ANNOUNCER: And the Games are on. Here in the semifinal heat of the 100-meter dash Movietone's
camera catches the blinding speed of Jesse Owens cracking the world record in the incredible
time of ten and two-tenth seconds.
MARTY GLICKMAN: The myth of Nazi Aryan supremacy was smashed to smithereens by the great non-Aryan
athletes. Black athletes won the 100, the 200, the 400, the 800, the long jump, the
high jump. It certain proved that this Aryan business of supremacy was ridiculous. These
were non-Aryans winning the most important events.
JEREMY SCHAAP: Seeing Jesse Owens, it was almost impossible not to cheer for him, because
what you were witnessing was as close to perfection as you or anyone else would ever see. If Jesse
Owens had gone to the Games of the 11th Olympiad in 1936 in Berlin and had just won his 4 gold
medals in those four events, the 100 meter, the 200 meters, the 4x100 meter relay and
the broad jump, it would have been one of the most spectacular achievements in the history
of sports and certainly in the history of the Olympic Games. To have done so as an African-American,
in Hitler's capital, at a time when the Third Reich was ascendant, makes what he did, I
think, arguably the most impressive feat in the history of sports. The Nazis weren't stupid.
People labor under this misimpression that the African-Americans, the eight of them on
the U.S. Olympic track and field team, were winning, that that was somehow this incredible
insult to the Third Reich. No one was surprised when John Woodruff and Jesse Owens and Ralph
Metcalfe and Cornelius Johnson and Dave Albritton and Archie Williams and Jimmy LuValle ended
up dominating the competition. They had been running times and jumping distances that could
have convinced even a layman of their superiority. That was apparent to everyone.
[music]
JOHN WOODRUFF: You’re up on the stand, and they’re playing "The Star-Spangled Banner"
for all the Americans. Then they had young girls that came over and the girls presented
the medal. It kind of does something to you. We came to New York and they had a big parade
for us. But I can’t recall, after winning the Olympics, that it opened any particular
doors. Now I’m sure many of the white Olympians were made offers, very fine offers, but I
can’t recall any of the black Olympians making any great offers. Now Jesse did pretty
well, he got in public relations work, but he never had any really big jobs, you know.
He ran against racehorses, you may have heard of him running against a racehorse, he did
a number of things in order to try and make a living for his family. When I came back
to the University of Pittsburgh, they had the university hall of fame. They made the
hall of fame but I didn’t make it, in spite of the gold medal that I'd won and bringing
the school international recognition. So that let me know just what the situation was. Things
hadn't changed.
[music]
DR. CLAYBORNE CARSON: It’s a gradual change; it’s not something that has completely changed
even now. But I think the importance of the 1936 Olympics is that it was the starting
point for a gradual process of bringing African-Americans closer to the American mainstream. All the
way through the 30s, and 40s, and 50s, and into the 60s when you always saw these news
articles about the first black person to do this or that. It was a source of pride and
it was a source of hope because there was always going to be the second, and the third,
and the fourth, and those people would have a much easier time because the first had opened
the door.
JESSE OWENS: The competition was grand and we’re very glad to have come out on top.
Thank you very kindly.