Historic Figures
WITH THE NAME JESSE
The famous outlaw Jesse James was born Jesse Woodson James in Missouri to a Baptist minister. During the Civil War, James left Missouri to fight as a Confederate guerilla and once killed eight men in a single day. After the war, he returned to Missouri and became the leader of one of history's most notorious outlaw gangs. With his brother Frank James and several other ex-Confederates, including Cole Younger and his brothers, the James gang robbed their way across the Western frontier targeting banks, trains, stagecoaches, and stores from Iowa to Texas. Eluding lawmen, the gang escaped with thousands of dollars. James is believed to have carried out the first daylight bank robbery in peacetime, stealing $60,000 from a bank in Liberty, Missouri. In 1873, the gang pulled off the first successful train robbery in the American West. Despite their criminal and often violent acts, James and his partners were much adored. Journalists, eager to entertain Easterners with tales of a Wild West, exaggerated and romanticized the gang's heists, often casting James as a contemporary Robin Hood. His humanitarian acts were probably more fiction than fact. In 1876 in Northfield Missouri, all the gang members were either killed or captured after a botched bank robbery attempt. All but Jesse and his brother, that is. The James men’s wives tried to get them to take on a normal life, but with bounties on their head, they had no choice but to hide out. He eventually recruited the Ford brothers for another heist, but was double-crossed when Robert Ford, hoping to claim the $10,000 reward on Jesse, shot and killed him. Jesse James’ mother provided his epitaph: “In loving memory of my beloved son, murdered by a traitor and coward whose name is not worthy to appear here.â€
Jesse Owens (12 Sep 1913 – 31 Mar 1980) ~ Jesse Owens was an American track star and hero of the 1936 Olympic games in Berlin, Germany during a difficult time in world history (we were on the brink of WWII). His victories at the game not only buoyed the American public, but scored a moral triumph for all Black athletes. He was born James Cleveland Owens, the seventh child out of 11 to an Alabama sharecropper. As a young boy, the Owens family moved to Ohio where “J.C.†entered public school. His teacher mistook his southern accent when he announced his name as “J.C.†and wrote down “Jesse†– a moniker he would adopt for the rest of his life. His track career started in the 5th grade, and by junior high, he was setting records. In high school, his coach said Owens was such a complete athlete that he “seemed to float on the ground when he ran.†At the National Interscholastic Championships, Owens would win the 100 and 200 yard dash and the broad jump. Jesse entered Ohio State University, worked three jobs to support his tuition, and was constantly met with racism. This only strengthened his desire to succeed. At the Big Ten Conference track and field championships in 1935, Jesse broke three world records and tied another. By 1936, he was a member of U.S. Olympic team competing in Berlin, Germany where he would go onto win four gold medals. Jesse Owens was a true American hero and the epitome of triumph in the face of adversity. He would eventually be awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the Living Legend Award and (finally, posthumously) the Congressional Gold Medal.
The famous outlaw Jesse James was born Jesse Woodson James in Missouri to a Baptist minister. During the Civil War, James left Missouri to fight as a Confederate guerilla and once killed eight men in a single day. After the war, he returned to Missouri and became the leader of one of history's most notorious outlaw gangs. With his brother Frank James and several other ex-Confederates, including Cole Younger and his brothers, the James gang robbed their way across the Western frontier targeting banks, trains, stagecoaches, and stores from Iowa to Texas. Eluding lawmen, the gang escaped with thousands of dollars. James is believed to have carried out the first daylight bank robbery in peacetime, stealing $60,000 from a bank in Liberty, Missouri. In 1873, the gang pulled off the first successful train robbery in the American West. Despite their criminal and often violent acts, James and his partners were much adored. Journalists, eager to entertain Easterners with tales of a Wild West, exaggerated and romanticized the gang's heists, often casting James as a contemporary Robin Hood. His humanitarian acts were probably more fiction than fact. In 1876 in Northfield Missouri, all the gang members were either killed or captured after a botched bank robbery attempt. All but Jesse and his brother, that is. The James men’s wives tried to get them to take on a normal life, but with bounties on their head, they had no choice but to hide out. He eventually recruited the Ford brothers for another heist, but was double-crossed when Robert Ford, hoping to claim the $10,000 reward on Jesse, shot and killed him. Jesse James’ mother provided his epitaph: “In loving memory of my beloved son, murdered by a traitor and coward whose name is not worthy to appear here.â€
