The Great Depression

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Cut wages, growing unemployment, poverty, and suffering were unforgettable

experiences during the Great Depression of the thirties. Many people learned

to face these hard times with the help of famous sports figures. They gave

hope and to many people pride in what they stood for to them.

One of these great sports figures who helped Americans was boxer Joe

Louis. In 1936 he fought the world champion Max Schmeling and had his first

lose. Max Schmeling was a German boxer and the Nazis equated his victory over

Joe Louis as a Nazi superiority over American democracy. Once again the two

boxers, Joe Louis and Max Schmeling, fought in 1938 and this time Joe Louis

won in the first round. This was an enormous lift for Americans. It was a

victory for democracy. Joe Louis was also an inspiration to the African

American people. He was a famous African American boxer and had beaten a

German boxer who was as Hitler believed the perfect race. This gave the

African Americans self-respect and pride in who they were. “ African

Americans pointed with pride to athletes like Joe Louis, who was the world

heavyweight boxing champion.” (Cayton, Perry, Winkler, 764 ) Louis also went

on to become a hero for the war effort and gave inspirational speeches.

Jesse Owens great accomplishments on the track field made him one of the

most famous in history. While on the Ohio State University track team in 1935

he set a world record in the broad jump (26 feet 8 1/4 ). In 1936 he set a

new world record in the 100m. dash,(10.2 sec.). In 1936 as a member of the

U.S. track team at the Olympic games in Berlin, Jesse Owens won four gold

medals and set more new world records. This is an important moral buster to

the American people, white and black, because once again it showed Nazis were

not a superior race. An African American man had won four gold medals. This

was humiliating and angered Adolf Hitler . “ His paramont victory at the 1936

Olympic Games in Berlin was made even more memorable when Adolf Hitler

refused to award Owens his four gold medals because he was black.” (

Encyclopedia 97 ) This was as much a victory for the American people as for

Owens. It was especially important to the African Americans because it was an

acknowledgement of his Olympic victories because he was black.

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