Joe Louis was born in Alabama on May 13, 1914. He was the son of an Alabama sharecropper, the great grandson of a slave, and the great great grandson of a white slave owner. He moved to Detroit as a youngster with his mother. He was the first African American ever to achieve lasting fame and star status in the 20th Century. He did so with boxing, he would capture the hearts of millions of American's, both white and black. This was a time when blacks were being discriminated against, the military was segregated, blacks were not allowed to play Major League Baseball. When he started boxing early in the 1930's hero worship was not achievable in any profes