The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of December 17, 2025

Football player hugging his mother, Brooklyn, NY

1963

Leonard Freed

(American, 1929–2006)
America
gelatin silver print
Image: 21.9 x 32.7 cm (8 5/8 x 12 7/8 in.); Paper: 27.7 x 35.4 cm (10 7/8 x 13 15/16 in.)
Gift of Michael Mattis and Judith Hochberg 2016.294
© Leonard Freed /Magnum Photos
Location: Not on view

Did You Know?

In 2020, Black athletes comprised 70% of the National Football League players.

Description

This photograph was taken as part of a multiyear photographic exploration of the fabric of daily African American life that Leonard Freed titled Black in White America. The players shown are likely from a college or amateur team, but some of them may have dreamed of turning pro. The National Football League had a few Black players in 1920, when it originated, but none between 1933 and 1945. In 1962, the year before this photograph, the Washington Redskins become the final NFL team to integrate; they did so under threat of civil-rights legal action.
  • Leonard Freed (the artist) [1929-2006]
    (Magnum Photos, New York, NY)
    Estate of Leonard Freed
    Michael Mattis and Judith Hochberg, Scarsdale, NY
    December 5, 2016
    The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
  • Black in America: Louis Draper and Leonard Freed. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (February 26-July 30, 2017).
  • {{cite web|title=Football player hugging his mother, Brooklyn, NY|url=false|author=Leonard Freed|year=1963|access-date=17 December 2025|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

Source URL:

https://www.clevelandart.org/art/2016.294