The Origins of Black Basketball

Be Woke Presents Black History in Two Minutes (or so)
blackhistoryin...
Bill Russell; Michael Jordan; LeBron James. Black athletes have at times been synonymous with the sport of basketball, but it wasn’t always that way.
Invented at the turn of the 20th century, basketball was initially played in segregated leagues - that is, until the exceptional talent and contributions of a few standout Black teams, including the New York Renaissance, became impossible for the newly formed NBA to ignore.
In this episode of Black History in Two Minutes (or so) hosted by Henry Louis Gates, Jr. - with additional commentary from author and filmmaker Nelson George and author and historian Claude Johnson - we explore the origins of Black basketball, including a heated championship match-up that helped shift the trajectory of the sport.
EXECUTIVE PRODUCERS
Robert Smith
Henry Louis Gates, Jr.
Dyllan McGee
SERIES PRODUCER
Kelsi Lindus
PRODUCERS
Chelsea Adewunmi
Oluwaseun Babalola
Kevin Burke
Megan Graham
Vashni Korin
CHIEF OPERATING OFFICER
Robert L. Yacyshyn
PRODUCTION MANAGER
Ashley Thomas
POST PRODUCTION SUPERVISOR
Veronica Leib
POST PRODUCTION MANAGER
Katherine Swiatek
WRITTEN BY
Henry Louis Gates, Jr.
ORIGINAL MUSIC COMPOSED BY
Matthew Head
ADDITIONAL WRITING
Kevin Burke
SERIES EDITOR
Reena Mangubat
EDITORS
Cierra Pacheco
Liza Renzulli
Anne Yao
ASSISTANT EDITORS
Ben Pakman
Patrice Bowman
Imani Dean
SUPERVISING PRODUCERS
Will Ventura
Sara Wolitzky
ARCHIVAL PRODUCERS
Megan Graham
Jade Edwards-Lovell
DIRECTORS OF PHOTOGRAPHY​
Seng Chen
Gregory Brutus
Nausheen Dadabhoy
ARCHIVAL MATERIAL COURTESY OF:
Getty Images
Pond5
The Black Fives Foundation
ADDITIONAL MATERIAL:
National Basketball Association
Solomon Sir Jones Films. Yale Collection of Western Americana, Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library
The Daily Argus-Leader
The Oshkosh Northwestern
The Rhinelander Daily News
Twin City News-Record
SPECIAL THANKS
Darrick Angelone
Jorge Felipe
Nelson George
Amy Gosdanian
Evelyn Brooks Higginbotham
Claude Johnson
Romilla Karnick
John Thornton
Marial Iglesias Utset
Sara Wicht
Abby Wolf
Distributed by aone.la

[@IkeTurner2.0]

How much money will a all Black Nba bring in?????

[@IkeTurner2.0]

Its time for a Black NBA away from politics and greed

[@yvettetwaters7524]

Insightful And Informative! Thank You Gratefully! 🌺

[@INeedABlessingNow]

Very insightful. It seems so absurd that there was a time when some Whites didn't believe that Blacks were capable of playing basketball at the same level as them.

[@LakeManship]

great insight!