Cut wages, growing unemployment, poverty, and suffering were unforgettable
experiences during the Great Depression of the thirties. Many people learned
to face these hard times with the help of famous sports figures. They gave
hope and to many people pride in what they stood for to them.
One of these great sports figures who helped Americans was boxer Joe
Louis. In 1936 he fought the world champion Max Schmeling and had his first
lose. Max Schmeling was a German boxer and the Nazis equated his victory over
Joe Louis as a Nazi superiority over American democracy. Once again the two
boxers, Joe Louis and Max Schmeling, fought in 1938 and this time Joe Louis
won in the first round. This was an enormous lift for Americans. It was a
victory for democracy. Joe Louis was also an inspiration to the African
American people. He was a famous African American boxer and had beaten a
German boxer who was as Hitler believed the perfect race. This gave the
African Americans self-respect and pride in who they were. " African
Americans pointed with pride to athletes like Joe Louis, who was the world
heavyweight boxing champion." (Cayton, Perry, Winkler, 764 ) Louis also went
on to become a hero for the war effort and gave inspirational speeches.
Jesse Owens great accomplishments on the track field made him one of the
most famous in history. While on the Ohio State University track team in 1935
he set a world record in the broad jump (26 feet 8 1/4 ). In 1936 he set a
new world record in the 100m. dash,(10.2 sec.). In 1936 as a member of the
U.S. track team at the Olympic games in Berlin, Jesse Owens won four gold
medals and set more new world records. This is an important moral buster to
the American people, white and black, because once again it showed Nazis were
not a superior race. An African American man had won four gold medals. This
was humiliating and...