Plain language summary: Act Black
This is what you see in this exhibition:
Poster House is showing theater and film posters. The posters share some of the stories, music, and culture of Black Americans. The exhibition is called Act Black: Posters from Black American Stage & Screen.
The exhibition has more than 130 posters and pieces of ephemera made in the United States between the late 1800s and the 1940s. Ephemera means items like playbills and tickets that were originally meant to be thrown away, but sometimes collected as special historical objects. This exhibition has items like makeup packaging and sheet music. Sheet music covers show some of the only surviving pictures of Black singers and composers from the early days of the music industry.
Some of the oldest posters in the exhibition are for minstrel shows. Minstrelsy was a popular form of theater in the United States that began in the 1800s. Minstrel shows had songs and dances by people in blackface. Blackface describes how actors with different skin tones covered their faces in black makeup, usually to perform a character. These characters in plays or films were racist stereotypes of Black people. A stereotype is an incorrect and often hurtful judgment of a group of people.
Posters played an important role in celebrating and advertising performers in all-Black and segregated theaters. Segregated places kept people apart because of their race. These theaters provided a space for Black artists to entertain with music, dancing, and acting. All-Black musicals also opened on Broadway and other big stages in New York City.
By the early 1900s, movies became very popular. They provided a new way to tell stories of the lived experience of Black Americans. Posters helped studios advertise their films to all audiences. These posters often showed exciting scenes from the movies with a lot of action or drama. Josephine Baker was a Black actress and dancer who became an international superstar.
The exhibition shows how Black storytelling on the stage and on the movie screen evolved over time. The posters tell us about important directors, writers, actors, and composers. These creative people used their plays and movies to highlight Black American lives and experiences.
The exhibition has important works, including:
- Uncle Tom’s Cabin, Designer Unknown, 1910
- The Original Georgia Minstrels, Ferdinand Mayer, c. 1872
- Williams and Walker, Designer Unknown, 1903
- Shuffle Along, William Austin Starmer and Frederick Waite Starmer, 1921
- Le Tumulte Noir, Paul Colin, 1927
- The Green Eyed Monster, Designer Unknown, 1919
Poster House is the first and only poster museum in the United States.