What Jesse Owens’s Story Tells Us About Sports and Politics

January 10, 2018
(2 min.)
Has lesson plan

NFL players have been derided for injecting politics into the country’s favorite sport. But, when convenient, America has also celebrated black athletes for acting as political emissaries.

For teachers
  • Producer: Matthew Spolar
Related Videos
Lessons from the 1976 Republican Convention: Why Ronald Reagan Lost the Nomination|
Get history in your inbox
Sign up for Retro Report’s news and education newsletters.
Sign up
Lessons from the 1924 Democratic Convention: An Immigration Debate’s Impact
Lessons From the 1964 Republican Convention: Declaring War on the Establishment
Beyond the Battlefield: Double V and Black Americans’ Fight for Equality
Ida B. Wells and the Long Crusade to Outlaw Lynching
Fights Over American Democracy Reach Back to the Founding Era
Why the Supreme Court Endorsed, Then Limited Affirmative Action
In the Long Fight to Protect Native American Families, a Law Stands Guard
Why Are Schools Still Segregated? The Broken Promise of Brown v. Board of Education
How a 1968 Student Protest Fueled a Chicano Rights Movement

For Educators

Subjects
Ethnic Studies U.S. History
Topics
Black History Race and Racism U.S. Presidents World War II
Introduction

This short documentary video explores the intersection of sports, politics and race through the story of Jesse Owens, an African American track and field athlete who defied racial barriers and competed in the 1936 summer Olympic Games in Berlin.

Background reading
▼

The 1936 summer Olympics took place in Nazi Germany, where Adolf Hitler was perpetrating the first stages of what would become the Holocaust. Hitler and the Nazi Party hoped to showcase the superiority of their Aryan athletes. But Jesse Owens, an African American track and field star, quickly disproved Nazi racial ideology of Aryan supremacy by winning four Olympic gold medals. Owens’s success in Berlin led to international acclaim, but at home, Owens continued to face discrimination because of his race.

The story of Jackie Robinson, Tommie Smith and John Carlos, and more recently Colin Kaepernick, offer a lens through which to explore the complex relationships between sports, civil rights, and broader social and political change.

Sports and the ongoing fight for equal rights is well documented. This short film can launch further investigation into historical or contemporary examples of athletes who used their platform to raise awareness and effect change. Some examples are Muhammad Ali and Vietnam War protests, the Black power salute of Tommie Smith and John Carlos, the equal pay campaigns spearheaded by tennis star Billie Jean King in the 1970s and more recently by the United States Women’s National Soccer Team.

Lesson Plan 1: What Jesse Owens’s Story Tells Us About Sports and Politics – Mini Lesson
What Jesse Owens’s Story Tells Us About Sports and Politics
Overview
▼

Students will discuss the impact of Jesse Owens’s achievements on the perceptions of race on the national and international stages.

Objectives
▼

Students will:

  • Examine the role of sports as a platform for challenging racial discrimination.
  • Discuss the impact of Owens’s achievements on the perceptions of race on the national and international stages.
Essential questions
▼
  • In what ways do sports serve as a platform for addressing issues of racial or gender equality?
  • How were Owens’s achievements recognized on the international level, compared to his reception in the United States?
Additional resources
▼
Standards
▼

College, Career, and Civic Life (C3) Framework for Social Studies

  • D2.His.14.6-8: Analyze multiple factors that influenced the perspectives of people during different historical eras.
  • D2.His.1.6-8: Identify the differences between historical facts and historical interpretations.