Billie Holiday with popular Bop City waitress, c. 1952: Museum Object and Cultural History

The object in the museum catalogue

This black and white photograph depicts Billie Holiday and Dorothy R. Hornsby seated at a table. Billie Holliday, wearing a white hat and white buttoned up coat, sits slightly sideways, partially turned towards the viewer. To her right sits Hornsby in a white button down blouse. She faces the viewer, her right arm propped on the table in front of them, her left arm resting on Billie Holiday's shoulder. There are glasses and plates on the corner of the table in front of them. In the background is a man seated at a piano.

Materials, dates and provenance

• Date: ca. 1952
• Photograph by: Steve Jackson Jr., 1923 - 1999
• Subject of: Billie Holiday, American, 1915 - 1959
• Subject of: Dorothy Rose Hornsby, American, born 1920
• Subject of: Jimbo's Bop City, American, 1950 - 1965
• Type: gelatin silver prints
• Medium: silver and photographic gelatin on photographic paper
• Dimensions: H x W (image): 7 7/16 × 9 9/16 in. (18.9 × 24.3 cm)
• Dimensions: H x W (sheet): 7 15/16 × 10 in. (20.2 × 25.4 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: 2016.117.4
• 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.