In 1936, eighteen African American athletes defied Jim Crow and Adolf Hitler to win hearts and medals at the 1936 Olympic Games in Berlin.
Their stories are told in Olympic Pride, American Prejudice, a 2016 film and new book with the same name by Deborah Riley Draper. Draper exposes the complex, triumphant narratives of these athletes, who represented a country that considered them second-class citizens and competed in a country that rolled out the red carpet for them, despite the rise of Nazism.
Join the Museum for a conversation with Draper about the stories of these athletes before, during, and after their heroic turn at the Summer Olympics in Berlin.
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Public programming at the Museum of Jewish Heritage – A Living Memorial to the Holocaust is made possible, in part, by public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs, in partnership with the City Council; the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of Governor Andrew M. Cuomo and the New York State Legislature; a Humanities New York CARES Grant with support from the National Endowment for the Humanities and the federal CARES Act; and other generous donors.
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