In 1943 the Washington Bears, an all-black basketball team, went 41-0 while winning the World Professional Basketball Tournament, the nation’s highest basketball title.
The Perfect Season
The New York All Stars were the first African American basketball team to play the sport for financial gain.
In the early 1900s, the Christian origins of basketball (in the YMCA) spawned an unwritten rule: playing the game was forbidden during Lent.
Basketball is a game of minutes, seconds, and fractions of a second. Timekeeping is a critical part of the game. Hometown timekeepers can help the home team win, or the visiting team lose by doing a little “home cooking” with the clock. This practice takes place everywhere. Even the National Basketball Association instituted a rule… Read more »
Jackie Robinson was much better at basketball than at baseball, and may have been the finest hoops player of his time.
In 1920, Chris Huiswoud became the first basketball referee of African descent to be formally sanctioned (allowed) by the AAU.
Like the phonograph, the blog is leading to a new Black Renaissance that is redefining who we think we are in music, fashion, literature, the arts, and of course, in sports.
Ora Mae Washington, a pioneering African American athlete, was born on January 23, 1898; she was perhaps the greatest female athlete of all time, black or white.
Top of the list among all possible pre-NBA players for enshrinement in the Basketball Hall of Fame, is Black Fives Era superstar Clarence ‘Fats’ Jenkins.
Monticello Athletic Association’s black national basketball championship in 1912 paved the way for other African American teams, by showing that determined teams from any city could win.
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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 ![]()
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#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