Photograph of a man carrying a contrabass in Detroit: Museum Object and Cultural History

The object in the museum catalogue

A black-and-white photograph of a man carrying a contrabass after the rebellion in Detroit, commonly known as the Detroit Riots. The image depicts a man walking down a sidewalk, with his back to the camera. He is carrying a contrabass under his right arm, and a hurricane lamp and a stick in his left hand. The street is residential, with trees on the left side of the street. There is a white car in the street on his left, and a black car on his right in a yard. There are police barricades and crowds of people on the sidewalks.

Materials, dates and provenance

• Date: July 1967
• Photograph by: Ira Rosenberg
• Subject of: Unidentified Man or Men
• Type: gelatin silver prints
• Medium: photographic gelatin and silver on photographic paper
• Dimensions: H x W (Sheet): 8 1/8 × 10 in. (20.6 × 25.4 cm)
• Dimensions: H x W (Image): 7 7/8 × 9 5/8 in. (20 × 24.4 cm)
• Place depicted: Detroit, Wayne County, Michigan, United States, North and Central America
• Topic: African American
• Topic: Civil Rights
• Topic: Music
• Topic: Photography
• Topic: Race discrimination
• Topic: Race relations
• Topic: Race riots
• Topic: U.S. History, 1961-1969
• Object number: 2011.57.11.14
• Credit Line: Collection of the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture
• 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: © Ira Rosenberg Permission required for use. Proper usage is the responsibility of the user.