What did you learn about his status afterward?

Was he in London here?

Crickets…

And how were minorities in the Netherlands treated in the years after Owens’ victory?

He “pumped gas” for, what, a few months to a year. Only a few years after “pumping gas” he was working a prestigious high-visibility role at maybe the most famous company in the world. Imagine if you were given an extremely high paid role at Google and you were pushed forward to speak on television?

Yeah, there was definitely no racism in Europe during the 20th century, my bad.

Crickets..

Crickets..

How about we start with this gem?

the US was far behind still than that though

And if you want to talk about 1955, that was the year Owens was invited to the White House to meet with the President of the United States who not only bestowed upon Owens a sui generis ambassadorship but also called for Owens to represent the United States at the 1956 Summer Olympic games.

How many African Americans were called to meet with the POTUS in 1955? Probably just one. Jesse Owens.

Yes, I know.

Which makes this photo all the more remarkable — even moreso when you realize that on the day this photo was taken he was given a quarter million dollars in today’s money.

Anecdotal?

So you don’t believe that New Zealand’s pervasive racism was that bad? When it led to thousands of children dying from preventable diseases during the 20th century?

From 1925 to 1961, 73 percent of all Māori deaths in Pukekohe were infants and children who succumbed to a host of preventable conditions tied to poor housing and malnutrition. Measles, diphtheria, whooping cough and tuberculosis were the main culprits. In 1938 alone, 30 deaths were recorded; 29 were infants and children aged 14 and under.

https://www.auckland.ac.nz/en/news/2021/07/01/opinion-robert-bartholomew-segregation-in-Auckland.html

New Zealand secondary schools do an excellent job of teaching about civil rights in the US and South Africa, but are reluctant to address similar issues in our own backyard. I know. For ten years I taught NCEA Level One History and, like most of my colleagues, I taught about civil rights in the US and South Africa.

There has never been a better time to correct this situation, with the new history curriculum being phased in next year. While it is important to be knowledgeable on global topics, it should not be at the cost of local history. It is time that the history New Zealand schools teach reflects Māori history.

One event that has been neglected is the apartheid-like racial segregation in a number of places, including South Auckland. It is a powerful story that reminds us of just how recent and profound discrimination against Māori was.

From 1925 to 1961, 73 percent of all Māori deaths in Pukekohe were infants and children who succumbed to a host of preventable conditions tied to poor housing and malnutrition. Measles, diphtheria, whooping cough and tuberculosis were the main culprits. In 1938 alone, 30 deaths were recorded; 29 were infants and children aged 14 and under.

In Pukekohe, there was an unwritten rule not to rent to Māori, forcing them to live at the market gardens on the outskirts of town in converted manure sheds, dilapidated shacks, lean-tos, and tents with no running water or indoor plumbing. Robert Bartholomew Author, ‘We Don’t Serve Māori Here’

I’m also curious what New Zealand did to stop the horrible policy of “shoot first ask questions later” happening next door in Australia toward the Aboriginal people 1860-1960. Nothing.

It sounds like you still have a lot to learn about the history of your own country.

Yeah. Sure.

https://www.auckland.ac.nz/en/news/2021/07/01/opinion-robert-bartholomew-segregation-in-Auckland.html

From 1925 to 1962, Māori in the South Auckland town of Pukekohe endured racism on a pervasive scale. For example, most barbers refused to cut Māori hair, they were segregated at the cinema and most bars would not serve them alcohol. In the 1950s, the exceptional barber who would cut Māori hair had a special Māori-only chair for fear of offending Pākehā customers.

In an interview with University of Auckland researcher Lesley Smith for a 1985 thesis, one Māori elder said: “Even if there was six of us waiting and no one in the Pākehā chairs and the other barber doing nothing, we still had to wait our turn for the Māori chair.” *

In the late 1950s, one establishment forced Māori women to sit in a field while alcohol was carried to them. Māori were often relegated to the back of the bus, and if the route from Pukekohe to Auckland was full and a Pākehā passenger boarded, the Māori passenger was forced to stand. At one point, milk bars banned Māori altogether.

A 1937 government report noted that not a single business in town let Māori use their public toilets – a practice that persisted into the early 1950s. From 1945 to 1952, the local school had segregated bathrooms and swimming pools.

Remind me, how was the minority population in New Zealand treated during the years after the Nazi Olympics? They were treated as 1st class citizens, correct?

And how were New Zealanders and Australians treating Maori and Aboriginal people during the 1930s, 1940s, and 1950s?

So:

1. He was treated as a second class citizen

2. In the same year Rosa Parks was arrested, Owens was invited to the White House by POTUS, receiving an ambassadorship and traveling around the world representing the USA

Got it.

What are you talking about?

So he isn’t being celebrated in this photo?

How is that any different from describing any athlete ever?

All else equal, Jesse Owens could barely read or write.. At OSU, he never finished his degree. He wasn’t a good salesman because “whenever a pretty girl walled past the store he ran down the street after her.” Source. His life wasn’t tragic. He chose the exhibition circuit because he was only willing to accept sources of income befitting his status as an eternally popular Olympic champion yet, as stated, he could barely read or write.

Just read Owens’ wikipedia page and judge for yourself.

Try to put things into how things are today. For example, in 1942 Owens was working a high-profile highly respected and powerful position at Ford Motors. Ford is like today’s Google or Amazon.

