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Jesse Owens was a great African American role model. He showed determination, perseverance and much more. All through out his life he experience racism and segregation. Also during his childhood him and his family where very poor. All of this caused many problems. Even through all of this, Jesse showed a fighting spirit.James Cleveland Owens was born on September 12, 1913 in Alabama. His family was very lower class. Jesse Owens was there seventh child, his parents needed to find a way to support there children. So they moved to Ohio Cleveland. His parent moved there hoping to find a better job. Since there family was very poor, Jesse had to go to public school. Jesse original name was James, but because of his southern accent, it sounded like Jesse so everyone called him Jesse. It was in public school were he got this nickname. It was also in public school were he started track. He later went to Cleveland east technical h.s. he set many records there and it was known he was going to be a star. One of the records he broke was the 100-yard dash with a time of 9.4 seconds. He also broke the 200-yard dash record.After achieving many great accomplishments in h.s., he then went to Ohio State. Since Jesse was black, he could not live on campus. People would always shout racial slurs at him. When the team ate out, he could only eat in the black restaurants. When the team traveled, he could only sleep in black only restaurants. In addition, because Jesse was black he was not given a scholarship. Jesse continued to show determination and stayed on the team.On may 25 1935 Jesse Owens broke three world records. The first record he tied was his own record. This was the 100-yard dash with the same time of 9.4 seconds. The record braking event was the broad jump. The record was 26ft 2 1/2 in, Jesse jumped for a distance of 26ft 8 1/2 in. in doing this Jesse broke another world record. The next record Jesse broke was the 220-yard dash. He ran for 20.3 seconds this was the second record he broke, in this one day. The last and final event was the 220-yard hurdle he also broke this record with a time of 22.6 seconds he set four records in that one day.In 1936, Jesse decided to join the Hitler Olympics. Jesse Owens was victorious in the 100-meter, the 200 meter, 400-meter relay and the broad jump. He set a record in almost all of these events. Even more rewarding then that he be came the first American to win four gold medals in a single event. Hitler left so that he would not have to shake Jesse Owens hand. Even throughout all of this Jesse, family was still poor. Since he was black no one would endorse him, but somehow they still got by. At the age of 66 Jesse died. Jesse died of lung cancer.