The Evolution of Nostalgia After Ninety Years of the Harlem Globetrotters

[divider type=”space_thin”] This year marks the 90th anniversary of The Original Harlem Globetrotters. They started playing ball on the south side of Chicago in 1926, taking Harlem as their home city because it was the Blackest place anyone could think of at the time. Greats like Wilt “The Stilt” Chamberlain are counted as honored team members. The team has traveled around the country, and the world, demonstrating their skills, where they’ve inspired and enlightened arenas full of people of all races. It is almost unthinkable, in retrospect, that the team would still be around in any form, let alone one close to their original intent. I recently saw their show again for the first time in many years. The experience has left me nostalgic, critical, and appreciative all at the same time.

Nostalgia

I have rosy memories of seeing the Globetrotters with my family as a kid. It always felt like my parents were out working, maintaining that suburban life was rough then as it is now, so our family outings loom large in my rear-view. My dad took my sister and I to see the Harlem Globetrotters year after year. I remember the Richfield Coliseum outside of Cleveland, the crowds, the popcorn, the all-Black Globetrotters beating the snot out of the Washington Generals…even at ten years old I knew that was special. No team of Black men beat a team of white ones and walked away. But the Globetrotters did, every time. Not only did they beat the white ball players, badly, they helped Shaggy …