Wait a second!
More handpicked essays just for you.
More handpicked essays just for you.
impact of racial discrimination in sport
impact of racial discrimination in sport
essay about jesse owens
Don’t take our word for it - see why 10 million students trust us with their essay needs.
Recommended: impact of racial discrimination in sport
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...
... middle of paper ...
... 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.
Sports have served as a platform on which the subject of race has been highlighted. Sports have unfailingly been considered the microcosm of society. This is because the playing fields have revealed the dominant culture’s attitudes and beliefs that people held about race relations throughout history in the United States. Many racial barriers were broken in the world of sports long before they were crossed in the realm of mainstream society as a whole. From Jackie Robinson breaking the color barrier in Major League Baseball during the year of 1947 to Tommie Smith and John Carlos raising their fists clad in black gloves during the 1968 Mexico City Summer Olympics, sports have started conversations about race in the United States that have undeniably changed the course of race relations in the United States.
Jesse Moncell Bethel was born in New York City, New York on July 8, 1922. He was born to Jesse M. Bethel and Ethel Williams. His father left the home when he was only six months old and his mother died when he was only three and a half years old. Being an orphan now, he was raised by his grandmother in Arkansas. He then moved to Oklahoma where his family sharecropped cotton and cornfields. Bethel attended elementary school while in Oklahoma and later graduated from Booker Washington High School there too. Bethel attended Tillotson College in Austin, Texas. He graduated there with a Bachelors of Science degree in chemistry. He later attended graduate school in 1944 at the University of California Berkley.
Barry Sanders was born July 16th, 1968 in Wichita, Kansas. He grew up in a family being one of eleven other children. When Barry was a kid he was considered to be too short to play football well at the college level. In fact, his 1,417 yards rushing in his senior year of high school wasn't enough to impress college recruiters. One recruiter told Barry's coach, "We don't need another midget." Only two colleges offered Barry a football scholarship. Barry accepted a scholarship from Oklahoma State University and the rest is now history.
“Life of Jesse Owens.” African American Heroes. Ed. Marshall McCoy. Detroit: Gale, 2004. U.S. History in Context. Web. 6 Feb. 2014.
Jackson worked extremely hard to get to his current position in life. He practiced non stop it seemed like. In high school, college, and throughout the pros, Jackson worked to get better at baseball, football, and track. He was able to work hard and become a star at all three. It helped that Jackson loved to be around the games, as a kid he and other neighborhood kids would play “stickball”, a form a baseball using a tree branch and a beat up tennis ball. As a teenager he would be working out or practicing constantly at his high school trying to get better (Jackson and Schaap 43).
Owens choose Ohio State University because he did not want to leave his struggling family. He worked 3 different jobs to pay his tuition. He knew what hard work was on and off the family. In 1935, at the Big Ten track and field championships Owens broke 3 world records and tied another. Jesse Owens knew what hard work and determination meant. So, he grew as a runner and was going to go the 1936 Berlin Olympics.
Cesar Chavez was born in 1927 to a farmer in Meza, Arizona. When Cesar was 10 years old, his father lost his farm and the family was forced to become migrant farm workers in California. During this time he would encounter the conditions that dedicated his life to changing: wr...
Hoberman, John M. 1997. Darwin's athletes: how sport has damaged Black America and preserved the myth of race. Boston, Mass: Houghton Mifflin Co
From a boy with no father, to a civil rights activist, Jesse Louis Jackson fought for what he believed in and never gave up. Jackson was born in Greenville, South Carolina on October 8, 1941 to Noah Robinson, a cotton grader, and Helen Burns, a hairdresser. Jesse’s birth name is Jesse Louis Burns. On December 31, 1962, he was married to Jacqueline Lavinia (Brown) Jackson. His children include: Jacqueline (September 2, 1975); Yusef (September 26, 1970); Jonathan (January 7, 1966); Jesse, Jr. (March 11, 1965); and Santita (July 16, 1963). In 1964 he received his Bachelor of Science degree in Sociology at the North Carolina Agricultural & Technical State University and soon after starts a revolution.
