Photograph of Disc Jockey Bill “Hawk” Hawkins with a WHK microphone: Museum Object and Cultural History
Photograph of Disc Jockey Bill “Hawk” Hawkins with a WHK microphone: Date: 1949-1958. Photograph by: Unidentified. Subject of: Bill Hawkins, American, 1909 - 1975.
The object in the museum catalogue
A black-and-white photograph of Disc Jockey Bill “Hawk” Hawkins. Hawkins is depicted from the thighs up, holding a small, rectangular piece of white paper in proper right hand at chest level, and gesturing with his proper left hand. He is wearing a medium-toned, double breasted suit, a white collared shirt, a dark tie, and he has a white pocket square in his left breast pocket. There is a microphone stand in front of him. At the top of the microphone is a rounded microphone flag with the radio station call sign, [WHK], visible. In the background is a two-tone wall with a woven wallpaper pattern on the top half and a dark painted bottom half. A square of fabric hangs over his proper right shoulder. The photograph has a portrait orientation. The back of the photograph is white and plain.
Materials, dates and provenance
- Date: 1949-1958
- Photograph by: Unidentified
- Subject of: Bill Hawkins, American, 1909 - 1975
- Subject of: WHK, American, founded 1922
- Type: gelatin silver prints
- Type: portraits
- Medium: silver and photographic gelatin on photographic paper
- Dimensions: H x W (Sheet): 13 15/16 × 11 1/8 in. (35.4 × 28.3 cm)
- Place captured: Cleveland, Cuyahoga County, Ohio, United States, North and Central America
- Place printed: Cleveland, Cuyahoga County, Ohio, United States, North and Central America
- Topic: African American
- Topic: Music
- Topic: Photography
- Topic: Radio
- Object number: 2018.91.2.38
- Credit Line: Collection of the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture, Gift of W. Allen Taylor, son of "Walkin' Talkin' Bill Hawkins," The First Black Disc Jockey of Cleveland, Ohio
- 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: Unknown – Restrictions Possible Rights assessment and proper usage is the responsibility of the user.
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