Organ Shoes worn by Althea Thomas: Museum Object and Cultural History
Organ Shoes worn by Althea Thomas: referenced: King, Jr., Martin Luther. user: Thomas, Althea. maker: Bloch Company.
The object in the museum catalogue
Althea Thomas served as organist for Martin Luther King Jr.’s congregation at Dexter Avenue Baptist Church in Montgomery, Alabama from 1955 unti King announcing his departure for Atlanta in December, 1959. Her performances while wearing these shoes of gospel anthems such as “Precious Lord, Take My Hand” inspired King and his congregationevery Sunday during the landmark Montgomery bus boycott.
A pair of black tap shoes made by Bloch, modified to play organ bass pedals. Thomas removed the metal taps on the bottoms of the shoes to use them as organ shoes.
Materials, dates and provenance
- referenced: King, Jr., Martin Luther
- user: Thomas, Althea
- maker: Bloch Company
- Object Name: shoes, pair of
- Physical Description: canvas (overall material)
- Physical Description: textile (overall material)
- Physical Description: rubber (overall material)
- Physical Description: leather (overall material)
- Physical Description: metal (overall material)
- Measurements: overall: 3 1/4 in x 3 1/2 in x 9 1/2 in; 8.255 cm x 8.89 cm x 24.13 cm
- Measurements: part: left shoe: 3 3/8 in x 3 1/2 in x 9 1/2 in; 8.5725 cm x 8.89 cm x 24.13 cm
- worn: United States: Alabama, Montgomery
- Subject: Civil Rights Movement
- ID Number: 2019.0071.01
- accession number: 2019.0071
- catalog number: 2019.0071.01
- Credit Line: Gift of Althea Thomas
- Data Source: National Museum of American History
Sources and reuse
Catalogue descriptions and facts adapted from National Museum of American History through the Smithsonian's official Open Access dataset. This record explicitly marks its metadata CC0 1.0; formatting and selection have been changed.
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