Inside IWitness: "1936 Olympics: Competing and Inspiring"

Inside IWitness is an ongoing series that will profile each activity in IWitness, along with a clip featured in the activity and a teacher who uses IWitness in his or her classroom.

In the Video Activity 1936 Olympic Athletes: Competing and Inspiring students will examine the issue of civil rights and the presence of racism in society through the lens of the 1936 Berlin Olympics and construct a video project that illustrates the prominence of racism in both the United States and Europe during this period.

Students will be introduced to the civil rights abuses under Hitler during this period, as well as the personal story of black American Olympian track star Jesse Owens, whose civil rights were also curtailed at this time – in the United States.

The activity includes clips of Agnes Adachi, a Jewish survivor who remembers Jesse Owens and other athletes at the 1936 Olympics in Berlin. Margaret Lambert, a Jewish survivor, recalls her experience as an athlete in Germany before and during the 1936 Olympics. Margaret is at first allowed to compete in the 1936 Olympics and then later removed from the German team.