TABLE OF CONTENTS CHAPTER 1 Jim Crow and Adolf Hitler 4 CHAPTER 2 The Buckeye Bullet 8 CHAPTER 3 Going for Gold 12 CHAPTER 4 An Unlikely Friendship 18 CHAPTER 5 Walk and Talk 22 THINK ABOUT IT 30 LEARN MORE 31 GLOSSARY 32 INDEX 32
chapter 1 Jim Crow and Adolf Hitler The ancient Olympic Games began in 776 bce For hundreds of years many of the main events were track and field sports Sprints long jumps and the marathon are examples of track and field sports Track and field competitions like those at the ancient Olympics are still part of the modern games Today we gather around our televisions and computers to watch the Olympics Track stars such as Usain Bolt and Mo Farah amaze us with record-breaking speed But more than 75 years ago a man named Jesse Owens ran the races of his life at the 1936 Olympics The 1930s were a time of difficulty for American people The Great Depression had left most Americans poor and jobless Severe drought made farming almost impossible Many banks 4 21st century skills library
Jobless Americans were forced to stand in line for basic items like bread and milk during the Great Depression closed and some people lost what little money they had Americans had to stand in free-food lines to feed their families President Franklin D Roosevelt promised to help Americans recover with his New Deal programs He planned to create many new jobs Life was even more challenging for African Americans Segregation and racism limited their rights and made it hard for them to get jobs Local and state laws known as Jim Crow laws meant that black Americans had separate schools bathrooms and even water fountains Business owners did not 5 Sports Unite Us Photo Caption
