Recent School Visits in Brooklyn
Please enjoy these images from some of our recent school visits, where we were presenting the local history of the Black Fives Era of basketball in partnership with the Brooklyn Nets as a part of their Nets Assist educational programming.
Students from P.S. 156, the Waverly School of the Arts, in the Brownsville section of Brooklyn, New York, pose with Claude Johnson of the Black Fives Foundation after a discussion of local Black Fives Era basketball history.
One of the Black Fives Foundation’s portable museum exhibit displays, at Children of Promise in the Bedford-Stuyvesant section of Brooklyn, an after school program for kids with incarcerated parents. Several pioneers of the Black Fives Era lived within just a short walk from the historic building that houses the program, including James Hoffman Woods, the manager and promoter of the all-black Smart Set Athletic Club basketball team, whose home was on the same street (MacDonough) just two blocks down.
Students at J.H.S. 265, the Dr. Susan S. McKinney Secondary School Of The Arts in the Fort Greene section of Brooklyn, discuss the local history of the Black Fives Era with Claude Johnson of the Black Fives Foundation. The school’s namesake, Dr. McKinney, was the first African American female physician in New York, and was also the organist at Bridge Street A.M.E. Church, which had Rev. John Harris “J.H.” Accooe, the father of Smart Set Athletic Club basketball star Ferdinand Accooe, as its pastor.
Students at I.S. 392 in Brooklyn discussing local Black Fives Era basketball history with Claude Johnson of the Black Fives Foundation. On the screen is an image of the Barclays Center, home of the Brooklyn Nets, which has in its concourse a compilation of permanently-installed photographic murals of vintage Brooklyn-related African American basketball teams and pioneers.
One of the Black Fives Foundation’s portable museum exhibit displays.
Students at J.H.S. 265, the Dr. Susan S. McKinney Secondary School Of The Arts in the Fort Greene section of Brooklyn, discuss vintage game equipment from the Black Fives Era, including an original laced basketball, with Claude Johnson of the Black Fives Foundation.
After the discussion, several P.S. 156 students asked Claude Johnson to autograph their information card. “I ran out of them,” said Johnson, “which just means I’ll have to come back for another visit!”
Students at J.H.S. 265 in Brooklyn examine historical artifacts from the Black Fives Era of basketball, including a vintage laced ball, knee pads, and related gear.
Students from I.S. 392, The School for the Gifted and Talented, a Title I middle school that serves primarily African-American and Hispanic families in the Brownsville section of Brooklyn, pose with Claude Johnson of the Black Fives Foundation after a discussion of local African American basketball history that precedes the NBA.
Some of the many locations around Brooklyn where pioneers of the Black Fives Era of basketball once lived or where important related events took place.
