Down In Memphis -They're Wearing Out Their Shoes, Dancing To "The Blues": Museum Object and Cultural History

The object in the museum catalogue

Sheet music for the song Down in Memphis. The front cover for the sheet music features an illustration of an African American man dancing while several other people look on and play instruments. The scene takes place on a dock at night and a boat can be seen in the water. Red and white type on the front cover above the image reads: [DOWN IN MEMPHIS / -THEY'RE WEARING OUT THEIR SHOES, DANCING TO "THE BLUES"]. Below the image, red type reads: [The / great "levee" / song of the South / by / HI WILSON / HALE BYERS]. A text box logo in blue ink on the bottom of the front cover reads: [CHAS. L. JOHNSON / MUSIC COMPANY / GORDON-KOPPEL BLDG. / LIVE-WIRE / MUSIC / MUSIC COMPANY / KANSAS CITY, MO.]. The front inside cover has sheet music in black ink for additional songs. The interior of the sheet music consists of three pages of sheet music in black ink for Down in Memphis. The top of the back cover has a drawing in black ink of a man playing a trombone. There is also sheet music for a song titled: [Doodle De-Dum].

Materials, dates and provenance

• Date: 1916
• Composed by: Hi Wilson
• Written by: Hale N. Byers
• Published by: Charles Leslie Johnson, American, 1876 - 1950
• Published by: Chas. L. Johnson Music Company, American
• Owned by: Vernon Sugg McDonald, American, 1906 - 1982
• Type: sheet music
• Medium: ink on paper
• Dimensions: H x W: 13 3/4 × 10 5/16 in. (34.9 × 26.2 cm)
• Place collected: Sugg McDonald House, Sonora, Tuolumne County, California, United States, North and Central America
• Place printed: Kansas City, Missouri, United States, North and Central America
• Cultural Place: Memphis, Shelby County, Tennessee, United States, North and Central America
• Topic: African American
• Topic: Blackface
• Topic: Ragtime (Music)
• Topic: Stereotypes
• Object number: 2014.275.3
• Credit Line: Collection of the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture, Gift of Sylvia Alden Roberts
• 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.