Poster for Brother Martin, Servant of Jesus: Museum Object and Cultural History

The object in the museum catalogue

A poster for the film Brother Martin Servant of Jesus depicting a crucifix in the top half and two scenes from the movie in the bottom half. Positioned on the right-hand side of the sheet, the cross is portrayed as brown wood with a white statue-like Christ figure. It is set against a yellow and black background. in the top left-hand corner is text that reads [(John) Jenkins & (O.K.) Bourgeois / present]. To the right and below the crucifix is text in large letters that reads [BROTHER / MARTIN / SERVANT OF / JESUS / featuring / SPENCER WILLIAMS / and a great supporting cast]. To the right is black text on a highlighted light background that reads [FULL LENGTH FEATURE / THE STORY OF A NEGRO / WHO LOVED GOD]. Below the text are two color scenes; on the right is a scene of a doctor and nurse bending over a patient lying in bed. In the left-hand scene is a seated man turning towards a standing little girl. The man wears a light-colored shirt and dark pants, and the little girl wears a plaid jumper over a white blouse. At the bottom left corner in black text against a pink background is [HEAR - the celebrated "NOBODY KNOWS / THE TROUBLE / I'VE SEEN"]. At the very bottom left corner is [Country of Origin U.S.A.] and in the bottom right is [34141].

Materials, dates and provenance

• Date: 1942
• Distributed by: Bourgeois-Jenkins Pictures, American, active 1940s
• Subject of: Spencer Williams, American, 1893-1969
• Type: posters
• Medium: ink on paper (fiber product)
• Dimensions: H x W (image): 39 × 25 1/8 in. (99 × 63.8 cm)
• Dimensions: H x W (sheet): 41 1/16 × 27 3/16 in. (104.3 × 69 cm)
• Place used: United States, North and Central America
• Topic: African American
• Topic: Film
• Topic: Race films
• Topic: Religion
• Topic: Spirituals (Music)
• Object number: 2013.118.19
• Credit Line: Collection of the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture
• 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: Public domain Proper usage is the responsibility of the user.