68. JESSE OWENS: The inevitable battle
Jesse Owens (1913-1980) was an African-American track and field athlete who became a sports legend during the Berlin Olympics in 1936. Adolf Hitler and his Nazi party had been in power for three years and the Berlin games was the perfect way to showcase the might and efficiency of Germany’s new political regime. Hitler believed that the Aryan master race (white, blonde hair, blue eyes) was superior to all other races and was looking forward to this being proved at the Berlin games. But Jesse Owens burst his bubble by winning four gold medals in the 100m, 200m, long-jump and 4x100m relay.
Although Hitler despised Owens, Germany’s star athlete and Aryan poster boy Luz Long befriended Owens and the two shared mutual respect for each other. Owens eventually beat Long in the long-jump and later said ”You can melt down all the medals and cups I have and they wouldn’t be a plating on the 24-karat friendship I felt for Luz Long. Hitler must have gone crazy watching us embrace. The sad part of the story is I never saw Long again. He was killed in World War II.”
Despite his achievements, Owens was still racially discriminated when he returned home to America. He wasn’t offered any big sponsorship deals, had to work odd jobs to support himself and was even forced to race thoroughbred horses for money.
- Watch a highlight clip of Owens kicking ass in ’36.
- Although Hitler saw Owens win the race, he wasn’t actually in the arena during the medal ceremony.
- That giant banner hanging in the stadium isn’t based on a real propaganda poster – I created it to emphasise the ‘master race’ idea.
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This is what I really needed to know, and all people need to know. Thanks.
Beats another Hitler in his bunker rant video.
“The only victory that counts is the one over yourself. But pissing off Hitler runs a close second.”
It really is an excellent sentiment, and one that I try to impart to my students as they graduate each year. Compete against no one but yourself…
‘@#@!…I shall conkwer der Vurld! Ja! Zat is vot I shall do!’ ):=(
Sensational comic – and as always – very timely. Would help is some of Leisel Jones’s critics had a look at this.
My friend just showed me this great Jesse Owens documentary that aired on Aussie TV on the weekend. You can watch it for free for the next 11 days.
http://www.sbs.com.au/ondemand/video/2260577079/Jesse-Owens
man! big fan!
thats all it is.. the battle within.
Firstly, great job with what you did. I love your work and will be ordering a few of your more science-based comics to hang up (Feynman, Sagan, Plait, Tyson) when I get moved into the classroom where I’ll be teaching.
That being said, it is one of those widely believed fallacies that Hitler hated Jesse Owens. In the first couple days, Hitler only congratulated German winners (not only Aryan, only German). When told that he should congratulate everyone, he compromised that he would congratulate no one. But he was still so impressed with Owens’ performance that Owens recounted the time walking by that “the Fuhrer extended his arm to me.” Owens recounted this, trying to make the point that even Hitler, renowned racist and hate monger, acknowledged his achievements, while, in order to just receive service or food, he was forced to use the rear entrances and service elevators in his own country.
I just realized two things wrong about what I said:
1) It was not a handshake Hitler offered, but a wave, which Owens returned
2) I am not implying Hitler did not judge Jesse Owens for being black. He made some…. distasteful remarks in private about him afterwards.
Jesse Owens: “Hitler didn’t snub me–it was [FDR] who snubbed me. The president didn’t even send me a telegram.” – quoted in Triumph, a book about the 1936 Olympics by Jeremy Schaap
Hitler was pure evil, but FDR’s racism (which is what I assume it was, can’t see any other reason) is also evil in its own way
I wouldn’t lay it all on FDR. Remember that Owens returned to an America where he couldn’t get on the front of a bus, couldn’t go to a toilet unless it was designated for Blacks, etc.
FDR probably did snub him by not congratulating him. But the laws in his time were the biggest snub in hindsight.
What a great message in an olympiad season! That’s the real spirit of any olympiad, regardless what it is about. (gymnastic, shooting, team sports, chemistry, math, etc) Thanks for inspiring us again, Gav.
The Indian Hockey Team also won a gold in the same Olympics….how come Jesse only get all the credits???
The major difference was that not only did others not give him the respect he earned, but even his home country wouldn’t recognize him.
