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Head from a Ball Toss Game

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@ Smithsonian American Art Museum

Description

Props like this carved head were used until the 1930s at Coney Island's Steeplechase Park for a game known as "African Dodger." Originally, players threw balls at a black man and were rewarded for direct hits. Wooden heads eventually replaced live targets. This grotesquely carved head reflects a dark history of racism and objectification.Exhibition Label, Smithsonian American Art Museum, 2006
Type:
Physical Object
Format:
Carved And Painted Wood
Rights:
Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of Herbert Waide Hemphill, Jr. and museum purchase made possible by Ralph Cross Johnson
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Record Contributed By

Smithsonian American Art Museum

Record Harvested From

Smithsonian Institution

Keywords

  1. African American
  2. African Americans
  3. C. W. F. Dare Company
  4. Ethnic
  5. Ethnicity
  6. Figure Male
  7. Head

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