Jim Usry’s exclusive 1946 professional basketball player contract with the New York Rens, on display in the New York Historical Society’s upcoming Black Fives Exhibition, opening March 14, 2014.
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Fox Sports Net Teams Up with NBA Players for TV Vignettes Honoring Black Fives Era Pioneers (VIDEOS)
Fox Sports Net teams up with NBA players and collaborates with Black Fives Foundation to create new series of TV vignettes honoring Black Fives Era pioneers.
Here’s a new $1,000 scholarship contest! It’s by our friends at the New York Historical Society Museum & Library, to celebrate the upcoming first-ever exhibition of historical items from the Black Fives Era of basketball.
One is a media pass to a history-making event. The other was an “errant” pass that may have changed history.
We are incredibly delighted and honored to welcome long time New York Amsterdam News sportswriter Howie Evans to our Board of Directors, as of January 1, 2014.
Let’s hear it for African American basketball pioneer Harry “Bucky” Lew, born on this date in 1884. Happy Birthday!
The Black Fives Foundation is pleased to announce it has received as a gift the entire Black Fives Era historical archive of Claude Johnson and Black Fives, Inc., as well as the company’s complete portfolio of intellectual property.
It was an honor to be recognized at Rucker Park for my work with the Black Fives, along with Nate Archibald, Emmette Bryant, Dean Meminger, and Earl Monroe.
BFF founder and executive director Claude Johnson gave a history presentation to kids at the Riverside Hawks Summer Camp in Harlem, joined by Nike basketball designers and veteran NBA guard Royal Ivey.
Please join us in welcoming Julia Alexander, Robert Castaneda, and Eric Vinson to our inaugural board of directors!
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Black Fives
We inspire excellence in youth and communities by preserving, teaching, and honoring the pre-NBA history of African Americans in basketball.
For years, we have been building something truly remarkable.![]()
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Something deeper than what’s visible on the surface.![]()
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This piece, created by the Gee’s Bend Quilters Collective from remnants of our Black Fives throwback jerseys, carries that idea.![]()
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On the front, you see something beautiful.![]()
On the back, you see the work.![]()
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Tens of thousands of stitches.![]()
Each one holding the whole together.![]()
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Like the earlier African American basketball pioneers whose names were forgotten, but whose work helped shape the game.![]()
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Like the countless people, often unseen, who did and are doing the work that holds our country together.![]()
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The surface only exists because of what’s behind it.![]()
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And it’s only as strong as the weakest stitch.![]()
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Do we really want to remove certain stitches?![]()
Are we OK with pieces falling apart?![]()
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Do we value the work we don’t see?![]()
Do we recognize it?![]()
Do we protect it?![]()
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That’s the real story.![]()
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A cultural archive. A sports heritage platform.![]()
Build with us.![]()
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Make History Now.![]()
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#culturalheritage ![]()
#intellectualproperty ![]()
#archives ![]()
#sportsbusiness ![]()
#blackhistory
For years, we have been building something truly remarkable.![]()
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A deep archive of early African American basketball.![]()
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The stories, the images, the history that shaped the game.![]()
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But this is more than an archive.![]()
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It’s a cultural IP and sports heritage platform.![]()
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Infrastructure of history, identity, and assets ready to build with.![]()
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For partners, institutions, and brands who want real cultural authenticity, not just performative optics.![]()
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Build with us.![]()
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blackfives.org/build![]()
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#blackhistory #culturalheritage #brandpartnerships #archives #intellectualproperty