The Last Poets, Douglas 3: Museum Object and Cultural History

The object in the museum catalogue

The Last Poets is the debut spoke word album by The Last Poets, released in 1970. The vinyl record (a) features a black label with white type. The album sleeve (b) features a large photograph of the group standing on a New York City sidewalk set against a blue background. At the top is [THE LAST POETS] in blue type against a yellow background.

Materials, dates and provenance

• Date: 1970
• Recorded by: The Last Poets, American, founded 1968
• Published by: Douglas, American, 1968 - 1977
• Composed by: Umar Bin Hassan, American, born 1948
• Composed by: Jalal M. Nuriddin, American, born 1944
• Composed by: Abiodun Oyewole, American, born 1948
• Produced by: East Wind Associates, American, active 1970s
• Type: record covers
• Type: long-playing records
• Medium: vinyl, ink on paper and cardboard
• Dimensions: H x W: 12 3/8 x 12 3/8 in. (31.4 x 31.4 cm)
• Place made: New York City, New York, United States, North and Central America
• Topic: African American
• Topic: Actors
• Topic: Communities
• Topic: Film
• Topic: Identity
• Topic: Resistance
• Topic: Spoken word (Poetry)
• Topic: Urban life
• Object number: 2011.80.2ab
• Credit Line: Collection of the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture, Gift of Umar Bin Hassan
• 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: © 1970 Douglas Records Rights assessment and proper usage is the responsibility of the user.