MILWAUKEE COLORED PANTHERS

The Milwaukee Colored Panthers were an African-American semi-professional basketball team that played in Wisconsin during the mid-to-late-1930s.

Location: Milwaukee, Wisconsin Nickname: Black Panthers, Negro Panthers Colors: Black, White

With an office on West Pierce Street in downtown Milwaukee, the Panthers’ innovative business model included sending postcards to post offices throughout the state, addressed simply, “Manager, City Independent Basketball Team,” along with the town’s name, but with no address. Yet, they would inevitably arrive at their destinations.

Postcard image of the Milwaukee Colored Panthers, 1938.(Sandler Archives)

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