse participated in track and field events and had miraculous results. Jesse Owens set the Jr. High School’s records in the high jump – flying over 6 feet, and in the broad jump – bounding 22 feet 11 ¾ inches (source 2). With this skill, his coaches encouraged him to join track and field in high school.
In high school Mr. Owens competed in a competition called the Ohi...

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... hard work throughout his whole life. Most famously known for showing how you can achieve things even during times of hardship, for example segregation and discrimination. His will to live up to what he was capable of, is enough to be satisfied for and we should all be more like Jesse Owens for this reason.

Works Cited

"1936 Olympics - Inside Scoop!." 1936 Olympics - Inside Scoop!. N.p., n.d. Web. 25 Apr. 2014. .
Bio.com. A&E Networks Television, n.d. Web. 25 Apr. 2014. http://www.biography.com/#!/people/jesse-owens-9431142>.
"Biography." JesseOwens.com. N.p., n.d. Web. 25 Apr. 2014. .
"Jesse Owens Biography." Biography Online. N.p., n.d. Web. 25 Apr. 2014. .
"Owens, Jesse." World Book N, O, 14. 2007 ed. 2007. Print.

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