There, Louis attempted school, but by the sixth grade he was under performing and was sent to a trade school, where he found the curriculum suited him better. In 1926, Louis and his family moved north to Detroit where the auto industry drew hundreds of thousands in search of better work. Years of bad farming combined with rampant racism and escalating violence began to pull many African Americans away from the South and farming. He was, simply put, an unremarkable young man. Louis was considered a quiet, good-natured child who did as he was told and never made trouble. He’d been slow to develop-slow to talk and walk, and when he did he spoke with a stutter. With so many mouths to feed, and fields to tend, Louis had very little formal education. Louis’ mother married a widower, and the family grew with the addition of his six children.
His father was a sharecropper who left when Louis was young. When Joe Louis Barrow, known to America as Joe Louis, put on an army uniform in the early part of 1942, he wasn’t just another young African American-he was boxing’s world heavyweight champion, a title he had held since 1937.īorn in Alabama in 1914, Louis was the seventh of eight children born to Munroe and Lillie Barrow.
But one of America’s favorite heroes fought with his fists. Some carried rifles, others loaded large naval guns, or flew aircraft.
Some lay under white crosses on distant shores, others returned home wounded beyond recognition, many more were average young men who answered their country’s call. Americans had many heroes during World War II.
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