Audio Clips


Some audio clips about the Black Fives Era of basketball as well as the Black Fives Foundation and our mission.

(May 2018) Claude Johnson is a guest on NPR with Mira Springer, host of their show On Point. The segment includes Claude reading an excerpt from his chapter in the new book “Upon Further Review: The Greatest What-Ifs In Sports History” by Mike Pesca.

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(2 February 2016) ESPN Radio New York 98.7 FM host Bill Daughtry asks author and historian Claude Johnson, founder and executive director of the Black Fives Foundation, about the organization’s latest updates for Black History Month.

 

 
(8 August 2015) ESPN Radio New York 98.7 FM host Bill Daughtry interviews author and historian Claude Johnson, founder and executive director of the Black Fives Foundation, about the demolition plans for Harlem’s historic Renaissance Ballroom.

 

 
(24 April 2015) ESPN Radio New York 98.7 FM host Bill Daughtry interviews author and historian Claude Johnson, founder and executive director of the Black Fives Foundation, about the recent demolition of Harlem’s historic Renaissance Ballroom.

 

 
(17 April 2015) ESPN Radio New York 98.7 FM host Bill Daughtry interviews historian, preservationist, and former Abyssinian Development Corporation executive Kevin McGruder, now a history professor at Antioch College, about the recent demolition of Harlem’s historic Renaissance Ballroom.

 

 
(14 April 2015) Morgan State University’s WEAA 88.9 FM in Baltimore presents the April 14, 2014 edition of The BlacktopXchange Sports Report with guest Claude Johnson, executive director of The Black Fives Foundation. The BlacktopXchange Sports Report airs Sunday nights at 7 pm on WEAA (live stream at WEAA.org).

 

 
(4 April 2014) As the NBA playoffs approach, it may come as a surprise to learn that there was a time when the league had no Black players. Instead, African Americans played on the pioneering “Black Fives” teams that existed prior to 1950, and those teams are now being honored in an exhibit at the New-York Historical Society. Claude Johnson, the founder and executive director of the Black Fives Foundation, joins us.

 

 
(1 April 2014) Tom Kuser of WSHU Connecticut speaks with Black Fives Foundation founder Claude Johnson on NPR Morning Edition about an exhibit at the New York Historical Society in Manhattan, which features hundreds of artifacts from a period in sports history called the Black Fives Era.

 

 
(15 March 2014) Most people have heard of the Negro Leagues in baseball and of Jackie Robinson breaking the color barrier in the late 1940s — but relatively few people have heard of the Black Fives, the African-American basketball teams that played up until the NBA was integrated in 1950. An exhibit at the New-York Historical Society aims to rectify that. (By the late, great Margot Adler)

 

 
(2 April 2013) Claude Johnson is a guest on The HBCU Buzz Show, starting at the 23:25 minute mark.

 

 
(8 February 2013) When you think “black pioneering athlete” and “Brooklyn” you likely think Jackie Robinson. But Brooklyn played a role in integrating basketball too. Claude Johnson amateur historian researching the “Black Fives” teams — to be honored at a ceremony Sunday at the Barclays Center — discusses the early history of basketball in the area. (This live interview with Claude Johnson originally aired on February 8, 2013. An edited version was aired on July 5, 2013 as part of a special episode of The Brian Lehrer Show.)

 

 

Earl Lloyd and Claude Johnson

(2010) Claude Johnson’s interview with NBA pioneer and Basketball Hall of Fame member Earl Lloyd. Topics include Lloyd’s new book at the time, Moonfixer.

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(2007) Claude Johnson’s interview with blogger dburt aka Afronerd, recorded in 2007. Check out the Afronerd website here: www.afronerd.com.