Commemorative denim vest with buttons assembled by Joan Trumpauer Mulholland

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 denim vest with twenty-three [23] pinback buttons pinned across the front. The vest is made of light blue denim. It has two front breast pockets with button flaps, and six buttons down the middle from collar to hem. There are horizontal seams across the chest at the top of the pockets, and two vertical seams extending from each pocket down to the hem. The hems along the collar, arm holes, and hem are frayed. The name "Mulholland" is sewn in at the collar. Joan Trumpauer Mulholland assembled the vest and buttons to commemorate her activism during the Civil Rights Movement. The buttons on the left side from top to bottom are: (.1) A white button with dark blue letters: [ I / BELIEVE IN / HUMAN / DIGNITY]; (.2) A black and white SNCC button reading: [ONE MAN / ONE VOTE]; (.

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