Papier-mâché minstrel face mask from Spell #7
date: label: Date
content: 1978
name: label: Created by
content: Unidentified
label: Owned by
content: Ntozake Shange, American, 1948 - 2018
label: Subject of
content: Crossroads Theatre Company, American, founded 1978
notes: label: Caption
content: The cast members wore minstrel masks like this one for the opening sequence of Ntozake Shange’s choreopoem “Spell No. 7,” which explores the frustrations of Black performers contending with current and historical racism in the theater. A larger version of the mask provides the stage backdrop for the entire production. This mask is from the initial 1978 production at Crossroads Theatre in New Jersey. The work was later staged by The Public Theater in 1979, first as a free workshop as part of the New York Shakespeare Festival, with a revised and partially recast version appearing later on the Anspacher Stage. It was later produced by other companies in Philadelphia, Washington, DC, and Atlanta.
label: Description
content: A papier-mâché face mask from Spell #7. The oval mask is covered in shiny black paint, with exaggerated facial features highlighted with white paint around the eyes and on the lips, evoking blackface minstrelsy. The paint is chipped and scuffed in some areas. The black paint continues around the edge of the mask’s interior, the rest of which is off-white. A black elastic band tied around the outer edge of each eye hole. There is an inscription [Carol R.] in black ink with the signature [Ntozake Shange] in blue ink in the forehead area of the interior.
topic: label: Topic
content: African American
label: Topic
content: Blackface
label: Topic
content: Literature
label: Topic
content: Minstrel shows
label: Topic
content: Poetry
label: Topic
content: Race discrimination
label: Topic
content: Theatre
label: Topic
content: Theatre companies
label: Topic
content: Women
setName: label: See more items in
content: National Museum of African American History and Culture Collection
label: Classification
content: Props and Set Design
creditLine: label: Credit Line
content: Collection of the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture, Gift of Ntozake Shange
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of African American History and Culture
identifier: label: Object number
content: 2016.131.1
objectType: label: Type
content: masks (costume)
objectRights: label: Restrictions & Rights
content: Unknown - Restrictions Possible
label: Restrictions & Rights
content: Rights assessment and proper usage is the responsibility of the user.
physicalDescription: label: Medium
content: papier-mâché with paint and ink
label: Dimensions
content: H x W x D: 10 1/2 × 7 × 2 1/4 in. (26.7 × 17.8 × 5.7 cm)