Breaking Basketball's Color Barrier

African American physical education teacher Edwin Henderson, the “Father of Black Basketball,” learned to play the game while taking classes at Harvard University in the summer of 1904.

- Christine Graf

After returning home to Washington, D.C., he taught black students in the district’s segregated schools how to play basketball. In the years that followed, Henderson introduced the sport to blacks living in cities all along the East Coast. He was determined to disprove racial stereotypes that portrayed blacks as inferior athletes incapable of playing physically demanding team sports.

As basketball’s popularity increased in African American communities, churches, social organizations, businesses, and “colored YMCAs” (YMCAs were segregated at the time) began sponsoring all-black teams. At the time, basketball teams were commonly referred to as “fives” because they had five starting players. All-black teams became commonly known as black fives.

During the 1920s, black fives basketball games were popular social events in African American communities. Because most gyms at the time were for whites only, ballrooms and dance halls doubled as basketball courts. It became a common practice for dances to take place after games.

In 1923, the Harlem Renaissance (Rens) became the country’s first professional African American basketball team. “Race games,” basketball games that pitted them against white teams, attracted large crowds, and the Rens quickly established themselves as one of the country’s best teams. In 1925, they defeated an all-white team (the original Boston Celtics) to win basketball’s world championship. The Rens competed for 27 years and amassed 2,558 wins and just 529 losses. They have been called “the greatest team you’ve never heard of.”