The Black Fives

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 * 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 * 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 * 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: The Long and Perilous Journey of Samoans to the NFL *