Joe Washington African American Baseball 1936 Type 1 Signed Photo Paul Robeson

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Joe Washington African American Baseball 1936 Type 1 Signed Photo Paul Robeson:
$4900.00

DETAILS: Original photograph of African American basball player Joe Washington.Dated 1936. Versois hand signed by Washington along with an inscription to his freindPaul Robeson. Measures 5" x 7" inches. Washington was the first African American to play baseball professionally in the United Kingdom.

BIOGRAPHY: Joseph Leonard Washington (1902-1986) was an African American athlete and physician. Born in Jacksonville Florida, he was thesecond of five children.His family moved to Brooklyn and heattended Erasmus Hall High School in Brooklyn, where he was given the nickname the “phenom of phenoms” for his skills as a captain of both thefootball and baseball teams. He later attended New York University (NYU)to study science and medicine. During his studies at NYC, he met and befriended fellow African Americanathlete Paul Robeson.Washington also played for the schools football and baseball teams. He was forced to cut his studies at NYU short due to financial hardship and relocateto Colby College, Maine, where he continuedmedical studies. In addition to his academic endeavors he continued his athletic pursuits playing as the only black athlete in both the all white football and baseball teams at Colby. During his post secondary athletic pursuits, what is important to note is that Washington was for the most part the only African American player on all of the teams he participated in.Despite his high academic accomplishments both on and off the field, Washington had difficulty gaining admission to medical school in the United States because of his African American heritage. Like many black men, including Robeson, Washington headed to Europe where discrimination against black students was not a problem. He was accepted at EdinburghUniversity Medical School and quickly joined the Edinburgh UniversityBaseball Club to become the first African American to play baseball professionally in Great Britain.

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