At the 1936 Olympics in Berlin, each champion received a baby oak tree. In Los Angeles one of them is still alive, a witness to a forgotten chapter of Black history. But it is threatened with destruction to make space for luxury apartments.
LOS ANGELES — In 1920s Los Angeles, a young boy refined his talents in the backyard of his family’s modest bungalow — running and jumping, running and jumping.
The hard work got him far, all the way to the Olympics. Twice in fact, first to the games in Los Angeles in 1932, and then four years later to Berlin.