Jesse Owens

BlackFacts Details

Jesse Owens

Born: 9/12/1913 Oakville, Alabama

Died: 3/31/1980 Tucson, Arizona

Jesse Owens, the son of sharecroppers and grandson of slaves, was the first person to win four gold medals in track and field in a modern Olympic Games. In the 1936 Berlin Olympics, Owens won gold in the 100-meter dash, the 200-meter dash, and the long jump. Then, his relay team won the 400-meter relay. Jesse Owens was an Olympic superstar and is considered one of the best athletes of the 20th century.

Business / Schooling:

Ohio State University

Awards / Achievements:

The Jesse Owens Award is USA Track and Field's highest accolade for the year's best track and field athlete. Owens was ranked by ESPN as the sixth greatest North American athlete of the twentieth century and the highest-ranked in his sport

Source: Blackfacts.com

John "Long John" Woodruff: First Black Gold Medalist in 1936 Berlin Summer Olympics

Woodruff was a 21-year-old college freshman, an unsophisticated and, at 6 feet 3 inches (1.91 m), an ungainly

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Source: Black Then

Sonny Liston was a notable twentieth century African-American boxer. He was known for his punching power and intimidating appearance in the boxing ring. Liston earned the World Heavyweight Championship in 1962 when he knocked out his opponent Floyd

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Source: Black History Resources

Emmett Till was an African American boy, who was murdered by two white men at the age of 14. His murder was one of the driving forces of the Civil Rights Movement. Till was born on July 25, 1941 to Mamie and Louis Till in Chicago, Illinois. He was nicknamed “Bobo” as a child and was

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Source: Black History Resources

Jul

25

1941

Coleman, Bessie (1892–1926)

In 1921, Bessie Coleman became the first black woman to gain an international permit to fly. After learning French, she attended the famous flight school Ecole d’Aviation des Frères Caudron in Northern France. No schools in America would train a black person. She was inspired to fly by the stories

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Source: Black Past

Metcalfe, Ralph Harold (1910-1978)

Ralph Metcalfe, was an outstanding U.S. sprinter, track coach, and politican born in Atlanta, Georgia and raised in Chicago, Illinois. During Metcalfe’s years as a student at Marquette University in Milwaukee, Wisconsin from 1932 through 1934, he was arguably the world’s fastest human. His strong

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Source: Black Past

Meek, Carrie (1926- )

Carrie Meek was born on April 29, 1926, in Tallahassee, Florida. Her parents were sharecroppers and her childhood neighborhood was racially segregated. Meek attended and graduated from Florida A&M University. Graduate schools in Florida were still segregated at this time so she was forced to

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Source: Black Past

Following the collapse of Reconstruction, African Americans created a broad-based independent political movement in the South: Black

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Source: ThoughtCo

Elijah Muhammad

Elijah Muhammad was an African American religious leader of the Nation of Islam, a religious movement based on the principles of Islam, focused specifically on black Muslims. His birth name was Elijah Robert Poole and he was the seventh of thirteen children born to William and Mariah Poole. His

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Source: Black History Resources

Feb

25

1975

Africa: South Africa Prepares to Protect Groundwater From Coronavirus Mass Graves

Authorities are trying to ensure a surge in deaths doesn't lead to unplanned mass burials that could contaminate water supplies

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Source: allAfrica.com

Carl Lewis is a retired American track and field athlete who is famous for his exceptional Olympic record. Lewis is also the current indoor long jump world record holder; a record which he has held since

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Source: Black History Resources

Jul

1

1961

Ruth Simmons: First Black President of an Ivy League Institution

Ruth Simmons: First Black President of an Ivy League Institution

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Source: Black Then

(1963) Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel, "Religion and Race"

On January 14, 1963, Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel gave the speech “Religion and Race,” at a conference of the same name that assembled in Chicago, Illinois. There he met Dr. Martin Luther King and the two became friends. Rabbi Heschel marched with Dr. King at Selma, Alabama in

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Source: Black Past

Jan

14

1963

Leroy Robert Paige (better known as Satchel Paige) was an American baseball player who played for the Negro Leagues as well as MLB (Major League Baseball) teams. He was born on July 7, 1906 in Alabama, the 7th of 12 children in his family. His actual date of birth has been a point of contention but

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Source: Black History Resources

Jun

8

1982

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Source: ThoughtCo

The Trillion Dollar African American Consumer Market: Economic Empowerment or Economic Dependency?

