#14 Jesse Owens
#14
United States of America land of the free and home of the brave. A place where in the 20th century life was suppose to be the best of the best. Yet African americans were well known to get the bad end of the stick when it came to being successful in this country. Even though some were the symbol of success when a ‘colored’ broke the barrier in a white sport. It was the Jewish Americans who did a lot and yet were not allowed to participate in certain sports and considered unathletic and worthless. On the other end of the spectrum Latino Americans were consider illegal immigrants who just came over for lower waged jobs that Americans didn’t want. These three groups fought hard to prove their own and yet they still were never consider equal among white Americans. I’m arguing that during the 20th century in the United States, Jewish Americans, African Americans, and Latinos/Mexican Americans used professional and club sports to lift aspirations of their people and inspire the masses to overcome social discrimination.
African Americans faced a brutal hardship of not being able to prove themselves during the 1930-70s. Once described as being only good for picking cotton and being slaves. Blacks had come a long way through times. The Negro League which produced some of the greatest black baseball players ever. Hank Aaron, Ernie Banks, Cool Papa Bell, and finally Jackie Robinson. These black baseball players set the bar high for black athletes across the country and world. #42 for the Brooklyn Dodgers did more for the black community than he ever thought was possible. Jackie’s “grandfather was raised in slavery” and he understood that, thats not what he wanted to do for his entire life. During his lavish career, the fans fell in love with him because they kept winning, but couldn’t get a house to live in. “But when he(Jackie Robinson) was in California, whites refused to sell him a house in their community. They loved his talent, but they didn’t want him for a
United States of America land of the free and home of the brave. A place where in the 20th century life was suppose to be the best of the best. Yet African americans were well known to get the bad end of the stick when it came to being successful in this country. Even though some were the symbol of success when a ‘colored’ broke the barrier in a white sport. It was the Jewish Americans who did a lot and yet were not allowed to participate in certain sports and considered unathletic and worthless. On the other end of the spectrum Latino Americans were consider illegal immigrants who just came over for lower waged jobs that Americans didn’t want. These three groups fought hard to prove their own and yet they still were never consider equal among white Americans. I’m arguing that during the 20th century in the United States, Jewish Americans, African Americans, and Latinos/Mexican Americans used professional and club sports to lift aspirations of their people and inspire the masses to overcome social discrimination.
African Americans faced a brutal hardship of not being able to prove themselves during the 1930-70s. Once described as being only good for picking cotton and being slaves. Blacks had come a long way through times. The Negro League which produced some of the greatest black baseball players ever. Hank Aaron, Ernie Banks, Cool Papa Bell, and finally Jackie Robinson. These black baseball players set the bar high for black athletes across the country and world. #42 for the Brooklyn Dodgers did more for the black community than he ever thought was possible. Jackie’s “grandfather was raised in slavery” and he understood that, thats not what he wanted to do for his entire life. During his lavish career, the fans fell in love with him because they kept winning, but couldn’t get a house to live in. “But when he(Jackie Robinson) was in California, whites refused to sell him a house in their community. They loved his talent, but they didn’t want him for a