Scope and arrangement
The Sports collection, compiled by staff of the Schomburg Center, depicts some aspects of African-American participation in sporting events and athletic competition, mainly from the 1940s to the mid-1980s. The collection includes both original photographic prints and reproductions.
Sports represented in the collection consist of: baseball, basketball, body building, bowling, boxing, car racing, fencing, football, golf, gymnastics, hockey, horse racing, martial arts, miscellaneous sports, the Olympic Games, roller skating, soccer, swimming, tennis, and track and field. The collection consists of individual and group portraits and candid shots of professional, amateur, and youth-league athletes, mostly male, as well as some coaches, owners, and sports fans; views and candid shots of sporting events and competitions; some views of sports classes and athletic training sessions; views of sports award ceremonies and charity events; and some publicity shots. The sports most heavily depicted in the collection are baseball, basketball, boxing, football and track and field. The collection is limited in depicting sports figures and events from the nineteenth century to the 1930s, and from the 1990s and later.
Individuals depicted include some members of collegiate and professional baseball teams, including the Negro League baseball teams; some professional, collegiate, and youth league basketball players; some professional and amateur boxers; some professional and collegiate football players; professional golfers; and some amateur and Olympic track stars, among others. Also depicted are some U.S. Army athletes from World War II competing in various sports. Images of nineteenth and early twentieth century pioneering athletic figures in such fields as boxing and horse racing are limited. Also included is a group portrait of the Hilldale baseball club, representing the Eastern Colored League in the 1924 Colored World Series; some views of the New York Renaissance basketball team (circa mid to late 1930s); a view of Olympic runners John Carlos and Tommie Smith giving the Black Power salute at the 1968 Olympics in Mexico City; and a group portrait of the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) 1999 Eastern Division champions, the New York Liberty.
Credited photographers include Austin Hansen, Martine Barrat, Cecil Layne, Chick Solomon, Russell C. Turiak, Carl Nesfield, and James C. Campbell, along with organizations and studios that include United Press International, Wide World Photos, Keystone Pictures, International News Photos, Acme Newspictures, and Photokraft Photographers.
Dates in description indicate dates of original photographs. Some early (circa 1900 or earlier) images are not original prints but reproductions.