Museum object · Time-based Media - Moving Images
The Emperor Jones
1933
Washington, District of Columbia, United States, North and Central America
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 feature film with the title The Emperor Jones. It consists of two (2) reels of black-and-white 16mm acetate film with optical sound. The film follows Brutus Jones (Paul Robeson) who was recently hired as a Pullman porter. After inadvertently killing another man, Jones is imprisoned where he kills a guard for attacking another inmate. Brutus then flees to the Caribbean on a steam ship and settles on one of the islands where he befriends a local merchant, Smithers (Dudley Diggers).
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Sources & collection details
Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture — original record ↗
Catalog metadata · CC0 · Source checked 2026-10-13
Catalog reference: 2017.55.74.1ab