New to Collection – “Race: the Incredible True Story of Gold Medal Legend, Jesse Owens”

If you are suffering from Olympic withdrawal now that the Rio Olympic games are in the history books, check out MVCC Library’s collection for materials that might be of interest.

This past August was the 80^th anniversary of Jesse Owens winning Olympic gold at the 1936 Summer Olympics in Berlin, Germany. “Germany made broadcast history by being the first to televise a sports event–the 1936 Olympic Games held in Berlin. The quality was poor and live transmissions could only be seen in special viewing booths in Berlin and Potsdam. But the Nazi regime took the opportunity to showcase its considerable radio broadcasting capabilities at the 1936 Olympics and focus the world’s attention on Germany. Ironically, in doing so, they helped bring international attention to African-American track star Jesse Owens who won four gold medals in track and field (100 meters, 200 meters, long jump and the 4x 100-meter relay)” (Fischer 3).

New to our collection is the DVD true story of Jesse Owens titled Race. Starring Stephan James as Owens and Jason Sudekis as Owens’ coach, it depicts his rise to fame as an Olympic track runner in the 1936 Berlin Olympics. Striking are the scenes in which the racial climate of Adolf Hitler’s Germany is depicted, especially when Hitler did not want to meet Owens after winning his race(s). “Eighty years later, Jesse Owens is still remembered, not only as an Olympic hero but for destroying Adolf Hitler’s myth of racial purity” (Fischer 3).

So if you are a fan of Usain Bolt and enjoyed watching his Olympic races in Rio, check out this movie to learn about one of his most famous predecessors.

Race can be found here in our collection and for a limited time in the Library’s main floor lounge area. A nice companion to this movie is the book Nazi games : the Olympics of 1936 by David Clay Large, found here in our collection.

Fischer, Audrey. “Olympic Games: Broadcasts of the Olympic Games Bring the Event to Life for Millions of Viewers and Leave a Record Behind for Posterity.” Library of Congress Magazine July/August 2016: 3. PDF. 24 August 2016.