Before the NBA, before March Madness, and before basketball became a global sport, Black players, coaches, and entrepreneurs built a thriving basketball movement that changed the game forever. Yet their contributions have largely been left out of the story.
In The Black Fives, historian Claude Johnson uncovers the remarkable history of Black basketball from the early twentieth century through the integration of professional basketball in 1950. Drawing on more than two decades of research, interviews, archival materials, and rare artifacts, Johnson chronicles the rise of pioneering African American teams, visionary team owners, and legendary players whose achievements helped shape the future of the sport.
From packed gymnasiums and fierce rivalries to barnstorming tours and groundbreaking business innovations, the Black Fives Era was a vibrant chapter in both basketball and American history. These athletes and community leaders overcame segregation and limited opportunities to create organizations that inspired generations and laid the foundation for modern professional basketball.
More than a sports history, The Black Fives is a story of perseverance, leadership, entrepreneurship, and social change. Johnson restores long-overdue recognition to the forgotten pioneers whose talent and determination transformed the game and helped open doors for future generations.
Perfect for fans of basketball history, African American history, sports biographies, and the NBA, this landmark work rewrites the story of one of America's most beloved sports and ensures that the heroes of the Black Fives Era are never forgotten.
Historian Claude Johnson is fiercely committed to documenting and sharing this history. For more than two decades,Johnson has conducted interviews, mined archives, collected artifacts, and helped to preserve this African American experience that otherwise would have been lost, establishing The Black Fives Foundation. This essential book is the result of his work, a landmark narrative history that braids together the stories of these forgotten pioneers and rewrites our understanding of the story of basketball.
Praise
"Claude Johnson has written a wonderful and thorough history of African Americans in basketball, providing exhaustive historical context and enlightening anecdotes. The Black Fives is outstanding and unprecedented. Bravo!"Kadir Nelson
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"It was an honor to have Claude speak to the Thunder organization, introducing our players and staff to the incredible history and persistence of the Black Fives. As their foremost historian, Claude's passion and rigor for the story of these people and teams are inspiring. Listening and learning from Claude's research and expertise is an important step in continuing to appreciate the legacy of these pioneers of the sport that brings to many people together."Sam Presti, executive vice president and general manager, Oklahoma City Thunder
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"For a game that has meant so much to the world, Claude Johnson somehow presents a definitive account for a part of basketball's history that for so long was kept away from us. Claude is a superhero storyteller, and this book is a bona fide superpower."Justin Tinsley, author of It Was All a Dream: Biggie and the World that Made Him
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"Claude Johnson has done almost as much to retrieve a missing era in our history––that of the Black Fives––as all the writers, filmmakers, and scholars working on the Negro Leagues combined were able to accomplish in telling Black baseball's story. The Black Fives is a deftly crafted, prodigiously researched, and groundbreaking book that shows not only why Black basketball mattered during the sport's segregated past, but what it matters today."Rob Ruck, professor of sport history, University of Pittsburgh, and author of Tropic of Football: Th
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