Jesse Jackson had a hard but ultimately successful early life. He was born on October 8, 1941 to Helen Burns and her married neighbor, Noah Robinson. Jesse was taunted as a child for being "a nobody who had no daddy” (notablebiographies.com). While Jesse was originally named Jesse Louis Burns, at age fifteen he took on the name of his stepfather, Charles Jackson, who had adopted him earlier. Jesse attended Sterling High School in South Carolina, where he “was elected president of his class, the honor society, and the student council, was named state officer of the Future Teachers of America, finished tenth in his class, and lettered in football, basketball, and baseball (Ryan, encyclopedia.com). Jesse’s athletic success in high school earned him a football scholarship to the University of Illinois, which he left South Carolina to attend in 1959. Then, during his freshmen year there, Jesse became displeased with football and the way he was treated on campus, and transferred to the “predominantly black Agricultural and Technical College of North Carolina in Greensboro and received a B.A. in sociology in 1964” (Ency...
Jesse Jackson was born Jesse Louis Burns in 1941 in Greenville, South Carolina. He was born to the parents of Helen Burns and Noah Robinson. His mother remarried two years later to a man named Charles Jackson. Jackson graduated from Sterling High School and received a football scholarship to the University of Illinois. During his first year, he became displeased with the treatment on the university grounds and on
Before Barry Sanders could become the star he was in college and in the NFL, he had to go through his childhood. On July 16, 1968, he was born. Born into a 13- person home, Barry Sanders grew up well raised by his parents. His mother was Shirley, and she was a registered nurse. His father, William, raised his kids to be hard workers. Barry and his two other brothers helped his father all the time. As a carpenter and roofer, there were many jobs around the house that William Sanders could do, and he always had his three sons help. All three sons were pressed into service as roofer assistants by their father. This improved Barry’s work ethic and attitude. Then, on Sundays, the Sanders family went to church. Although, Barry was considered a bully
John Wesley Carlos was born in Harlem, New York on June 5, 1945(Provence 1).At the age of twelve, Carlos had decided that we was going to be an Olympic swimmer. Unfortunately, he was told by his own father that it would never happen because of the color of his skin. Soon after, Carlos decided on Golden Gloves Boxing instead, but was told to quit because his mother was tired of seeing him covered in bruises. Carlos was determined to make it to the Olympics and decided that running was the way to go. From running in the poor streets of Harlem to running at the University of East Texas State, his dream was coming to life when he competed at the 1968 Olympic Games with his good friend and teammate, Tommie Smith. Carlos’ dream was coming to life when he had his chance to stand on the Olympic podium to accept his award with a large crowd cheering and watching. When Carlos’ protesting began at Zucotti Park, in New York, following the Olympic Games, Carlos had stated that, “If I don’t stand and fight for change then I’m a part of the tyranny that’s taking place. I refuse to succumb to become a second class citizen…You can’t whitewash what God has planned for me in my life” (Kohls 1). When Carlos said this he had imbedded the meaning that he will just not stand around and do nothing while people are being persecuted based on their race. Despite the effects of the 1968 black power salute. John Carlos is seen as a symbol for civil rights due to his bravery when he Stood on the podium with no shoes on, with tall black socks, with gloves on his hands and beads around his neck, and for helping found the Olympic Project for Human Rights.
Bo grew up in a town named Bessemer Alabama and was born on November 30th, 1962. For Bo, life was all about making it to college. That was so because out of the 10 children his mother, Florence Bond, had, not one had made it to college. Bo was the only child to attend college. As a child he excelled in baseball, Football, and Track, two of which he went professional in. Having been such a freak athlete Jackson earned a choice of almost any college in the country on an athletic scholarship. He knew he had a lot to choose from and could attend any college or university, but he wanted to stay within his home state so it was down to two schools, Auburn University and the University of Alabama.
Whitaker, Matthew C.. African American icons of sport: triumph, courage, and excellence. Westport, Conn.: Greenwood Press, 2008.