To celebrate the start of Black History Month 2016, we launched a new feature called the Artifact of the Week.
Blog
This new repository allows more room to expand the size of our archive and provides many fundamentally important capabilities that were previously missing.
A collection of rare photographs and other historical materials relating to Harlem Globe Trotters have been donated to the Black Fives Foundation Historical Archive.
Fare thee well, 2015. Looking back we raise toasts to the greatest wins as well as to the toughest losses of the year.
A couple of months ago I had a chance to chat briefly with Harlem Globetrotters legend and Basketball Hall of Fame member Meadowlark Lemon.
We rank the Basketball Hall of Fame’s 2016 nominees for the special direct-elect Early African American Pioneers Committee in order most deserving, with a poll.
We are delighted to welcome three new members to our Board of Directors.
The brothers Ulysses S. “Lyss” Young and William “Pimp” Young, unsung African American basketball pioneers who took their games far beyond the courts.
Akron, Ohio’s all-black American Legion Post No. 272 basketball team was a wartime squad that won the Akron city championship for the 1944-45 season.
Part 2 of my two-part article on John ‘Boy Wonder’ Isaacs, originally published in the 2015 Enshrinement Weekend Yearbook of the Basketball Hall of Fame.
4,301
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.![]()
![]()
Something deeper than what’s visible on the surface.![]()
![]()
This piece, created by the Gee’s Bend Quilters Collective from remnants of our Black Fives throwback jerseys, carries that idea.![]()
![]()
On the front, you see something beautiful.![]()
On the back, you see the work.![]()
![]()
Tens of thousands of stitches.![]()
Each one holding the whole together.![]()
![]()
Like the earlier African American basketball pioneers whose names were forgotten, but whose work helped shape the game.![]()
![]()
Like the countless people, often unseen, who did and are doing the work that holds our country together.![]()
![]()
The surface only exists because of what’s behind it.![]()
![]()
And it’s only as strong as the weakest stitch.![]()
![]()
Do we really want to remove certain stitches?![]()
Are we OK with pieces falling apart?![]()
![]()
Do we value the work we don’t see?![]()
Do we recognize it?![]()
Do we protect it?![]()
![]()
That’s the real story.![]()
![]()
A cultural archive. A sports heritage platform.![]()
Build with us.![]()
![]()
Make History Now.![]()
![]()
#culturalheritage ![]()
#intellectualproperty ![]()
#archives ![]()
#sportsbusiness ![]()
#blackhistory
For years, we have been building something truly remarkable.![]()
![]()
A deep archive of early African American basketball.![]()
![]()
The stories, the images, the history that shaped the game.![]()
![]()
But this is more than an archive.![]()
![]()
It’s a cultural IP and sports heritage platform.![]()
![]()
Infrastructure of history, identity, and assets ready to build with.![]()
![]()
For partners, institutions, and brands who want real cultural authenticity, not just performative optics.![]()
![]()
Build with us.![]()
![]()
blackfives.org/build![]()
![]()
#blackhistory #culturalheritage #brandpartnerships #archives #intellectualproperty