Repurposed bag of chess pieces used by Herman Wallace while incarcerated: Museum Object and Cultural History

The object in the museum catalogue

A plastic rice bag repurposed to hold chess pieces by Herman Wallace while incarcerated at Angola Prison. The bag is a blue, resealable, plastic Keefe Kitchens Quality Products bag and holds a set of 17 white chess pieces and 17 black chess pieces. On the front of the bag in large yellow and white text is: [ENRICHED / PRE-COOKED / LONG GRAIN / RICE / READY IN 5 MINUTES / NO BOILING REQUIRED / NET WT. 8OZ (228G)]. On the reverse of the bag are nutrition facts.

Materials, dates and provenance

• Date: after 1972
• Owned by: Herman Wallace, American, 1941 - 2013
• Manufactured by: Unidentified
• Subject of: Keefe Group, LLC, American
• Subject of: Louisiana State Penitentiary at Angola, American, founded 1835
• Type: chessmen
• Type: make-dos
• Medium: plastic
• 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: A2018.36.1.13.5
• 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.