In 1916 the price for a room at the Waldorf-Astoria in New York City was $2.00 to $3.00 per night. How did that compare to the average wages of Negroes back then?
Negro Wages In 1910s, Compared To Money Opportunities Playing Basketball
CNN’s “Black In America” special is tired, tedious, and out of date. It’s what you expect from CNN: negative, fear-based, dumbed-down sensationalism. It’s a boring, depressing, uninspiring drag. CNN started out on the right foot — the program was originally supposed to be called “Race In America.” It could have been so useful and valuable… Read more »
This is what makes it so difficult for some Black Fives Era players to be fairly considered for comparison and recognition by the committee members responsible for selecting inductees into the Basketball Hall of Fame.
The building’s gymnasium was the site of many early games between African American basketball teams, including the Washington 12 Streeters led by Edwin B. Henderson.
The St. Christopher Club, which had arguably the most successful non-professional basketball team of the Black Fives Era, got its start in 1896 as a bible study group to help keep young African American males off the seedy streets of what is now midtown Manhattan.
The site of the former home of Smart Set Athletic Club founding father Edwin F. Horne, grandfather of Lena Horne, is now a playground in the Bed-Stuy section of Brooklyn.
In 1904, Edwin B. Henderson attended Harvard University’s Summer School of Arts and Sciences to learn the game of basketball. The rest is history.
The roots of the black basketball trace back to the Hemenway Gymnasium on the campus of Harvard University.
I’ve always wanted a seersucker suit ever since Dad gave me my grandfather’s seersucker when I graduated from college.
This survey rocks conventional wisdom about who counts in American history: Who are the most famous Americans in history, excluding presidents and first ladies?
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.![]()
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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