Adolf Hitler, chancellor of Germany in the 1930s and 1940s, believed that Black people were inferior. He thought they were savages and had less intellectual power than white people.
So when a super-fast runner named Jesse Owens proved him wrong and won four gold medals at the 1936 Berlin Olympics, Hitler and his Nazi followers were infuriated. He said Blacks should be banned from the games because they were primitive.
Despite all the struggles Jesse Owens had with other people because of his skin color, he wrote in his autobiography,
“The battles that count aren’t the ones for gold medals. The struggles within yourself — the invisible, inevitable battles inside all of us — that’s where it’s at.”
Now it’s your turn: Choose from one of the following options.
-What are the invisible battles you struggle with? Choose one and write about it.
-Has someone told you that you are inferior in some way? How did you react? How do you wish you had reacted? What can you do the next time someone speaks negatively about you?
-In China in the 1800-1900s, missionaries were often called White Devils. In Korea during the Korean War, many babies of Korean women and American soldiers were killed in an effort to keep the Korean race pure. In England during the age of exploration, Black people were often viewed as savages, not quite as human as Caucasians. Misperceptions like these abound still today. What can people do to fix these inaccuracies due to race or skin color?
A version of this prompt was first posted on SchoolhouseTeachers.com. You can go directly to SchoolhouseTeachers.com to sign up and take advantage of many exciting courses written by experts in their fields.
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This article by me in The Old Schoolhouse magazine is also loaded with links to other helpful posts that will give you and your writers some welcome relief.
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