Postcard of a performer playing a drum while on a unicycle: Museum Object and Cultural History

The object in the museum catalogue

A black and white photographic postcard of a man riding a unicycle while playing a drum.

The man is wearing a tall brimmed hat, a button down shirt with metal forearm cuffs, dark pants, and shoes. His lips are painted white and puckered. He has a large drum strapped in front of him, a drum stick in his proper right hand, and a cymbal in his proper left arm. The name "Sam Brown" is handwritten in graphite on the bottom proper left side. The postcard has minor creases and small areas of discoloration. The image is depicted vertically on the front of the postcard.

The back of the postcard is horizontal. There is black text. The top canter reads [POST CARD / CARTE POSTALE - POSTKARTE / Communication - Mitteilungen - Correspondance Address - Adresse]. There is a vertical black line underneath the words. In the top right corner there is a square with rounded edges that reads [STAMP / HERE] with a logo in between the words.

Materials, dates and provenance

• Date: 1918 - 1936
• Photograph by: Unidentified
• Subject of: Sam Brown
• Type: portraits
• Type: postcards
• Medium: ink on paper
• Dimensions: H x W: 5 3/8 × 3 7/16 in. (13.7 × 8.7 cm)
• Topic: African American
• Topic: Entertainers
• Topic: Minstrel (Music)
• Topic: Music
• Topic: Musicians
• Topic: Photography
• Topic: Stereotypes
• Topic: Vaudeville
• Object number: 2015.97.38.2
• 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: Public domain Proper usage is the responsibility of the user.