Poster for Five on the Black Hand Side: Museum Object and Cultural History

The object in the museum catalogue

A poster for a production of Five on the Black Hand Side at The American Place Theatre, printed in black ink on white paper. The poster depicts a large, illustrated silhouette of a black hand at the center of a white background. There is black text above the hand along the top margin that reads [The American Place Theatre / Wynn Handman, Director / presents]. Within the hand is white text that reads [Five on the / Black Hand Side / a new comedy by / Charlie L. Russell / Directed by / Barbara Ann Teer]. Below the hand is black text that reads [“A Celebration of the/ Black Life Style”].

Materials, dates and provenance

• Date: 1969
• Created by: American Place Theatre, American, founded 1963
• Subject of: Charlie L. Russell, American, 1932 - 2013
• Subject of: Barbara Ann Teer, American, 1937 - 2008
• Subject of: Wynn Handman, American, born 1922
• Owned by: Clarice Taylor, American, 1917 - 2011
• Type: posters
• Medium: ink on paper
• Dimensions: H x W: 16 1/4 × 11 15/16 in. (41.2 × 30.3 cm)
• Place used: New York City, New York, United States, North and Central America
• Topic: African American
• Topic: Actors
• Topic: Comedy (Theatre)
• Topic: Theatre
• Object number: 2013.188.2
• Credit Line: Collection of the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture, Gift of William and James Thomas and family in memory of Clarice Taylor
• 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: Public domain Proper usage is the responsibility of the user.