The National Museum of African-American Culture and History officially opens today in Washington D.C. Among the almost 37,000 objects in its permanent collection are photographs, programs and the like connected to the theater. Below is a sample. (Click on any photograph to see it enlarged and read the captions)

Lena Horne, 1947

Poster in 1856 for Ira Aldridge, the first acclaimed African-American actor, in Othello.

Program in 1930 for Paul Robeson in Othello

Program in 1964 for Blues for Mr. Charlie, a play by James Baldwin

Playbill for The Colored Museum, 1986

Playbill for Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom, the first of August Wilson’s plays on Broadway. 1984.

Unknown theater performance

Production shot from the Broadway show ” For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide When the Rainbow Is Enuf,” 1975

Sheet music for St. Louis Blues by W.C. Handy, 1928

Sheet music for the 1921 musical Shuffle Along

The costume for the Tin Man from the musical The Wiz, 1975

Watercolor costume sketch by Lemuel Ayers for the musical St. Louis Woman, starring Pearl Bailey, 1945

Also, check out the exhibition Taking the Stage

“Taking the Stage provides visitors with the opportunity to reconnect with some of their favorite popular culture memories as well as to contemplate how the roles black artists played on the stage and screen reflected changing aspirations, struggles, and realities for black people in American society.”