Cordero Spencer th 12 Grade African American Literature: The Impact of The Harlem Renaissance
March 9, 2015
Harlem Globetrotters
During the early 1900’s there was a cultural boom within the black community, which started in Harlem, New York. Everything in the black community was on an up rise music, literature, sports, business, and a plethora of other things. During this racially tense time sports was mostly to entertain and relieve stress for athletes and fans alike.
However athletes did many other things within their communities, such as donate and speak out against the unruliness of segregation.. Sports were very tense at the time because there were only all black teams or all white teams. This made sports fans more eager to watch and root for the team, also gave the athletes more influenced over their peers.
Today they are best known for ballhandling and comedy routines, but the Globetrotters have a long history of serious basketball play, and their beginnings were modest. Despite their name the Harlem Globetrotters were founded in Chicago, the name come from the team being solely African American. The Globetrotters popularity and success brought them to the fore front in political and social issues.
In 1951, the Globetrotters were called upon by the US State
Department to help counteract a communist youth rally in East Germany. They played in the
Allied section of Berlin to an enthusiastic crowd. In following years they played for three different popes, for the Hollywood cameras during the making of the 1951 film "The Harlem
Globetrotters," on the Ed Sullivan show and for soldout crowds in the USSR and Eastern
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Europe, according to “pbs.com.” Even though were just a sports team team their impact stretched across all corners of the world.
These feats that the Harlem Globetrotters accomplished changed society. They broke barriers and did what most people thought was unlikely to happen. The Globetrotters went into
Russia and made Russians smile rather than frown at Americans. The Globetrotters played tremendous while in the Soviet therefore
, they were awarded the athletic Order of Lenin medal and 10,000 dollars in cash from the leader of the Soviet Union himself, as stated by “From
Harlem with Love.” This all black basketball team also did some incredible things in America.
The team broke the all white rule of the NBA. Fans started to demand the best of the best square off against each other. the Champion team from NBA, vs the Harlem Globetrotters. This nationally hyped black vs. white basketball game ended up taking
