Papier-mâché minstrel face mask from Spell #7

Source catalog description

This description refers to material held by Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture. Visual details below describe the original material.

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.

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