Photographic slide of Poet Essex Hemphill playing chess

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 color photographic slide featuring poet Essex Hemphill sitting in front of a chess board. The photograph was captured at a celebration for the second anniversary of Blacklight magazine in Washington, DC. Hemphill dons a white shirt with white buttons and thin white stripes intersecting at right angles, creating small squares. He is also wearing khaki pants. He smiles as he leans towards the camera with his hands folded and his elbows on his knees. Mostly white chess pieces are visible on the board itself, however, a brown bishop and queen also on the table, in front of Hemphill, but to the side of the chess board (probably captured by Hemphill). The slide is housed in a white encasement with a [CPS LTD] logo and [WASHINGTON D.C. 202-452-1044] printed on the reverse.

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