Piano player and crowd: Museum Object and Cultural History

The object in the museum catalogue

A black-and-white photograph of a woman playing a piano with a crowd of people during the Poor People's Campaign.

The image depicts a woman in a white sleeveless dress playing the piano. The piano is situated outside, at the base of a set of wide, tiered steps. There are men and women sitting and standing around her. Some people are leaning on the piano. There is a grouping of flower arrangements on the far side of the piano.

There is a thin black border around the image with a white border on the outside. The photograph is signed "Laura Jones" on the proper left side under the image. The back of the photograph is blank.

Materials, dates and provenance

• Date: 1968
• Photograph by: Laura Jones, Canadian American, born 1948
• Subject of: Poor People's Campaign, American, 1967 - 1968
• Type: giclée prints
• Medium: ink on paper
• Dimensions: H x W (Sheet): 13 × 19 in. (33 × 48.3 cm)
• Dimensions: H x W (Image): 11 15/16 × 17 5/16 in. (30.3 × 44 cm)
• Place captured: Washington, District of Columbia, United States, North and Central America
• Topic: African American
• Topic: Activism
• Topic: Black geographies
• Topic: Civil Rights
• Topic: Justice
• Topic: Local and regional
• Topic: Music
• Topic: Musicians
• Object number: 2017.109.16
• 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: © Laura Jones Permission required for use. Proper usage is the responsibility of the user.