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Abstract
During the early 1950s, Abe Saperstein, the Jewish owner of the all African-American Harlem Globetrotters basketball team, joined with the US State Department to promote improved perceptions of American domestic race relations abroad. The symbolic politics associated with the Globetrotters' worldwide tours were designed to give legitimacy to existing racial inequalities in American society by stressing ‘progress’ during the early cold war era, despite the social, political and legal barriers that hindered African-American advancement. In order to buttress its stature as an example of US race relations, the Harlem Globetrotters attempted to minimize its own troubling engagement with questions of race. This article therefore explores the Globetrotters' efforts to sanitize their history by obscuring the team's propagation of minstrel imagery, in hopes of serving as effective goodwill ambassadors.
Notes
1 Saperstein named the Chicago-based team the ‘Harlem’ Globetrotters because he wanted potential opponents to know that the team was comprised of African-American players. ‘Visit to Santiago of U.S. Basketball Stars’, 7 June 1951, NA, 811.4553/6-751; New York Times, May 30, 1950.
2 ‘Visit of American Basketball Teams to Oporto’, 22 May 1950, NA, 840.4533/5-1050.
3 Zinkoff, Around the World, 109–10.
4 CitationGreen, Spinning the Globe, 235–40.
5 Throughout the 1950s, Abe Saperstein periodically employed Jesse Owens as a Master of Ceremonies, sports commentator and as a halftime performer: Owens performed the demeaning task of running hurdles that were set up around the basketball court.
6 Green, Spinning the Globe, 191–2.
7 Letter from Dean Acheson to American Legation—Damascus, July 28, 1952, NA, 811.453/7-2852.
8 CitationWatkins, On the Real Side, 94; CitationWolf, Foul!, 126.
9 Letter from Dean Acheson to American Legation—Damascus, July 28, 1952, NA, 811.453/7-2852.
10 CitationWetterhahn, ‘Saperstein's Sambos’, 12–18.
11 CitationWetterhahn, ‘Saperstein's Sambos’, 12–18
12 Green, Spinning the Globe, 64.
13 Abe Saperstein's Fabulous Harlem Globetrotters Official Souvenir Program; Zinkoff, Around the World, 15; Chicago Defender, July 7, 1951.
14 Citation Abe Saperstein's Fabulous Harlem Globetrotters Official Souvenir Program ; Zinkoff, Around the World, 15; CitationLombardo, ‘The Harlem Globetrotters’, 62; Chicago Defender, July 7, 1951.
15 CitationZinkoff, Around the World, 11, 32, 35.
16 Given the nature of Zinkoff's text, it is quite possible that this tale has been embellished or greatly exaggerated. Nonetheless, the way in which Zinkoff recounts this narrative suggests how the Globetrotter officials sought to represent the team. Ibid., 11, 32, 35, 85, 88, 96–8, 130, 143, 154–5.
17 Given the nature of Zinkoff's text, it is quite possible that this tale has been embellished or greatly exaggerated. Nonetheless, the way in which Zinkoff recounts this narrative suggests how the Globetrotter officials sought to represent the team, 154–5.
18 Given the nature of Zinkoff's text, it is quite possible that this tale has been embellished or greatly exaggerated. Nonetheless, the way in which Zinkoff recounts this narrative suggests how the Globetrotter officials sought to represent the team, 85, 88, 96–8, 130, 143, 154–5.
19 The 1927 date that Saperstein frequently quoted as the ‘beginning’ of the Harlem Globetrotters has been challenged. For a discussion of this issue, see Ben Green's history of the team. Zinkoff, Around the World, 28, 32; CitationGeorge, Elevating the Game, 48–9; http://www.harlemglobetrotters.com/history/timeline/ (accessed 20 September 2008).
20 Zinkoff, Around the World, 22, 38–9; CitationSmith, ‘Basketball's Court Jester’, 8; CitationCohane, ‘The Harlem Globetrotters’, 69.
21 CitationChristgau, Tricksters in the Madhouse, 9–10; Post Bulletin, December 17, 1935.
22 Northwest Monitor, January 31, 1933.
23 Chicago Defender, March 22, 1944.
24 J. Michael Kenyon, letter to author, April 12, 2004.
25 Kelowna Courier, March 2, 1935; Spokesman-Review, February 11, 1935.
26 Chicago Defender, February 22, 1936; CitationRayl, ‘The New York Renaissance’, 159, 232; Green, Spinning the Globe, 53.
27 CitationRogosin, Invisible Men, 119–20; 145.
28 CitationRogosin, Invisible Men, 144.
29 CitationRogosin, Invisible Men; Green, Spinning the Globe, 162.
30 CitationGeist and Nelson, ‘From Plantation to Bel-Air’, 267; CitationEly, The Adventures of Amos 'n' Andy, 29; Watkins, On the Real Side, 29.
31 CitationBogle, Toms, Coons, Mulattoes, 4, 41; Watkins, On the Real Side, 255.
32 Green, Spinning the Globe, 164.
33 Smith, ‘Basketball's Court Jester’; Zinkoff, Around the World, 73; Green, Spinning the Globe, 161.
34 Smith, ‘Basketball's Court Jester’, 51; Zinkoff, Around the World, 71; George, Elevating the Game, 52.
35 Wetterhahn, ‘Saperstein's Sambos’, 42; Wolf, Foul!, 141.
36 Zinkoff, Around the World, 71; Smith, ‘Basketball's Court Jester’, 42–4; Bogle, Toms, Coons, Mulattoes, 39–41.
37 Christgau, Tricksters in the Madhouse, 38–40; Lombardo, ‘The Harlem Globetrotters’, 60–3.
38 Wolf, Foul!, 125.
39 CitationLemon, Meadowlark, 152, 156.
40 Citation‘Globetrotting Globetrotters’, 42–3; Wolf, Foul!, 125, 142–3; George, Elevating the Game, 254, 258, 269.
41 Wetterhahn, ‘Saperstein's Sambos’, 33; Zinkoff, Around the World, 48, 72; George, Elevating the Game, 254, 258, 269; CitationKrzemienski, ‘On the Initial Sack’, 65.
42 Chicago Defender, March 5, 1955.
43 Undated newspaper clipping, J. Michael Kenyon, personal collection.