Historical Portrait
Man in uniform drinking
Archive record
Historical black and white photograph of an African American Marine in uniform sitting at a diner table, taken by photographer Ellis Bayles Myers in 1916.
About this photograph
A Marine in uniform photographed at a diner table on 5 December 1916 by Ellis Bayles Myers.
The record does not identify the sitter by name. Such omissions were common in catalogue records of the period, which routinely left Black sitters unnamed while naming white ones, reflecting the record-keeping practices rather than the significance of the person photographed.
Studio portraiture held particular importance in Black communities at this time. Published images of African Americans were then dominated by caricature, so sitting for a formal portrait became a deliberate assertion of dignity and standing. Black-owned studios operated in many cities to serve clients whom white studios often refused or treated poorly.
The photograph forms part of material digitised through California Revealed, a statewide programme that makes holdings from California libraries, archives, museums and historical societies publicly available. Items bearing that source tag come from many separate local institutions across the state, indicating where a photograph was digitised rather than where it was taken.
Compiled from the catalogue record and reference notes on the formats and events involved. The archive record above is the primary source.
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