Modern Recognition
The long-forgotten history of early African American female basketball teams is beginning to gain proper recognition
(Black Fives Foundation Archives)
BIG EAST Announces Black Fives Partnership, 2022
BIG EAST Conference commissioner Val Ackerman announces its continued partnership with the Black Fives Foundation at Madison Square Garden during the association's media day, 2022.
DePaul Scoreboard, 2023
The scoreboard at Wintrust Arena, Chicago, home court for the DePaul University women's basketball team, representing the Club Store Co-Eds during their Black Fives Day commemoration, 2023. Opponent was Butler University, representing the Spartan Girls.
Xavier University Women's Team, 2023
Players from the Xavier University Women's Basketball Team stand at midcourt wearing their commemorative Black Fives x BIG EAST warmup shirts.
BIG EAST warmup shirt, 2023
The BIG EAST in partnership with the Black Fives Foundation designed a shooting shirt that showed the paired historical African American women's basketball team for each member school.
Barclays Center Mural Unveiling, 2014
Black Fives Foundation founder Claude Johnson honors the legacy of Brooklyn's African-American basketball history through the installation of six large-scale photographs of the Black Fives at Barclays Center on February 4, 2013 in the Brooklyn borough of New York City. (Photo by James Devaney/WireImage)
Barclays Center Scoreboard, 2014
Claude Johnson, Founder of the Black Fives Foundation, tells the story of the Black Fives Era to three generations of Brooklyn’s basketball players during an event at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn: descendants of Brooklyn-connected Black FivesEra teams, Nets player CJ Watson, and students from P.S. 282. (Feb. 4, 2013)
(Photo by Nancy Borowick)
Barclays Center Mural, 2013
New York Girls mural at Barclays Center, Brooklyn. Six such murals were permanently installed at the arena in 2013 just prior to its grand opening.
Media Coverage of Barclays Unveiling
The unveiling of the Black Fives Murals at the Barclays Center earned two consecutive weeks of full-page coverage in the New York Amsterdam News, the popular and historic African American newspaper headquartered in Harlem.
"Black Fives Day" Proclamation, 2014
A proclamation from the office of the Mayor of the City of New York naming February 10, 2013 "Black Fives Day." The order was signed by Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg.