Black Fives T-Shirt - White

Description: As part of They Gave Us Game, Ebbets Field Flannels is honored to explore the history of Black basketball. This t-shirt is inspired by the legacy of the Black Fives.

History: Just after basketball was invented in 1891, teams were called “fives” in reference to their starting five players. The sport, like society, was racially segregated, and all-Black squads were called “colored quints,” “Negro cagers,” or “Black fives."

The sport remained divided from 1904 - when basketball was first introduced to African Americans on a wide-scale organized basis - until the racial integration of the National Basketball League in the 1940s and the National Basketball Association in 1950.

During that time, dozens of all-Black teams emerged, flourished, and excelled, staging culturally rich, socially meaningful events that strengthened Black communities in the face of Jim Crow oppression.