What got my attention was in the above photo you see Owens walking in an incredible suit. Surely, it’s Italian, tailored. Today, that’s literally one of the most expensive suits in one of the most expensive stores in Manhattan. That’s, I don’t know, a $10,000 suit. And look at the faces of the people around him. How in awe they seem. And he’s having his picture taken like a celebrity. Because he was a celebrity.

And then I read below the statement “By all accounts, he didn’t get treated so well when back in the US.”

And I’m thinking — something’s not right here. Everything about this photo is in opposition to that statement.

So I just looked up Owens’ wikipedia page and came to my own conclusions.

All I’m saying is Owens lived one of the greatest lives ever lived by any American in the country’s history. His life exemplifies the American dream. You disagree?

I’m sorry? Am I not allowed to compare the events of my life with the events of other people’s lives who have come before me?

Also, Nelson Mandela was a very different person than was Jesse Owens. Mandela would not exactly have been caught talking about scholarships.

However, I sense some hidden agenda behind your comments and i don’t really want to find out what it is.

Was he being forced to do so? No.

Please, just read the wikipedia entry.

OK. Where are all these stories about how Jesse Owens was treated poorly for what — the rest of his life? He lived until 1980, and the very first sentence of his wiki page states he was “recognized in his lifetime as perhaps the greatest and most famous athlete in track and field history.” Look at how well he’s dressed in the above photo; look at the faces of onlookers just seemingly amazed by his presence. Also, understand in that moment there was a professional photographer taking his picture. How many such photographers were there that day in the entire country taking photos of someone in the street/subway? What — 2, maybe 3? And Owens was one?

How is that being treated poorly? The entire country , everyone even little kids knew about Owens’ performance at the Nazi Germany Olympics. He was admired by millions upon millions. How is it the “reddit consensus” that he was somehow treated poorly for the rest of his life? I do not buy it.

Consider for a second: His white high school coach Charles Riley took him under his wing. A white admissions committee accepted his enrollment to Ohio State University. In 1931/32. I wasn’t even accepted for enrollment to my state’s largest public university. While, of course, most of the US was still segregated, he was given the opportunity to compete with whites on such a level playing field — without behind-the-scenes machinations — that his country sent him to the Olympics.

How easy would it have been for a few people to have completely blocked Owens from achieving the great heights he reached? So many could have, yet so few — if any — did.

In 1960 Owens was in attendance at the Rome Summer Olympics when his long jump record was finally beat by American Ralph Boston. I’ve never attended a summer Olympics track and field event, or any Olympics ever. Much less attended an Olympics as 25-year World Record holder and honored guest. As a revered presence. How is that being treated badly?

After Owens returned from the Nazi Olympics, he was greeted by the NYC mayor and a parade in NYC was held in his honor. During the festivities someone randomly hands him a bag with $10,000 equivalent today of a quarter million dollars. How is that being treated badly.

Regarding Roosevelt, what nobody mentions is Owens was a supporter of Roosevelt’s staunch enemy, a republican named Alf Landon. But Roosevelt was simply racist, huh?

It was simply short-sighted of Owens to try and obtain lucrative offers of endorsements, etc. This was literally the 1930s, of course he would be stripped of his amateur status with this move. Owens argued that he faced racial discrimination during his college years by not being eligible for scholarships so he had to work — I wasn’t eligible for scholarships. I’m not claiming racial discrimination.

Owens is reported to have had to subsequently work menial jobs, but in 1937 he was touring with a twelve piece jazz band earning money on a contract. How sick would that have been!!! And he left it, saying “Meh.” During this time the literal presidential campaigns were courting him for his endorsement. Has that ever happened to you?

In the early 40’s Owens worked a high profile job at one of the most famous American companies at the time — Ford Motors in Detroit. A few years later he moved to Chicago, one of the greatest cities in the world, and opened a public relations agency shortly after attempting to start his own baseball league. How many of you are going to try to start your own national league? How many of you would have been content with your own well-known public relations firm in downtown Chicago?

Owens was a big spender. He blew through tons of cash. In 1955 he was appointed Goodwill Ambassador by Eisenhower, continuing such goodwill tours for much of the following two decades. In 1965 he was hired by the Mets. How is that being treated poorly?

Owens wasn’t treated poorly by the US — he was made a millionaire in today’s money many times over, he was respected by presidents, taught about in schools, given opportunities most of us today could never dream of, he was never judged badly even when successfully prosecuted for tax evasion in 1966 he was seemingly immediately forgiven by his countrymen, and he lived a legendary life.

He wasn’t treated poorly by the United States. That’s a bald lie if I’ve ever heard one.

You are ignoring the part where, upon Owens’ return to the US in 1936, he was greeted by the Mayor of New York, a parade was held in his honor, and he received a bag containing what in today’s money would be a quarter million dollars.

Would you need to find work at a job earning $15/hour in 2025 if tomorrow someone gave you $250,000? Let’s get real.

Also, in 1937 Owens was offered a spot in a twelve piece jazz band that was sponsored and under contract. That is literally every kid’s dream who ever picks up a musical instrument, be in a band that gets signed. Owens walked away from it. Also, during this time, he was literally being courted by US presidential candidates.

How would it make you feel if you woke up tomorrow and saw three missed calls from Kamala Harris?

Let’s just think about this for a second.