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Title details for The Black Fives by Claude Johnson - Available

The Black Fives

The Epic Story of Basketball's Forgotten Era

by Claude Johnson
Claude Johnson
Audiobook
1 of 1 copy available
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1 of 1 copy available
A groundbreaking history of Black basketball
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. The Black Fives 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.

  • Creators

  • Publisher

  • Release date

    May 24, 2022

  • Formats

    • OverDrive Listen audiobook

      • ISBN: 9781705060575
      • File size: 598289 KB
      • Duration: 20:46:26

  • Languages

    • English

  • Reviews

    • AudioFile Magazine
      In a soothing voice, the author narrates his own exhaustive dive into the origins of Black basketball, covering much of the first half of the twentieth century in detail. He goes back even further in tracing the roots of the pioneers who laid the foundation for the game in the 1800s. Occasionally, he lightly imitates someone but always with a tone of respect that denotes a quotation. This production is a definitive take on its subject. Will Anthony Madden is the central figure, but many other trailblazers are covered. Johnson, a historian's historian, has preserved aspects of the past that might have fallen into obscurity. M.B. © AudioFile 2022, Portland, Maine

Formats

  • OverDrive Listen audiobook

subjects

Languages

  • English

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