Impacted Race Relations and Civil Rights
Jesse Owens was a race pioneer, as his Olympic victories were read in papers all over the country, and as a result, helped shift the ideas of Southerners who tended to be underestimate black achievements. Later in his life, in 1976, Jesse was awarded the highest honor a citizen of the United States can receive. President Gerald R. Ford awarded him the Medal of Freedom. Jesse Owens overcame discrimination and racism to prove to the world the African Americans should be reconsidered in the world of athletics.