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[Four Unidentified Men]

Date ca. 1893
Location Abilene Kansas United States
Dimensions Image: 3 7/8 x 5 1/2 in. (9.9 x 14 cm)
Mount: 4 1/4 x 6 1/2 in. (10.8 x 16.5 cm)
Print medium Photo-Gelatin silver-Cabinet card

African slaves brought the banjo to America, and by the nineteenth century it had become a popular instrument played by both African American and white musicians. These men probably played folk music, or some other vernacular form. They may have toured around the country, or lived in Kansas. If they lived in the state, it is possible they arrived there fourteen years before Taylor took this photograph in Abilene, when 20,000 to 40,000 African Americans left repressive conditions in the South and arrived in Kansas in order to take advantage of inexpensive land made available through the Homestead Act.

Credit line

Gift of Daniel Cowin, 1990

Feedback Accession No. 1151.1990