"Chamber of Commerce Charlottesville," a photograph taken by Rufus W. Holsinger on April 8, 1916.

The photograph shows men at a banquet/function, with six servers standing throughout the room in the background. Of the six servers, four appear to be African American.

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. It is particularly interesting in that not all the servers are African American, in this instance.

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

- "Chamber of Commerce Charlottesville," 1916-04-08, photograph in UVA Library Catalogue (X04015B)  

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

Cite This Entry

First published: January 18, 2021

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