Research Catalog
The black fives : the epic story of basketball's forgotten era
- Title
- The black fives : the epic story of basketball's forgotten era / Claude Johnson.
- Author
- Johnson, Claude, 1960-
- Publication
- New York : Abrams Press, [2021]
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| Status | Format | Access | Call Number | Item Location |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Available - Can be used on site. Please visit New York Public Library - Schomburg Center to submit a request in person. | Text | Use in library | Sc E 22-1377 | Schomburg Center - Research & Reference |
Details
- Description
- 470 pages, 32 unnumbered pages of plates : illustrations (some color); 24 cm
- Summary
- "African Americans were making moves in basketball generations before the rise of the NBA. Their pioneering efforts helped popularize the sport in big cities and small towns alike and shaped the game we know and love today. From the invention of the game in 1891 to the racial integration of all-White professional leagues in the 1950s, dozens of teams -- then often called "fives" -- of African American players were founded and flourished. This was a time of visionary players, managers, and impresarios who blazed a trail, battled discrimination and marginalization, and created rich, meaningful events that strengthened their communities in the face of Jim Crow oppression. But this era, known as the Black Fives Era, has been forgotten, overlooked, unacknowledged, and squashed. It is barely known today. For more than two decades, Claude Johnson has made it his mission to change that. A fiercely committed advocate, Johnson has researched, preserved, exhibited, taught, and honored this important African American experience, unearthing what might have remained buried in an unmarked grave. [This book] is the result of his work, a landmark narrative history that braids together the stories of these pioneers and rewrites our understanding of the true history of the game." -- Book jacket flap.
- Subject
- 1800-1999
- Basketball > United States > History > 20th century
- African Americans > Sports > History > 20th century
- African Americans > Social aspects > History
- African American basketball players > History > 20th century
- Basketball
- African American athletes
- African American basketball players
- Basketball teams
- United States > Race relations > History > 20th century
- United States
- Genre/Form
- History.
- Biographies.
- Bibliography (note)
- Includes bibliographical references (pages 429-470).
- Contents
- An unmarked grave -- Survival -- Seeds -- Pittsburgh Pedigree -- Rites of passage -- Satan's circus -- 1901 -- Physical culture -- St. Christopher -- Great struggle for victory -- A real corker -- As our White friends play it -- Wabash outlaws -- Sport for sport's sake -- A janitor's key -- Virgil -- Maddening -- Supreme courts -- Loendi -- Outlaws -- Democracy lads -- The future of basketball -- Out-and-outers -- The new Negro -- Chicago Crusaders -- "True world champions" -- World Series of basketball -- The missing NBA team -- Vindication.
- Call Number
- Sc E 22-1377
- ISBN
- 9781419744365
- 1419744364
- LCCN
- 2021933480
- OCLC
- 1289273746
- Author
- Johnson, Claude, 1960- author.
- Title
- The black fives : the epic story of basketball's forgotten era / Claude Johnson.
- Publisher
- New York : Abrams Press, [2021]
- Type of Content
- text
- Type of Medium
- unmediated
- Type of Carrier
- volume
- Bibliography
- Includes bibliographical references (pages 429-470).
- Local Note
- Schomburg copy with dust jacket.
- Chronological Term
- 1800-1999
- Research Call Number
- Sc E 22-1377