Jesse Owens

Dan Snow's History Hit

History Hit

History

4.7 • 12.9K Ratings

🗓️ 15 September 2024

⏱️ 30 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Jesse Owens' victories at the 1936 Berlin Olympics made him an international sports hero, and a symbol of the civil rights movement. His friendship with the German long jumper Carl 'Luz' Long also stood as an outward act of defiance against Adolf Hitler, and fuelled condemnation of the racial ideology of the Third Reich. However, his life away from the Olympics is less widely understood, as are the challenges that he faced back in the United States.

Today we're joined by David Lee Morgan Jr., a sportswriter and author of the children's book series 'Black Trailblazers in Sports'. Dan and David outline the context of Owens' storied Olympic wins and ask why a man received as a hero abroad was treated like a second-class citizen at home.

Produced by James Hickmann and edited by Dougal Patmore.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	Imagine sweeping through green fields, floating five feet above ground, sun on your face as you
0:08.3	slide by on track to your
0:15.0	there,
0:20.0	the care in the world as you simply lean back. And before you know it, you're there.
0:21.0	This is how travels should feel and on our trains it does.
0:25.0	Avanti West Coast feel good travel.
0:29.0	Hi folks, this episode is brought to you by the British Red Cross.
0:35.4	There's no other humanitarian movement in the world like the Red Cross and Red Crescent.
0:40.4	I'd heard of them but there's definitely a lot that I didn't know too.
0:44.3	For example, they've got teams in 191 countries across the globe, including the UK.
0:50.1	They're responding to emergencies as they happen and helping communities recover in the aftermath,
0:55.3	no matter how long it takes.
0:57.2	The Red Cross and Red Crescent do things like helping refugees get access to essential aid.
1:03.6	Obviously, this is a huge undertaking.
1:05.9	It's all made possible thanks to each volunteer,
1:08.3	fundraiser, and supporter who are all part of their incredible movement,
1:12.1	working to be there for people in crisis.
1:15.0	Together with you, they are the world's emergency responders.
1:19.0	To help the British Red Cross be here for humanity and to support the vital work they do, search British Red Cross.
1:27.0	Hi everybody, welcome to Dan Snow's history.
1:29.0	We're talking about one of the greatest Olympians of all time, Jesse Owens. In 1936 at the Berlin Summer Olympics in front of Adolf Hitler,
1:40.7	who decided to host the Olympics because you wanted to project the image of Nazi German
	...

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