Sign advertising Club Plantation: Museum Object and Cultural History

The object in the museum catalogue

A sign advertising the segregated Club Plantation in Saint Louis, Missouri. The sign is printed on light yellow poster board and features black text and black-and-red graphics. Just above the center of the sign is a caricatured cartoon depiction of a man's head. Printed text in the negative on the man’s hair and forehead reads [Man / dat sho was / good!]. Above the man’s head is a rectangular red block with a convex bottom and upwards pointing arrows printed in the negative. The arrows point towards the name of the club printed in large, black, centered text at the top that reads [CLUB / PLANTATION]. Printed below the man’s head, in centered black text, is information about the club that reads [911 N. Vandeventer / St. Louis / 3 FLOOR SHOWS / NIGHTLY / STRICTLY / WHITE PATRONAGE ONLY / Franklin 7244-9605]. The text and graphics are framed with a thin red border with flourishes in each corner. The back of the print is blank.

Materials, dates and provenance

• Date: 1932-1940
• Printed by: Unidentified
• Subject of: Club Plantation, American, founded 1932
• Type: information signs
• Medium: ink on poster board
• Dimensions: H x W x D (Framed): 21 × 11 1/2 × 3/4 in. (53.3 × 29.2 × 1.9 cm)
• Dimensions: H x W x D (Unframed): 19 13/16 × 10 7/16 × 1/16 in. (50.3 × 26.5 × 0.1 cm)
• Place used: Saint Louis, Missouri, United States, North and Central America
• Topic: African American
• Topic: Blackface
• Topic: Caricature and cartoons
• Topic: Jazz (Music)
• Topic: Nightlife
• Topic: Segregation
• Object number: 2024.114
• Credit Line: Collection of the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture, Gift of J. Alex Rodriguez
• 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.