Jesse Owens

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It has been said that “a picture is worth a thousand words”. Well, in this case, a picture could be worth 1,538 words. The famous picture of Jesse Owens’ starting pose at the 1936 Summer Olympic Games is a perfect example of this saying (Library of Congress). This is because this image utilizes the disciplines of history and sociology in order to illustrate the fact that many movements regarding the fair treatment of blacks, including the Civil Rights movement, which happened during the time period of which this photograph was taken. The image also represents the fast evolution of television and other forms of media. Jesse Owens was born on September 12, 1913, in Oakville, Alabama. He spent most of his young childhood on a sharecropper plantation …show more content…

According to Hitler, this type of man was perfect in everything, especially athletics. However, Jesse Owens proved Hitler wrong in the 1936 Olympics with his performance that enraged Hitler. As a result, Hitler did not hesitate to use the concepts of agenda setting and framing to order the German media to publish stories about the collapse of white, American athletes ("1936 German Olympics."). In other words, Hitler was telling the press to write about how Americans had to resort to using blacks in order to beat Germany in the Olympic …show more content…

Even though there were several small movements, most of them were dispirited or disregarded, as there was no prominent leader of such movements. It would not be until the mid to late 1950’s with Martin Luther King Jr. and his movement where he gathered enough followers and press attention in order to make any actual progress. However, seeing Jesse Owens represent the country on a national level and very much succeeding placed the idea of Civil Rights in the back of many peoples’ minds. Even though Jesse Owens was an advocate for Civil Rights, there is no evidence of his involvement in the movement. The only event that he participated in which was considered to help the movement was the granting of the Medal of Freedom which was bestowed upon him by President Gerald R. Ford in 1976, 12 years after the Civil Rights act signed into law ("How Jesse Owens Impacted the Nation (Fall 2012) - Historpedia."). This is important as he was the first African American to receive this honor. President Ford bestowed this prestigious award to Owens because “he had transcended the invisible obstacles of all things racial, to become a galvanizing, ethnic role model for an entire nation.” ("How Jesse Owens Impacted the Nation (Fall 2012) - Historpedia."). By this, Ford was speaking on behalf of the struggles that Owens had to face being a black male during the time period where Civil Rights were not

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