New York Rens 100th Anniversary Campaign
Proper Acknowledgement Of This History-Making All-Black Basketball Team With Lasting, Inspiring Commemoration Initiatives In Harlem
BACKGROUND
Formed 100 years ago, in 1923, the New York Rens were the first Black-owned, all-Black, fully professional basketball team in history. This Harlem-based squad won 85% of its games with 150-game schedules from 1923 to 1949, the equivalent of an NBA team winning 70 games a season for 25 years in a row.
Yet, there’s nothing to show in Harlem to celebrate this legendary Hall of Fame team! Until now!
WHAT WE’RE DOING
Funding from this campaign will enable the proper acknowledgment of the legendary New York Rens basketball team in Harlem, their home locale, through these initiatives:
- Re-paint and refurbish the outdoor basketball court at Howard Bennett Playground on West 135th Street in Harlem;
- Create a New York Rens Walk of Fame on the sidewalk fronting the former site of the Renaissance Casino, their home court;
- Construct a New York Rens Commemorative Bench and Historical Marker in the median pedestrian sanctuary at the intersection of Adam Clayton Powell Boulevard and West 138th Street where that ballroom once stood;
- Launch educational programming with Public School 197 adjacent to the playground court, and other local schools.
YOUR HELP
Help make these lasting, educational, inspirational, and celebratory commemorations possible as local, national, and worldwide historical destinations. Please donate.
The Black Fives Foundation (BFF) is working closely with the Manhattan Borough President’s Office, the NYC Parks & Recreation Department, and the NYC Department of Transportation to bring these initiatives to life in Harlem.
COST
These initiatives will cost $250,000, which we aim to raise over the next 10 months. We already have some major pledges, but to make this vision a reality, we need additional financial support from generous individual, community, and corporate donors.
Please donate. This is your chance to Make History Now! Thanks so much!
About The Black Fives Foundation
The Greenwich, CT-based Black Fives Foundation (BFF) is a public charity that is tax-exempt under Section 501(c)3 of the Internal Revenue Code. Contributions to BFF are tax deductible in the U.S.A. under Section 170 of the Code. Our Federal Tax ID # is 46-1925488. A copy of our IRS tax exemption determination letter is available upon request. Our mission is to inspire excellence by preserving, teaching, and honoring the pre-NBA history of African Americans in basketball, a period known as the Black Fives Era that lasted from the early 1900s to 1950 when the NBA signed its first Black players. We advocate for expanding Black history education to amplify and include this important history, utilizing nearly 1,000 related artifacts in our historical archive as well as a portfolio of related intellectual property and other difference-making initiatives. For more information about the Black Fives Foundation and this important history, please visit www.blackfives.org.