Wonder Teller
Cover of Jesse Owens: Four Gold Medals
BiographyPicture bookLevel 5Ages 6–8

Jesse Owens: Four Gold Medals

English · 31 pages · 1,702 words · 14 min read

For ages 6–8: J.C. Owens grows up in Alabama and Cleveland, where a coach, his family, and years of practice help him become Jesse, a record-setting runner. He faces segregation at Ohio State, wins four gold medals at the 1936 Berlin Olympics in spite of Nazi Germany's racist lies, and returns to unfair treatment at home before spending his life helping young people.

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The opening of Jesse Owens: Four Gold Medals, free to read.

  1. Illustration from page 2 of Jesse Owens: Four Gold Medals

    At eighteen, Jesse Owens tried for a place on the United States Olympic team. The Olympic Games bring athletes from many countries together. At the tryouts, Jesse lost all three of his events. He would not go to the Games that summer. He returned to East Tech High School for one more year—and kept running.

  2. Illustration from page 3 of Jesse Owens: Four Gold Medals

    Years before that loss, Jesse’s family called him J.C. He was born in Alabama to Henry and Emma Owens. They were sharecroppers: they farmed someone else’s land for a share of the crop. The family had little money, and J.C. had many older brothers and sisters.

  3. Illustration from page 4 of Jesse Owens: Four Gold Medals

    J.C.’s older sister Lillie moved to Cleveland, Ohio. She wrote home about factory jobs there, and the family followed when J.C. was about nine. They joined many Black families moving from the South to northern and western cities for new chances. That movement became known as the Great Migration.

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