Billie Holiday at a dinner party under a "Lady Day" sign: Museum Object and Cultural History

The object in the museum catalogue

This black and white photograph depicts Billie Holiday seated behind a table with a large group of people. Above her head on the wall is a large white sign with text that reads Lady Day." Wearing a light colored formal dress with spaghetti straps, a large bow in her hair, and a choker necklace, Billie Holiday leans forward and slightly to her right. Her gaze is directed towards her right. Seated to her left is a man in a gray suit and bowtie, leaning to his left towards a man standing at the end of the table, also in a gray suit. On Billie Holiday's right is a woman in a black dress. A man and woman sit beyond her. Three people, two women and a man, sit across the table from Billie Holiday, with their backs to the viewer. A man in a light colored suit and dark tie is visible in the bottom left foreground.

Materials, dates and provenance

• Date: ca. 1952
• Photograph by: Steve Jackson Jr., 1923 - 1999
• Subject of: Jimbo's Bop City, American, 1950 - 1965
• Subject of: Billie Holiday, American, 1915 - 1959
• Type: gelatin silver prints
• Medium: silver and photographic gelatin on photographic paper
• Dimensions: H x W (image): 7 1/2 × 9 7/16 in. (19 × 24 cm)
• Dimensions: H x W (sheet): 7 15/16 × 9 15/16 in. (20.2 × 25.3 cm)
• Place depicted: Fillmore, San Francisco, California, United States, North and Central America
• Topic: African American
• Topic: Bebop (Music)
• Topic: Entertainers
• Topic: Jazz (Music)
• Topic: Nightlife
• Topic: Singers (Musicians)
• Object number: 2016.117.5
• Credit Line: Collection of the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture, Gift of Mary E. Jackson, Posthumously and Linda A. Jackson
• 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: © Linda A. Jackson Permission required for use. Proper usage is the responsibility of the user.