Jay-Z’s Life+Times: ‘Black Fives’ Curator Speaks On New Historical Basketball Exhibit, The Legacy of The Black Fives
Posted on March 14, 2014
It’s not every day that we’re featured in Jay-Z’s Life+Times Magazine, but that’s what happened when Quinn Peterson wrote this feature length article on the Black Fives Exhibition at the New-York Historical Society:
“Black Fives” Curator Speaks On New Historical Basketball Exhibit & The Legacy of The Black Fives
Here is a brief excerpt:
People think that everybody back then was racist, and yes, there was racism. But at the same time, a lot of these teams thrived because Black people and white people shook hands and said, ‘We’re gonna play, we’re doing this for money.’ When the New York Rens came to Milwaukee, they were like a mobile, walking economy. People from all over were coming to spend money with those merchants, there was betting going on on the side. They wanted those Black teams to come out, it wasn’t like they were fighting them. But even though they were filling the stands, they couldn’t stay in the hotels. It’s complicated.”
