"Fire House Banquet Charlottesville," a photograph taken by Rufus W. Holsinger on December 5, 1914.

The photograph shows men at a banquet/function, with an African American server standing at the doorway in the background. 

This photograph is included here in that, although not a posed studio portrait of African Americans, it does show actual interactions between white and black citizens at a time when segregation due to Jim Crow laws was in play. It is highly valuable in providing "visual evidence" of that lived environment.

More details will be added as they are found.

NOTE that the name with which the portrait is labelled (or, labelled "untitled") is not necessarily the name of the sitter(s) in the portrait, but rather the name of the person who paid for the portrait when it was taken (the date and name associated with each photograph is from the business ledgers of R. W. Holsinger). 
Sources

- "Fire House Banquet Charlottesville," 1914-12-05, photograph in UVA Library Catalogue (X02871B)  

SEE ALSO:

Holsinger Image Gallery of African Americans

J. F. Bell Funeral Home Records

Charlottesville City Directory, 1914-15 [Hathi Trust] 

1870 & 1910 U. S. Census - Charlottesville & Esmont Communities

First published: January 19, 2021

Return to the Holsinger Main Page or African-American Portraiture List of Names