Sign from a segregated bus station in Birmingham, Alabama: Museum Object and Cultural History

The object in the museum catalogue

This bus station waiting room sign, circa 1957, is from the Birmingham AL, Greyhound Bus Station. It is a standard train or bus station sign from a southern state prior to 1964 restricting the seating of non-white passengers. The sign consists of a piece of plywood painted white with black stenciled text that reads: [ WAITING ROOM / (INTERSTATE AND WHITE INTRASTATE PASSENGERS) ]. The lower right hand corner of the sign has been splintered off.

Materials, dates and provenance

• Date: ca.1957
• Created by: Unidentified
• Type: signs
• Medium: plywood and paint
• Dimensions: 7 3/8 x 74 7/8 x 1/2 in. (18.7 x 190.2 x 1.3 cm)
• Place used: Birmingham, Jefferson County, Alabama, United States, North and Central America
• Topic: African American
• Topic: Civil Rights
• Topic: Race relations
• Topic: Segregation
• Object number: 2011.130
• Credit Line: Collection of the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture, Gift of University of Mary Washington, Fredericksburg, VA in honor of Dr. James Farmer
• 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 displayed image also has an explicit CC0 designation. The underlying object's rights statement is: No Known Copyright Restrictions Proper usage is the responsibility of the user.