Checkerboard used by Herman Wallace while incarcerated: Museum Object and Cultural History

The object in the museum catalogue

A black and red Pressman Toys checkerboard used by Herman Wallace while incarcerated at Angola Prison. This cardboard checkerboard is visibly creased in the middle, with “Pressman” printed in black ink in one quadrant, and [010 Pressman Toy Corporation, New York, NY 10011.] printed in white ink in another quadrant.

Materials, dates and provenance

• Date: after 1972
• Manufactured by: Pressman Toy Corporation, American, founded 1922
• Owned by: Herman Wallace, American, 1941 - 2013
• Subject of: Louisiana State Penitentiary at Angola, American, founded 1835
• Type: board games
• Medium: ink on paper (fiber product) and cardboard
• Dimensions: H x W x D: 14 11/16 × 14 11/16 × 3/8 in. (37.3 × 37.3 × 1 cm)
• Place used: Angola, West Feliciana Parish, Louisiana, United States, North and Central America
• Topic: African American
• Topic: American South
• Topic: Men
• Topic: Mental health
• Topic: Prisons
• Topic: Recreation
• Object number: A2018.36.1.12.3
• Credit Line: Collection of the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture, Gift of Maria Hinds
• 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: No Known Copyright Restrictions Proper usage is the responsibility of the user.