Customized Sigma Gamma Rho Converse sneakers for member MC Lyte: Museum Object and Cultural History

The object in the museum catalogue

A pair of gold and blue satin Converse sneakers customized for Sigma Gamma Rho sorority member MC Lyte. The shoes have white rubber toe caps, white rubber with black rubber stripes around the bottom sides, and a black rubber rectangle with the words "ALL STAR" printed in white at the center back heel. The vamp and tongue are faced in gold satin fabric with blue stitching. Text is embroidered in blue on the outside heel of each shoe, with the left shoe reading "MC LYTE" and the right shoe reading "est. 1922" in reference to the sorority's founding year. A stripe of blue satin is attached at the center back heel with gold embroidered text of the Greek alphabet letters for Sigma Gamma Rho. A white fabric tag with black embroidery reading "ALL STAR" is attached to the top of each tongue. The shoes are laced with white nylon shoelaces with clear plastic aglets. The outer soles are of black rubber with nonslip groove designs. The lining of the shoes is made of blue canvas with repeating text in gold reading "1922". The insoles are made from rubber faced in white canvas with "CONVERSE" printed in black ink near the heel. Size 8 and materials are printed onto the reverse of each tongue.

Materials, dates and provenance

• Date: 2005-2010
• Manufactured by: Converse, American, founded 1908
• Owned by: MC Lyte, American, born 1970
• Subject of: Sigma Gamma Rho Sorority, Inc., founded 1922
• Type: sneakers
• Medium: satin, rubber, canvas, metal, and nylon shoelaces with plastic aglets
• Dimensions: H x W x D (left shoe (a)): 3 3/4 × 3 1/2 × 10 1/2 in. (9.5 × 8.9 × 26.7 cm)
• Dimensions: H x W x D (right shoe (b)): 3 3/4 × 3 1/2 × 10 1/2 in. (9.5 × 8.9 × 26.7 cm)
• Topic: African American
• Topic: Associations and institutions
• Topic: Clothing and dress
• Topic: Fashion
• Topic: Hip-hop (Music)
• Topic: Rappers (Musicians)
• Topic: Sororities
• Topic: Women
• Object number: 2011.118.3ab
• Credit Line: Collection of the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture, Gift of MC Lyte
• 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: © Nike Permission required for use. Proper usage is the responsibility of the user.