The summer games in 1936 were a turning point for equal rights, and the stand against discrimination. The Summer Olympics in Berlin in 1936, a little before World War Two was a very influential span of athletic events; These games showed that countries can stand up to Hitler, that the first African American could compete. During the time of the summer games Adolf Hitler was just about to show his wrathe to the whole Western Hemisphere. Hitler had plans to eliminate all of the Jewish race; even with Hitler on his mission the tension was high between rival countries. Hitler was said for this before the Olympics "The German people are not a warlike nation. It is a soldierly one, which means it does not want a war, but does not fear it. It loves peace but also loves its honor and freedom."() Before the Olympic trials many countries decided to boycott the Olympics. The United States played a huge role in this, the U.S didn't send a whole Olympic team to Berlin due to some of the athletes not wanting to compete infront of such a corrupt man. Other Movements to boycott the 1936 Berlin Olympics surfaced in , Great Britain, France, Sweden, Czechoslovakia, and the Netherlands. The United States had several Jewish organization, and most of these …show more content…
Jesse Owens was a black male born in Alabama. Owens decided to go to Ohio State University and ran track while attending. In 1936 between August 3 and 9 the Afro-American athlete won four gold medals, one each for the 100-meter dash, the long jump, the 200-meter dash, and the 400-meter relay. Many people think that Jesse Owens winning four gold metals as an African Amercican almost humiliated Hitler, people say he looked wrong because he told his whole country that the aryan race was superior to any other race. "If you win you need not to explain but if you lose you should not be there to explain" this was hitters mindset towards the men and women that failed him during the