Documentary Photograph of Westwood Boys’ Baseball Team Including One Black Player, Pre–Civil Rights Era, circa 1910s

Integration

Photograph

Albumen photograph, circa 1910s, depicting an integrated boys’ baseball team identified as “Westwood,” with direct relevance to the study of race, youth athletics, and segregation in early twentieth-century America. The image shows a group of adolescent players in uniform posed with their coach on stone steps before a brick building, likely associated with a school or local institution. Among the sixteen white players stands one African American teammate, positioned slightly apart from the group, providing visual evidence of limited instances of interracial participation in organized sport during a period otherwise defined by formalized segregation. Produced in the decades following the rollback of Reconstruction-era gains and the consolidation of Jim Crow laws, the photograph documents a local exception within a broader national landscape in which professional baseball and most organized leagues excluded Black players until mid-century.

Albumen photograph measuring approximately 10 x 8 inches, mounted on photographer’s board with a double-paneled cover. The players’ uniforms bear the name “Westwood” across the chest. The composition captures the team arranged in tiers, with varied expressions and postures, while the African American player is positioned at the edge of the group, looking away from the camera. The interior of the photographer’s cover includes penciled names of the players, providing potential identification of individuals depicted.

Mounted photograph with minor tearing to the board at the upper corner not affecting the image; photograph itself sharp with clear detail; overall very good condition. A visual record of youth baseball and racial dynamics in the Jim Crow era, preserving a rare instance of integrated participation at the local level prior to the desegregation of American professional sports.

Item #18257

Price: $550.00