That’s a great piece. Great job! And I like the little thunder-clouded Hitler at the end
Sad though that Owens was still so badly back in America, with or without winning.
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2011/08/13/1006601/-Who-Snubbed-Jesse-Owens-Franklin-Delano-Roosevelt-or-Adolf-Hitler
Love Hitler’s look in the last panel Gav.
Absolutely inspirational! Thanks again, Gav.
I hope nothing I said was taken wrongly.
I find this site, and this particular set of images, entirely powerful and timely!
Keep up the great work!
So do I.
I just want to state again that I liked this one, but it is not my favorite.
OT and DARK HOURS – sorry your comments went missing because I changed my server overnight so I lost a few comments.
Here they are and apologies:
“OT: I generally love your work, Gavin, but I did not like this one very much.
I do not have anything against Owen, but I think his words are a little bit hypocritical. I think anyone who competes wants to prove something to others. Otherwise, he would simply measure his running time in solitude and verify that he was faster than anyone whose records exist.”
“DARK HOURS: @OT He says “The only victory that counts is the one over yourself.”
He doesn’t say that he doesn’ t want to prove something, only that he wishes to do his best. And even if it doesn’t count, he does not condemn the feeling of pride for winning, or the accomplishment of victory. Only that there are larger things, with a more internal, mindful path.
It’s not so much hypocritical as it is easy to misinterpret.
“OT: Well, I said “a little bit”. If hypocrisy is a yes/no state, then I apologize, for I was wrong concerning Owen’s words.”
Really love all your comics, and really appreciate all the thought you put into being true to the meaning behind the quote (one of my favorites is your comic for Robert Forst’s “Road Less Taken”). That’s why this one surprised me a bit: The point of the quote is: “The only victory that counts is the one over yourself.” Then why is the last frame: Hitler defeated? That provides us a false ending, and a false satisfaction. That last frame shouldn’t matter, and shouldn’t be the reward/payoff. Hence, the frames existence through me off a bit and worked against the sincerity with which you clearly believe in Owen’s quote.
*(I meant “Road Not Taken”)
And *Robert Frost (sp). Oops! and *”threw me off a bit” (not “through”) and “frame’s” not “frames.” I shouldn’t comment when I’ve had very little sleep!
I think it’s appropiate:
http://www.london2012.com/news/articles/trip-down-memory-lane-steeplechase.html
76th anniversary of the gold medal won by Owens.
Hey, Love your posters. Beautiful art. You might like to check out this link, it’s also a webcomic by an artist named Winston Rowntree, a good read that makes you think http://www.viruscomix.com/page474.html
Whoa, tearing. (‘:
its all good but in our haste to pat ourselves on the back over Owens win in the end the over all medal count went to germany by a good spread
Hi, I like your webcomic, but as an german antifacist I have to say, that it is not the victory in oneself that counts, but the victory against fascist germany. It kind of supports racism, if a black athlete is singled out as an example to disproof the racism of the german people, which does not stand on scientific ground in the first place, and therefore does not need this kind of argumentation. It’s the reverse argument of: we prove the superiority of the white race by showing a weak, ugly Untermenschen. It is called positiv racism. Nontheless Jesse Owen has to be remembered as a brave and skillfull athlete.
Gav Please Please Please make this into a print! It’s just so inspiring!
You do know the U.S president at the time ignored, the guy that one. Adolf Hitler on the other hand gave him a standing ovation.
So in turn Nazi’s of the 30′s seemed to be no were near as raciest as Americans.
Just thought you might want to know as the punch line of the is Hitler having a huff. Would have been more like a yank having a huff.
It’s true FDR didn’t give any credit to Owens but neither did Hitler. He believed Owens had a unfair advantage because he was non-human.
According to wiki: “Hitler sent Owens a commemorative inscribed cabinet photograph of himself”. So Hitler gave more public credit than FDR.
But even if you think that they both gave him no credit, you’re basically saying that the president (of a country calling itself ‘the land of the free’) was at least equal to one of the most inhumanly evil men ever to have lived.
P.S., Dave: Your writing should be deemed torture and therefore a war crime by the UN.
That last frame is cash.
…
Oh God, I just used the slang version of “cash.”
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