Exhibition 2

Early Black Women’s Basketball

During the Black Fives Era of basketball, there were dozens of African American women’s teams throughout many parts of the United States that emerged, competed, and thrived right alongside their male counterparts. Some became nationally famous while others were local and obscure, becoming forgotten or unidentified today.

Yet these squads, their players, and their organizers created a path, a space, and a trajectory for the success of women within basketball and for Black female athletes as a whole.

This exhibition celebrates those pioneering women and their journeys.