Footage of an event held by Bedford Stuyvesant Youth in Action, Inc.: Museum Object and Cultural History

The object in the museum catalogue

Film footage of an event held by Bedford Stuyvesant Youth in Action, Inc. It consists of a single reel of 16mm black-and-white acetate film and features multiple performances conducted by members of Bed-Stuy Youth in Action in front of an audience on a residential street in the Bedford-Stuyvesant neighborhood of Brooklyn, New York City. The performances consist of fashion, dance, and music. The film also features shots of the crowd and artwork on display.

The film opens with a group of about half dozen youth standing on an elevated stage with an audience in front of them. A band is seated to the lefthand side of the stage facing the audience. A large sign hangs on the building behind the stage with the name of YIA. The young people on stage are all dressed in formal clothes and put on a fashion show shortly thereafter. They use the stage as a fashion show runway to model the fashions they're wearing. Seven young women in black leotards are the next group to appear on stage, and they perform several different dance routines. As the women exit the stage, three men in black shirts and black leggings walk onto the stage and perform a routine. The film abruptly cuts to a different fashion show. Shortly after, the film abruptly cuts again to scenes of the crowd and some artwork on display. The artwork consists of multimedia and paintings on easels. The film then cuts to several different scenes: a man speaking on stage (he was also seen in an earlier crowd shot), three young women singing, and saxophone players in a jazz band that accompanies the singers. There are more shots of the crowd, the jazz band, and another fashion show. The film ends with eight young women performing a dance routine on stage.

Materials, dates and provenance

• Date: 1965
• Created by: Tee Beveridge, American, 1923 - 1993
• Subject of: Bedford-Stuyvesant Youth in Action, Inc., American, 1964 - 1978
• Owned by: Pearl Bowser, American, 1931 - 2023
• Type: silent films
• Type: black-and-white films (visual works)
• Type: short subjects
• Type: 16mm (photographic film size)
• Medium: acetate film
• Dimensions: Duration: 6 min.
• Dimensions: Physical extent (film): 235 ft
• Place filmed: Bedford-Stuyvesant, New York City, New York, United States, North and Central America
• Topic: African American
• Topic: Art
• Topic: Communities
• Topic: Fashion
• Topic: Film
• Topic: Jazz (Music)
• Topic: Modern dance
• Topic: Musicians
• Object number: 2012.79.1.12.1a
• Credit Line: Collection of the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture, Gift of Pearl Bowser
• Data Source: National Museum of African American History and Culture

Sources and reuse

Catalogue descriptions and facts adapted from National Museum of African American History and Culture through the Smithsonian's official Open Access dataset. This record explicitly marks its metadata CC0 1.0; formatting and selection have been changed. The underlying object's rights statement is: © Hortense Beveridge Permission required for use. Proper usage is the responsibility of the user.