Full page: "Baseball in Blackville" print...

Item # 722351

July 27, 1878

HARPER'S WEEKLY, New York, July 27, 1878

* "Blackville" baseball scene
* Famous Thomas Nast print

Perhaps the most notable print is the very nice full page illustration: "Baseball at Blackville -- The 'White Stockings' Against the 'Black Legs' -- First Blood for the 'Black Legs.' " being a cartoonish illustration showing African-Americans playing baseball.
A wealth of other, unrelated prints as can be seen in our web listing 174264.
Complete in 16 pages, very nice condition.

AI notes: The July 27, 1878, issue of Harper's Weekly features a full-page wood engraving titled "Baseball at Blackville" by illustrator Sol Eytinge, Jr., which holds the historical distinction of being the first depiction of African Americans playing baseball in a major national periodical. While the illustration serves as a crucial artifact proving that baseball was already a fixture within Black communities during the Reconstruction era, it is heavily filtered through the lens of 19th-century racial caricature. The scene depicts a chaotic game between two fictional teams—the "White Stockings" and the "Black Legs"—using exaggerated physical features and slapstick humor characteristic of the "Blackville" series. Despite its stereotypical presentation, the print is a cornerstone for collectors of Black Americana and sports history, as it documents the cultural penetration of the "national pastime" into diverse social spheres long before the formal establishment of the Negro Leagues.