black history month: jesse owens

​Jesse Owens was an American track and field athlete. He specialized in the sprints and the long jump and was recognized in his lifetime as "perhaps the greatest and most famous athlete in track and field history.” At the 1936 Summer Olympics in Berlin, Germany, Owens achieved international fame by winning four gold medals in the 100 meters, 200 meters, long jump, and 4 x 100 relay. He was the most successful athlete at the Olympics and, as an African-American man, was credited with "single-handedly crushing Hitler's myth of Aryan supremacy."

---