Jesse Owens (12 Sep 1913 – 31 Mar 1980) ~ Jesse Owens was an American track star and hero of the 1936 Olympic games in Berlin, Germany during a difficult time in world history (we were on the brink of WWII). His victories at the game not only buoyed the American public, but scored a moral triumph for all Black athletes. He was born James Cleveland Owens, the seventh child out of 11 to an Alabama sharecropper. As a young boy, the Owens family moved to Ohio where “J.C.†entered public school. His teacher mistook his southern accent when he announced his name as “J.C.†and wrote down “Jesse†– a moniker he would adopt for the rest of his life. His track career started in the 5th grade, and by junior high, he was setting records. In high school, his coach said Owens was such a complete athlete that he “seemed to float on the ground when he ran.†At the National Interscholastic Championships, Owens would win the 100 and 200 yard dash and the broad jump. Jesse entered Ohio State University, worked three jobs to support his tuition, and was constantly met with racism. This only strengthened his desire to succeed. At the Big Ten Conference track and field championships in 1935, Jesse broke three world records and tied another. By 1936, he was a member of U.S. Olympic team competing in Berlin, Germany where he would go onto win four gold medals. Jesse Owens was a true American hero and the epitome of triumph in the face of adversity. He would eventually be awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the Living Legend Award and (finally, posthumously) the Congressional Gold Medal.
Jesse Owens was an American track star and hero of the 1936 Olympic games in Berlin, Germany during a difficult time in world history (we were on the brink of WWII). His victories at the game not only buoyed the American public, but scored a moral triumph for all Black athletes. He was born James Cleveland Owens, the seventh child out of 11 to an Alabama sharecropper. As a young boy, the Owens family moved to Ohio where “J.C.†entered public school. His teacher mistook his southern accent when he announced his name as “J.C.†and wrote down “Jesse†– a moniker he would adopt for the rest of his life. His track career started in the 5th grade, and by junior high, he was setting records. In high school, his coach said Owens was such a complete athlete that he “seemed to float on the ground when he ran.†At the National Interscholastic Championships, Owens would win the 100 and 200 yard dash and the broad jump. Jesse entered Ohio State University, worked three jobs to support his tuition, and was constantly met with racism. This only strengthened his desire to succeed. At the Big Ten Conference track and field championships in 1935, Jesse broke three world records and tied another. By 1936, he was a member of U.S. Olympic team competing in Berlin, Germany where he would go onto win four gold medals. Jesse Owens was a true American hero and the epitome of triumph in the face of adversity. He would eventually be awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the Living Legend Award and (finally, posthumously) the Congressional Gold Medal.
The famous outlaw Jesse James was born Jesse Woodson James in Missouri to a Baptist minister. During the Civil War, James left Missouri to fight as a Confederate guerilla and once killed eight men in a single day. After the war, he returned to Missouri and became the leader of one of history's most notorious outlaw gangs. With his brother Frank James and several other ex-Confederates, including Cole Younger and his brothers, the James gang robbed their way across the Western frontier targeting banks, trains, stagecoaches, and stores from Iowa to Texas. Eluding lawmen, the gang escaped with thousands of dollars. James is believed to have carried out the first daylight bank robbery in peacetime, stealing $60,000 from a bank in Liberty, Missouri. In 1873, the gang pulled off the first successful train robbery in the American West. Despite their criminal and often violent acts, James and his partners were much adored. Journalists, eager to entertain Easterners with tales of a Wild West, exaggerated and romanticized the gang's heists, often casting James as a contemporary Robin Hood. His humanitarian acts were probably more fiction than fact. In 1876 in Northfield Missouri, all the gang members were either killed or captured after a botched bank robbery attempt. All but Jesse and his brother, that is. The James men’s wives tried to get them to take on a normal life, but with bounties on their head, they had no choice but to hide out. He eventually recruited the Ford brothers for another heist, but was double-crossed when Robert Ford, hoping to claim the $10,000 reward on Jesse, shot and killed him. Jesse James’ mother provided his epitaph: “In loving memory of my beloved son, murdered by a traitor and coward whose name is not worthy to appear here.â€
