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Museum object · Photographs and Still Images

Photograph of Disc Jockey Bill “Hawk” Hawkins and Bill Bailey

1950-1958

Cleveland, Cuyahoga County, Ohio, United States, North and Central America

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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 black-and-white photograph of the exterior of Bill Hawkins’ Record Studio. The photograph, taken at night, depicts a crowd of mostly children watching Disc Jockey Bill “Hawk” Hawkins and Bill Bailey inside his record studio. The crowd of mostly children is standing on the sidewalk looking into DJ booth, located inside the store’s front window. Inside the DJ booth, Bailey and Hawkins are standing behind a microphone and a turntable. Bailey is depicted in profile, facing Hawkins, and smiling. He is wearing a dark suit, dark tie, and a white collared shirt. Hawkins is wearing a dark collared shirt with white, wavy vertical stripes and dark trousers. Over his ears are a pair of headphones with black wires draped down the front of his shirt. He is leaning slightly towards the microphone in front of him and is resting his hands on either the side of the turntable.

Sources & collection details

Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture — original record ↗

Source collection ↗

Catalog metadata · CC0 · Source checked 2026-10-13

Catalog reference: 2018.91.2.15

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