Photograph of First AME Church choir on the steps of the church: Museum Object and Cultural History

The object in the museum catalogue

Black and white photograph of a church choir standing in rows on the front steps of a church. The church façade features three (3) doors, the left two (2) are open with people standing in the doorways. Above the doors are gothic style tympanums filled with stained glass windows. The front row of people standing on the sidewalk are three (3) men and one (1) woman. The woman stands on the far PR and wears a white dress. Around her neck is a bow positioned over her shoulder. The three (3) men wear dark suits with white shirts. The two (2) men in the middle hold instruments. The PR musician holds a saxophone and the PL musician holds a violin. The man on the far PL stands with his hands held behind his back. On the reverse in the lower left corner is a penned note [First AME Church/Rev. J. Logan Craw, pastor, and Choir/COLLECTION OF MIRIAM MATTHEWS]. In the upper right corner is the number [4] horizontally oriented.

Materials, dates and provenance

• Date: 1940s; later print
• Photograph by: Unidentified
• Subject of: First African Methodist Episcopal Church of Los Angeles, American, founded 1872
• Subject of: Unidentified Woman or Women
• Subject of: Unidentified Man or Men
• Type: photomechanical prints
• Type: portraits
• Medium: ink on paper (fiber product)
• Dimensions: H x W (Image): 6 5/8 × 9 5/16 in. (16.8 × 23.7 cm)
• Dimensions: H x W (Sheet): 8 1/8 × 10 in. (20.6 × 25.4 cm)
• Place depicted: Los Angeles, California, United States, North and Central America
• Topic: African American
• Topic: African Methodist Episcopal
• Topic: American West
• Topic: Methodist
• Topic: Photography
• Topic: Religion
• Topic: Singers (Musicians)
• Topic: The Black Church
• Object number: 2013.227.4
• Credit Line: Collection of the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture, Gift of First A.M.E. Church of Los Angeles
• 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: No Known Copyright Restrictions Proper usage is the responsibility of the user.