As graffiti was exploding onto the subways of New York City in 1970, THE EBONY DUKES, G.C., or T.E.D. INC! in the shortened form, were also dropping bombs with spray paint and ink on the establishment. The crew originated out of a gang infested Fort Apache section of the worlds most notorious ghetto, the South Bronx and are credited as the first graffiti crews dedicated to writing on the interior and exterior of subway cars. Utimately, THE EBONY DUKES, G.C. are the first train crew in the modern graffiti movement, including subways and freights. There very well may have been moniker crews of hobos or tramps on the North American freight system before T.E.D. INC! but this has yet to be documented.
Some of the original seven members belonged to street gangs and decided to hang up their colors and wage war against the system rather than each other. The crew was founded by pioneer writer, STAFF 161, who left the Ghetto Brothers to become the president. His homeboy, SUPER SLICK 156 walked away from the infamous and violent Savage Skulls to take up the vice president spot and AJ 161 (ALL JIVE), STAFF's younger brother, was the third in command. Original member, TOPAZ 1, dropped out of the vicious and influential Black Spades to join up in the fight. HS 575 (HOT SAUCE), DYNAMITE 161 aka DR SOUL and KING KOOL 156, who were unaffiliated and already talented writers, rounded out the original roll-call of T.E.D. INC!.
THE EBONY DUKES GRAFFITI CLUB was a major influence on the development of graffiti as pure vandalism and as an art form. They have produced some of the most inspirational and innovative subway art and vandalism in the history of the train writing movement.
The crew quickly expanded to include hundreds of the top writers from all five boroughs. Originally, STAFF would hand draw membership cards for each new member recruited from index cards he had boosted from Woolworth's. Several members received these unique cards and treasure them to this day, but still some never received a card at all. It is time to correct this and make THE EBONY DUKES, G.C. unified again.
As part of the 50th anniversary of the founding of THE EBONY DUKES, G.C., official membership cards are being reissued. To apply for a card you must be confirmed to have been or currently are, a member of T.E.D. INC!. These applications will be reviewed and if the applicant is qualified, will be issued a new card with a personal security code number.
To apply, please include the below information.
1.)What you wrote.
2.)What time frame did you write, beginning to retirement or on-going.
3.)Who put you down with T.E.D. INC! and when. Please include details if you can remember them.
Go to the contact page and please include all of the above information in your email, along with a mailing address where you can receive your new card once granted. Please type T.E.D. INC! MEMBERSHIP CARD APPLICATION in the subject line.
Three levels of membership cards exist. A Gold Card will be issued to pioneering members who wrote in the time frame of 1969-1975, basically if STAFF 161 put you down with T.E.D. INC!, then you will receive a Gold Card. A Bronze Card will be issued to writers who have represented T.E.D. INC! in the years after 1976. A White Card will be issued to all associate members, that is any member who may or may not actively represent T.E.D. INC! on the trains/streets with spray paint and ink but have contributed or are contributing to the legendary THE EBONY DUKES, GRAFFITI CLIQUE in a different capacity.
A shipping and handling fee of $5 will be required for all domestic cards and $15 for international cards. This fee can be paid through the website on the "Works on Paper" found on the products page of this website.