Black Fives® is where you Make History Now™!It’s all about the history of dozens of African American basketball teams that played before the racial integration of the N.B.A., from 1904 through 1950.
Claude Johnson, the founder and president of Black Fives, Inc., created the company with nothing but his library card. “I’ve always liked history, but history is limited unless we make it meaningful for today,” Johnson says.
What is Black Fives?
As you know, there were dozens of African American basketball teams that played prior to the racial integration of professional basketball, during a period - from the early 1900s through 1950 - that is known as the Black Fives Era. "Fives" referred to the five starting players on a basketball team. All-black teams were known as colored quints, colored fives, Negro fives, or "black fives." This period in sports history is known as the Black Fives Era.
What’s been your involvement and how did you do it?
Since 1999, my company has been the world’s leading steward and resource for the history of the Black Fives Era of basketball. That year, we began trademarking the names and logos of the dozens of all‐black teams we were discovering through our research, including those of the Rens. We also began building strong and trusted relations with the descendants of the pioneers who contributed to the development of basketball among African Americans during that time, and collecting what has become a modest archive of historical materials and related content. Simultaneously – through strategic marketing and merchandising – we created a popular, recognizable, and profitable consumer brand around those efforts. One aspect of that was our production of throwback jerseys for these once‐forgotten teams. As a result, the Black Fives brand – and therefore, this history – has gotten prominent exposure on top‐rated television and radio programs, in leading national and international magazines and newspapers, on highly ranked websites and blogs, with iconic musicians and entertainers, and on celebrated professional athletes.
When and how did you get started on this project?I started doing research on the Black Fives Era in 1996, the year that the NBA celebrated its 50th anniversary. They published an 800‐page book called the “NBA Encyclopedia of Basketball” that only included three pages of mention about two African American teams that played before the league, namely the New York Renaissance and the Harlem Globetrotters. But I knew from Arthur Ashe’s book, “A Hard Road To Glory” – which was published around that time – that there were many more teams, because he briefly mentioned quite a few of them. That made me very curious, but no one knew anything – not the league historians, not the Hall of Fame, not the Library of Congress. No one. So I decided to check it out myself and so began my research.
Has the Naismith Hall of Fame ever featured your work as an exhibit or done anything to promote the early African American contributions to basketball? If not, are there any plans for that in the future?
No, they haven’t, although we’ve talked about it in the past, but they’re facing a difficult financial climate right now and have been for a while. They did at one time have some cardboard-mounted images and text on display showing some aspects of the history. THey may also have one of my replica New York Rens jerseys still on display. However, the hunger desire for such an exhibit continues to exist.
What remains a mystery? What knowledge do you hope to gain in your continued search?
As with much of history, often we simply don't know what we don't know. It helps that we have been finding and hearing from the descendants of the players and contributors, who have been sharing their information and materials with us over the years.
What’s been your most important contribution?
In short, we’ve managed to put the history of the Black Fives Era “on the map.”
Have you thought about offering a history course at a local college or university? This could be a valuable course.
No, they haven’t, although we’ve talked about it in the past, but they’re facing a difficult financial climate right now and have been for a while. They did at one time have some cardboard-mounted images and text on display showing some aspects of the history. THey may also have one of my replica New York Rens jerseys still on display. However, the hunger desire for such an exhibit continues to exist.
What remains a mystery? What knowledge do you hope to gain in your continued search?
As with much of history, often we simply don't know what we don't know. It helps that we have been finding and hearing from the descendants of the players and contributors, who have been sharing their information and materials with us over the years.
What’s been your most important contribution?
In short, we’ve managed to put the history of the Black Fives Era “on the map.”
Have you thought about offering a history course at a local college or university? This could be a valuable course.
I am creating a course right now called How You Can Make History Now. It combines the powerful messages, positive lessons, and fascinating history of the Black Fives Era with the teachings of today's most enlightened thought leaders - using the Black Fives brand as a vehicle - to show people how they can improve their day-to-day well-being in areas like health, wealth, happiness, and personal growth.
I'm talking about practical solutions that impact jobs, promotions, confidence, attitudes, purpose, expertise, finances, and relationships as well as areas like overcoming hurdles, raising kids, developing leadership skills, and more.
This will be an extraordinary offering, available as a comprehensive audio-course full of structured teachings, exercises, storytelling, examples, and homework. I'll conduct the course, and I'll also have an abbreviated version available for live tele-seminars and for personal appearances.
What else is next for you and the Black Fives brand?
I'm talking about practical solutions that impact jobs, promotions, confidence, attitudes, purpose, expertise, finances, and relationships as well as areas like overcoming hurdles, raising kids, developing leadership skills, and more.
This will be an extraordinary offering, available as a comprehensive audio-course full of structured teachings, exercises, storytelling, examples, and homework. I'll conduct the course, and I'll also have an abbreviated version available for live tele-seminars and for personal appearances.
What else is next for you and the Black Fives brand?
For our part, we’re continuing the marketing, promotion, and merchandising of the Black Fives brand in other areas, so our visibility will continue to grow and expand.
One of our goals is to involve the National Basketball Association in the merchandising and licensing of the logos of the Black Fives Era. If they were involved, then they could strategically place selected N.B.A. teams in the old uniforms to commemorate and embrace this history, which made the success of their league possible in the first place. For example, the New York Knicks could wear the old Harlem Rens jerseys a couple of times during a season. This would not only increase their sales revenue but also improve their goodwill among players and the communities surrounding their teams as well as the overall awareness of this history. I
’m also in the middle of writing a book, or two. A book that definitively chronicles the history of the Black Fives Era will have an impact on the amount and new types of content available and the way it’s distributed. It will also increase the number of appearances I can make to further educate people about how lessons from the Black Fives Era can be applied today. These pioneers created something from nothing, and kept escalating to higher and bigger levels of success despite steep odds. If they did it, we can too. This is supported by our company slogan, “Make History Now!” I believe that having a book published will also expand and accelerate the range of ideas for where to go next with the brand. The other book will be more personal, in which I’ll share my thoughts, feelings, insights, and experiences with “fatherhood” – that is, the magnificence and purpose of being a father.
’m also in the middle of writing a book, or two. A book that definitively chronicles the history of the Black Fives Era will have an impact on the amount and new types of content available and the way it’s distributed. It will also increase the number of appearances I can make to further educate people about how lessons from the Black Fives Era can be applied today. These pioneers created something from nothing, and kept escalating to higher and bigger levels of success despite steep odds. If they did it, we can too. This is supported by our company slogan, “Make History Now!” I believe that having a book published will also expand and accelerate the range of ideas for where to go next with the brand. The other book will be more personal, in which I’ll share my thoughts, feelings, insights, and experiences with “fatherhood” – that is, the magnificence and purpose of being a father.
One other brand‐related initiative we’d like to see is better preservation of this history. Over the years, many of the descendants of players and contributors from this period have approached me to ask what they should do with their scrapbooks, photographs, journals, correspondences, and other materials. Although we have an extensive collection of our own, my hands have always been tied in terms of helping them. That’s because, ultimately, these papers and artifacts – ours, and those of others – demand handling by professionals with “white glove” treatment and proper facilities. It’s gotten to the point now – in terms of research, education, administration, and preservation – where we need to take our “archive” efforts to another level. Furthermore, this history is begging to be surrounded by academic energy and access for the community. So we’ve discussed this with one or two institutions that might be able to help, and we’re very open to more of that.
