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Three boys in a pile of cotton, "A Study in Black and White", circa 1910

Subjects
African American HistoryAgriculture & FarmsChildren
Card type
Printed photo
Date
c. 1902 (Early)
Front of Three boys in a pile of cotton, "A Study in Black and White", circa 1910, Mr. A. V. McGreen, IL, USA, c. 1902 printed photo postcard
Front
Back of Three boys in a pile of cotton, "A Study in Black and White", circa 1910, Mr. A. V. McGreen, IL, USA, c. 1902 printed photo postcard
Back

About this postcard

Three African American boys, wearing red, blue and yellow shirts, are shown chest-deep in a great mound of white cotton, grinning at the camera against a dark background. The card's own caption calls the scene "A Study in Black and White," a title that plays on the contrast between the cotton and the boys' faces. Such tinted genre views of cotton picking and cotton piles were common in the early 20th-century South, where cotton was the region's dominant cash crop and its harvest a frequent subject for souvenir photographers.

Postcard Details

Message · English, in pencil

Feb - 28th Havent Miss dont Pay any attention to date - the second the and 9 o'clock Made: the me the. lovingly Chie

PublisherLefroy Photographic Co.
6827. A STUDY IN BLACK AND WHITE. LEFROY PHOTOGRAPHIC CO., PUBLISHERS. --- POST CARD THIS SIDE FOR THE ADDRESS
PostmarkedNew Orleans, LA, March 8, 1905, 15:00
Stamp
Addressed to
Mr. A. V. McGreen

4238 Wentworth Ave, Chicago, IL

Postcard record

Postmarked, New Orleans, LA
PublisherLefroy Photographic Co.
Series6827
ConditionFair
Place addressedMr. A. V. McGreen, 4238 Wentworth Ave, Chicago, IL
Stamp1c Benjamin Franklin, green, issued 1902
NotesWhite border; hand-tinted photograph; handwritten message in pencil across the front margins and over the image; light soiling and edge wear. Postmark: NEW ORLEANS MAR 8 3-4 PM 1905. Undivided back with printed "THIS SIDE FOR THE ADDRESS", 1¢ green Franklin stamp, white border on the picture; light edge wear and a few surface scuffs.

Cite this card

Three boys in a pile of cotton, "A Study in Black and White", circa 1910, postcard, c. 1902. PostalPast Collection. https://postalpast.com/postcard/three-boys-in-a-pile-of-cotton-a-study-in-black-and-white-ci. Accessed October 24, 2026.