Way Black History Fact - The Friendship of Jessie Owens and Luz Long

Published Dec 14, 2024, 2:01 PM

Our Way Black History Fact covers the story behind the friendship of Jessie Owens and Luz Long after they competed in front of Adolf Hitler in the 1936 Olympics.

Right now, it's time for the Way Black History Fact. In Today's Way Black History Fact is sponsored by Major Threads for innovative fashionable sportswear. Check Major threads dot com and Today's Way Black History Fact comes from two history dot com. You might like this one. James Cleveland or j C. Owens was born on September twelfth, nineteen thirteen, in Oakville, Alabama. He ended up being called fun fact. He said his name was jac and his teacher heard Jesse, so that's why I ended up going by Jesse Owens. Wow. His real name is James Cleveland, so Jesse Owens. His parents were sharecroppers. They had ten children. Jesse was the youngest. Jesse Owens went on to win four gold medals in the nineteen thirty six Berlin Olympics, including the long jump competition, where he defeated German Carl Luz Long. Jesse Owens did not fit the Nazi ideology of superiority of the Aryan master race because of his color. Hitler refused to personally congratulate Jesse after wins, and neither did US President Franklin D. Roosevelt. Jesse had fouled twice while attempting to qualify for the long jump event. He had only one attempt left. Louse shared a technique with Jesse that helped him to qualify on his last jump. Louise was the first to congratulate him on his gold medal. After the awards ceremony, Jesse and Louise walked arm in arm through the Berlin Olympic Stadium. Louise Long was sternly spoken to by Nazi Party officials after his time spent with Jesse. Jesse and LuSE corresponded for years after that. Jesse would say of his Olympic friendship with Louse, it took a lot of courage for him to befriend me in front of Hitler. You can melt down all the medals and cups I have and they wouldn't be a plating for the twenty four carret friendship that I felt for Louse Long at that moment. Louise's last letter to Jesse in nineteen forty two or forty three, probably written from North Africa or Loose, was in the German Wormoch. Wormock spoke to the friendship they had. I am here, Jesse, where it seems there is only the dry sand and the wet blood. I do not fear so much for myself, my friend Jesse. I fear from my woman who is home, and my young son, Carl, who has never really known his father. Long wrote my heart tells me, if I be honest with you, that this is the last letter I shall ever write. If it is so, I asked you something. It is something so very important to me. It is you go to Germany when this war is done. Someday find my Karl and tell him about his father. Tell him, Jesse, what times were like when we were not separated by war, I am saying, tell him how things can be between men on this earth. If you do this something for me, this thing that I need the most to know, will be done. I do something for you now. I tell you something I know you want to hear. And it's true that hour in Berlin, when I first spoke to you, when you had your knee upon the ground, I knew that you were in prayer. Then. I not know how I know now I do. I know it's never by chance to we come together. I come to you that hour nineteen thirty six for purpose more than der Berlner olympiad and you I believe will read this letter. While it should not be possible to reach you ever, for purpose more even than our friendship. I believe this shall come about because I think that now that God will make it come about. This is what I have to tell you, Jesse. I think I might believe in God, and I pray to Him that even while it should not be possible for this to reach you ever, these words I write will still be read by you. Your brother Luz Carl LUs Long was wounded in Sicily on July tenth, nineteen forty three, during the Allied invasion of Sicily, Operation Huskily Husky. He died on July fourteenth in a British military hospital there. In nineteen fifty one, Jesse Owens returned to Germany and was able to find Luc's son Karl. They would stay in contact, and when Kai Carl got married, Jesse was the best man. Jesse Owens died on March thirty first, nineteen eighty and Tucson, Arizona. I thought that was a really pretty story. Wow,