"Employee Dinner Charlottesville and Albemarle Railway Company," a photograph taken by Rufus W. Holsinger on October 22, 1915.

The photograph shows white men at the dinner function, with six African American servers standing in the background. The men in the foreground are clearly in focus; the servers are not, hence their facial features are blurred (so that it would be difficult to identify each man).

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.

Relatedly, see "Charlottesville and Albemarle Railway Company Power Plant."

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

- "Employee Dinner Charlottesville and Albemarle Railway Company," 1915-10-22, photograph in UVA Library Catalogue (X03554B)  

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 12, 2021

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