Playbill for For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide: Museum Object and Cultural History

The object in the museum catalogue

An edition of Playbill Magazine for the production of "for colored girls who have considered suicide / when the rainbow is enuf". The cover has a white background with yellow box at top; the illustration below depicts an African American woman wearing a yellow kerchief on her head and a yellow top. Behind the woman is a white tile wall with rainbow-colored writing reading [For/Colored/Girls/who have/Considered/Suicide/When/The/Rain-bow/is/Enuf]. Black type in yellow box at top reads, [PLAYBILL/THE BOOTH THEATRE] White sticker with image of a red elephant and [50¢] on back on back, handwritten [1977/B].

Materials, dates and provenance

• Date: November 1977
• Published by: Playbill, American, founded 1884
• Subject of: Ntozake Shange, American, 1948 - 2018
• Used by: Booth Theatre, American, founded 1913
• Type: magazines (periodicals)
• Type: playbills
• Medium: ink on paper, metal
• Dimensions: 9 x 5 5/8 x 1/8 in. (22.9 x 14.3 x 0.3 cm)
• Place used: New York City, New York, United States, North and Central America
• Topic: African American
• Topic: Drama (Theatre)
• Topic: Feminism
• Topic: Gender
• Topic: Identity
• Topic: Sexuality
• Topic: Women
• Object number: 2012.152.1213
• Credit Line: Collection of the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture, Gift of Dow B. Ellis
• 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: Playbill used by permission. All rights reserved, Playbill Inc Permission required for use. Proper usage is the responsibility of the user.