Hey there! It’s Esther! I want to show you something super cute. Look at these animals playing! It looks like they’re giving each other high fives, doesn’t it? Someone named Max has a question about high fives. Let’s find out more!
Max asked, “Who invented the high five?” That’s a great question! You probably give high fives to say hello, celebrate something cool, or congratulate a friend. Think about the last time you gave someone a high five. Why did you do it? Take a moment to think about it!
It might seem like high fives have been around forever, but there was a time when people didn’t use them. Let’s look back in time. In a baseball game in 2023, players celebrated a home run with high fives. But in the 1960s, they shook hands instead. The high five wasn’t as popular back then.
Before the high five, there was the low five, where people slapped hands down low. It became popular in the 1940s, especially among jazz musicians in Black communities in the U.S. But how did it become the high five?
Some say women’s volleyball players started high-fiving in the 1960s. Others noticed high fives in old TV shows and movies. But when did it become famous?
One story takes us to October 2nd, 1977. The LA Dodgers were playing against the Houston Astros. Dusty Baker hit a home run, and his teammate Glenn Burke was so excited that he raised his hand in the air. Dusty Baker reached up and smacked Glenn’s hand. The team loved it and started high-fiving each other. Fans learned it too, and it spread everywhere!
Another story is about basketball players Wiley Brown and Derek Smith from the University of Louisville. During practice, Wiley went for a low five, but Derek said, “No, up high!” and raised his hand. They started high-fiving, and soon everyone was doing it.
So, who invented the high five? Was it Glenn Burke and Dusty Baker? Or Wiley Brown and Derek Smith? Maybe it was volleyball players or actors from old movies. The truth is, it might have been all of them! The high five became popular because lots of people loved it and shared it with others.
Every time you give a high five, you’re keeping the tradition alive. It’s a way to show joy and pride, and that’s why so many people love it!
Thanks for the great question, Max! We’ll be back with more fun topics soon. You can help us decide what to explore next. Would you like to learn why leaves change color in the fall, how syrup is made, or why pumpkins are so popular every fall? Let us know what you think!
Remember, there are mysteries all around us. Stay curious, and see you next time!
High Five History Hunt: Ask an adult at home or a teacher at school about the first time they remember giving or receiving a high five. What was the occasion? How did it make them feel? Share your findings with your classmates and see if you can find the oldest high five story!
Create Your Own High Five: With a friend or family member, invent a new type of high five. It could be a special move, a sound, or even a little dance. Practice it together and give it a fun name. Show it to your class and see if they can learn it too!
High Five Observation Journal: For one week, keep a journal of every time you give or receive a high five. Write down who it was with, why you did it, and how it made you feel. At the end of the week, look back at your entries and think about why high fives are such a fun way to connect with others.
Here’s a sanitized version of the transcript:
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Hey, it’s Esther! Can I show you something super cute? Look at how these animals are playing! Doesn’t it look like they’re giving high fives? Someone named Max has a question about high fives. Let’s give Max a call now.
Hi, Esther! Hey, Max! I have a question for you: Who invented the high five? That’s a great question! You probably have some first-hand experience giving high fives. You might use high fives to say hello at the start of a school day, congratulate someone, or celebrate an accomplishment. I’m curious, when was the last time you gave someone a high five? Why did you high five? Now would be a good time to pause the video and discuss.
Okay, you ready? It might feel like everyone everywhere has always high-fived. You might not even remember how you first learned to high five, but there was a time before the high five, and it wasn’t even that long ago. Take a look! This is a clip from a baseball game in 2023. Watch what the team does to celebrate a home run. They’re high-fiving, right? Now compare that to a home run from back in the 1960s. Nobody’s high-fiving; instead, they’re shaking hands. The high five just wasn’t as popular then as it is today.
So if the high five wasn’t always around, how was it invented? Long before the high five became popular, there was the low five—slapping hands like this. No one knows exactly who started the low five, but by the 1940s, the move had become popular in Black communities in the U.S., especially among jazz musicians. As time went on, more and more people started doing it, but it still wasn’t quite a high five.
So how did the low five become the high five? Well, that’s a tricky question. Some people point out that women’s volleyball players started high-fiving during games in the 1960s. Others have noticed occasional high fives or moves that kind of look like high fives in old TV shows and movies. But when did the high five become something millions of people know about and do every day?
Here’s one possibility: Let’s go back in time. It’s October 2nd, 1977. The LA Dodgers are facing off against the Houston Astros in front of thousands of screaming fans in Dodger Stadium. Young Dusty Baker steps up to the plate. Dusty Baker’s teammate Glenn Burke watches nervously from the dugout. Imagine how stressed you’d feel watching your friend face down this big moment. The pitch comes, Dusty Baker swings, and he hits a home run! The team goes wild in celebration as Dusty Baker lands on home plate. Glenn Burke is so excited that he runs out onto the field and lifts his hand in the air to greet his teammate. When Dusty Baker sees the joy in his friend’s pose, he knows exactly what to do. He reaches up and smacks Glenn Burke’s hand. The move caught on, and the whole team started high-fiving each other. Eventually, the Dodgers even made posters about the high five so fans could learn how to do it. Those fans taught their friends, who taught their friends, and so on.
So is that how the high five was invented? Maybe! Here’s another possibility: Around the same time the Dodgers started high-fiving in California, two players were playing a different sport. Wiley Brown and Derek Smith were both players for the University of Louisville’s basketball team. That year, the Cardinals were really good. They were so good at slam dunks that they became known as the “Doctors of Dunk.” One day during practice, Wiley Brown goes to give his best friend Derek Smith a low five, but Derek Smith says, “No, up high!” and raises his hand in the air. This makes total sense to Wiley Brown. After all, they’re the Doctors of Dunk—they’re all about jumping and dunking up high! So he slaps his friend’s hand up high. The move caught on, and soon the whole team was high-fiving during practices, during games, with each other and with fans. You see the hands shaking above the head? You know what the guys call that? A high five!
It spread around the country. So in summary, the low five became the high five. But who was the real inventor of the high five? Was it Glenn Burke, Dusty Baker, and the LA Dodgers? Was it Wiley Brown, Derek Smith, and the Doctors of Dunk? Or was it volleyball players in the 1960s, actors in the 1950s, or someone else?
Okay, hear me out: What if it was all of them? Something like the high five isn’t invented by one person or even four. Would we know about Glenn Burke and Dusty Baker’s high five without the Dodgers fans who picked up the move and taught it to their friends? Who knows what the Doctors of Dunk have started doing with the high five? If Black musicians hadn’t started doing the low five many years earlier, who knows?
No matter where the move first started, the high five still exists today because millions of people around the world keep doing it. Every time you high five someone, you’re keeping the high five alive, passing it from one person to another. The high five expresses something important—something lots of people feel in lots of different situations: joy and pride. Maybe that’s why so many people came up with the idea and why so many people keep doing it today.
That’s all for this week’s question. Thanks for asking, Max! We’ll be back with a new episode in a couple of weeks. But in the meantime, here are some older questions from the question jar. You can vote on which one you think we should send out next week. You can choose from: Why do leaves change color in the fall? How is syrup made? Or why are pumpkins so popular every fall? So submit your vote when the video is over. We want to hear from all of you watching. There are mysteries all around us. Stay curious, and see you next week!
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This version maintains the content while ensuring clarity and readability.