Collective African American net income (spending power) now exceeds $1 trillion dollars annually. Because of this economic reality, a wide variety of contemporary companies continually create marketing campaigns to effectively reach this important segment of the U.S. consumer market. Yet, in the

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Source: Black Past

Lorraine Hansberry - African-American Playwright

Lorraine Hansberry is best known for writing A Raisin in the Sun, the first play by an African American woman produced on

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Source: ThoughtCo

GoFundMe stops campaign sponsored by Candace Owens after George Floyd comments

Candace Owens (Photo by Moses Robinson/Getty Images for

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Source: theGrio

What's Going On | New York Carib News

Spring 2020 will also be remembered for the police killing of another Black Minneapolis man George Lloyd which launched a culture of protest throughout the

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Source: The New York Carib News

Walker, Alice, 1944–, African-American novelist and poet, b. Eatonon, Ga. The daughter of sharecroppers, she studied at Spelman College (1961–63) and Sarah Lawrence College (B.A., 1965). She brings her travel experience in Africa and memories of the American civil-rights movement to an

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Source: Fact Monster - Black History

Flowers, Vonetta (1973- )

The first person of African descent, male or female, to wina gold medal at the Winter Olympics was Vonetta Flowers when she won gold inthe womens bobsled event in 2002 at SaltLake

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Source: Black Past

Robinson, Jack (Jackie) Roosevelt (1919–1972)

When Jackie Robinson took the field on April 15, 1947 wearing a Brooklyn Dodgers uniform, he became the first African American in over fifty years to play on a major league baseball team. In the process, he broke through baseball’s color line that had relegated African American players to the

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Source: Black Past

Sports Icons And Influencers Come Together To Support The Jesse Owens Foundation

NFL athlete and humanitarian Victor Cruz, New York Giants’ Brandon Marshall and Olympian Herbert P. Douglas Jr. celebrate Serena Williams and posthumously honor Muhammad Ali at the 2017 Jesse Owens Awards Gala

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Source: Savoy Network

Tanner Chapel AME Church (1887- )

Tanner Chapel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Phoenix is the oldest African American Church in the State of Arizona. Tanner Chapel was founded by African American settlers who came to Arizona Territory to escape racism, oppression, and violence in the post-Reconstruction South. They also

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Source: Black Past

Dec

15

2010

Mali: Thousands of Malian Refugees Flee Burkina Faso Camps After Attacks

When Abdoulaye fled violence in Mali in 2012, he crossed the border to a refugee camp in then-peaceful Burkina

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Source: allAfrica.com

Ida Stephens Owens--Biochemist

Born: September 26, 1929

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Source: Blackfacts.com

Sep

26

1929

Owens, Jesse, 1913–80, U.S. track star, b. Alabama. He was also called John Cleveland Owens, although his original name was said to be simply J. C. Owens. After his family moved to Cleveland he excelled at track and field events in high school. He won the broad-jump titles at the outdoor

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Source: Fact Monster - Black History

Matthew Henson - Birthday

Henson was born on August 8, 1866 on a farm in Nanjemoy, Maryland, to sharecroppers who had been free people of color before the American Civil War.

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Source: Black Inventors

Aug

8

1866

John Lee Hooker

A distinguished musician in the transformative years of the 1950s and 1960s, John Lee Hooker effortlessly left an indelible mark on the culture of Blues music. Born a son of a sharecropper from Mississippi, United States, in August, 1917, Hooker rose to have a prominent influence in the

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Source: Black History Resources

Name at birth: Riley B. King

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Source: Fact Monster - Black History

For Black People, Plant Parenthood Is Deeper Than Instagram

Connecting with our ancestors by returning to African agrarian practices and bringing plants native to our ancestral homelands into our environment is healing for Black people in a world that often denies us access to greenery, frivolity, healthy food options, and full access to our

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Source: https://zora.medium.com

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