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Before LeBron, and before MJ—before Magic, Bird, and even Bill Russell, basketball was defined by one name. Globetrotters. The Harlem Globetrotters would go on to change the world. But in the beginning, the squad faced an uphill battle. They were an upstart touring team, trying to become a profitable sports organization. Yet few Americans considered basketball a sport worth watching. And the Globetrotters struggled to gain a footing amid a national crisis: the Great Depression.

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