My grandma's 70s era protest buttons - and her brother's George Wallace button by judahrice for the Busy Beaver Button Museum Fan Museum

Submitted to the Fan Museum by judahrice

Information	My grandmother was very politically active in the 1960s and 1970s. She recently gifted me the buttons that she kept from that era. These are a mix of anti-war/pro-peace, environmentalist, anti-smoking, and anti-death penalty causes. Despite her progressive leanings, she grew up in the 1940s in Baltimore, Maryland. While Baltimore isn't exactly the south, it has deep southern roots at its core. She grew up going to segregated schools, and all of her brothers were (in her words) "gun-toting racists." When her last surviving brother passed away a few years ago, she went to his house in Kentucky to help clear his things. Among them was a button from the segregationist 3rd party candidate George Wallace, either from his 1968 or 1972 campaign. She gave it to me with the others, noting the juxtaposition between her and her brother's outlook on the world. In that spirit, I chose to photograph them all together here, for a true spectrum of the politics of that era. In order, left to right. I included the full descriptions including color since I couldn't fit them in the alt text with the character limit. (1) A black pro-nuclear-disarmament, anti-war protest button with bold blue text reading "No Nukes" (2) An orange pro-nuclear-disarmament, anti-war protest button with black text reading "People Before Profits! No Nukes!" with a drawing of a dollar sign in the nucleus of an atom. The text on the bottom reads "Youth Against War & Fascism" (3) A black pro-peace protest button with a red peace sign (4) A green environmentalist protest button with white text. The top text reads "New York Wolves" above a silhouette of a wolf howling. The bottom text reads "Defenders of Wildlife" (5) A yellow anti-smoking protest button with red text reading "Your Smoking HURTS My Lungs." The letters in the word "HURTS" are stylized to look like smoke. (6) A light blue anti-war protest button with a drawing of a dove in white. The top text reads "Another Woman for Peace" and the bottom reads "Disarm Nuclear Weapons" (7) A bright pink anti-death penalty protest button with black text reading "Why Do We Kill People Who Kill People To Show People That Killing People Is Wrong?" (8) A white anti-smoking protest button reading "Cancer Cures Smoking" (9) A blue anti-nuclear-power environmentalist button. There's a drawing of a nuclear power plant in white, as well as a fish, with a thought bubble with black text reading "No Nukes" (10) A red, white, and blue campaign button for George Wallace reading "Wallace for President"
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Information

My grandmother was very politically active in the 1960s and 1970s. She recently gifted me the buttons that she kept from that era. These are a mix of anti-war/pro-peace, environmentalist, anti-smoking, and anti-death penalty causes.

Despite her progressive leanings, she grew up in the 1940s in Baltimore, Maryland. While Baltimore isn't exactly the south, it has deep southern roots at its core. She grew up going to segregated schools, and all of her brothers were (in her words) "gun-toting racists."

When her last surviving brother passed away a few years ago, she went to his house in Kentucky to help clear his things. Among them was a button from the segregationist 3rd party candidate George Wallace, either from his 1968 or 1972 campaign. She gave it to me with the others, noting the juxtaposition between her and her brother's outlook on the world. In that spirit, I chose to photograph them all together here, for a true spectrum of the politics of that era.

In order, left to right. I included the full descriptions including color since I couldn't fit them in the alt text with the character limit.

(1) A black pro-nuclear-disarmament, anti-war protest button with bold blue text reading "No Nukes"

(2) An orange pro-nuclear-disarmament, anti-war protest button with black text reading "People Before Profits! No Nukes!" with a drawing of a dollar sign in the nucleus of an atom. The text on the bottom reads "Youth Against War & Fascism"

(3) A black pro-peace protest button with a red peace sign

(4) A green environmentalist protest button with white text. The top text reads "New York Wolves" above a silhouette of a wolf howling. The bottom text reads "Defenders of Wildlife"

(5) A yellow anti-smoking protest button with red text reading "Your Smoking HURTS My Lungs." The letters in the word "HURTS" are stylized to look like smoke.

(6) A light blue anti-war protest button with a drawing of a dove in white. The top text reads "Another Woman for Peace" and the bottom reads "Disarm Nuclear Weapons"

(7) A bright pink anti-death penalty protest button with black text reading "Why Do We Kill People Who Kill People To Show People That Killing People Is Wrong?"

(8) A white anti-smoking protest button reading "Cancer Cures Smoking"

(9) A blue anti-nuclear-power environmentalist button. There's a drawing of a nuclear power plant in white, as well as a fish, with a thought bubble with black text reading "No Nukes"

(10) A red, white, and blue campaign button for George Wallace reading "Wallace for President"

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