Blue text on a white background

The overdose death of Len Bias, a star college basketball player, in 1986 received national media coverage and drew attention to the growing crack pandemic in cities like Chicago. Harold Washington, the first African-American elected as mayor of Chicago, saw this as an opportunity to fight the growing drug abuse in his city. As a result of the increasing drug and gang related crimes in the United States, President Reagan declared a War on Drugs in the 1980s and Mayor Washington vocally supported the 1986 Anti-Drug Abuse Act.

Yellow text on a black upper third of the button and black text on the bottom of the button with an illustration of an owl in a red shirt with white text on it

Push Excel is a non-profit organization that supports the advancement of African American education by means of scholarships, campus tours, workshops and community partnerships. Founded in 1975 by Jesse Jackson, Push Excel is an offshoot of Jackson’s original program PUSH (People United to Serve Humanity). Born out of the civil rights movement, PUSH continues the efforts of social, economic, and political development of African Americans. In 1996, PUSH merged with another one of Jackson’s programs called National Rainbow Coalition and is today known as Rainbow/Push.

White and black text on a black and white background

Saint Sabina is a Thessalonian church in Chicago, Illinois. In 2003, their pastor Reverend Michael L. Pfleger was the Keynote Speaker at The Martin Luther King, Jr. Annual Commemorative Service in Atlanta, Georgia. During his speech, Reverend Pfleger proclaimed that racism was still America's greatest addiction and that all citizens must work together to honor Martin Luther King Jr. by fighting double standards and stereotypes.

Black and red text on a white background.

This button is part of a series that General Electric designed in the mid 1960s. The buttons were distributed to high school students throughout New York to encourage them to do well and complete their education. While different slogans were used, each button featured the word GENIUS, with GE highlighted to emphasize General Electric's involvement in the campaign. 

Black and white portrait of Jimmy Carter luxuriously surrounded by yellow ribbons, cascading American flag, and topped with an eagle. Red text below portrait over grey-blue background. 

James "Jimmy" Earl Carter ran against incumbent Gerald Rudolph Ford, Jr. in the 1976 US Presidential election. Carter's running mate was US Sentator from Minnesota, Walter Mondale. Ford stuck with his vice president, Nelson Aldrich Rockefeller.  Carter and Mondale received 50.1% to Ford and Rockefeller's 48% of the popular vote. The electoral votes were not so close with 297 going to Carter and Mondale, 240 for Ford and Rockefeller, and 1 vote from Washington State going to Ronald Reagan.

When Carter was elected, he became the first Democrat from the US South to be elected to the office since before the Civil War. During his single term, Carter established the Department of Education and the Department of Energy. His presidential legacy is often overshadowed by economic and international relations problems, culminating with the USSR's invasion of Afghanistan beginning in 1979 and the Iran Hostage Crisis from 1979-1981. Carter lost to Ronald Reagan in the 1980 election by a margin of 440 electoral votes.

Black text and a red heart on a white background

The I heart NY logo was created in 1977 by Milton Glaser for an ad campaign created by advertising agency Wells Rich Greene. The marketing campaign was sought by then-Deputy Commissioner William S. Doyle to increase tourism in the state of New York. The campaign was a wild success. The original sketch of the logo is permanently on display at the MOMA.

The logo has become iconic in pop-culture and has been imitated in many forms around the world.

Jennifer is a feminine name of Cornish origins. The Welsh version of the name is Gwenhwyfar. In the United States, Jennifer was the most popular name for girls born between 1970 to 1984.

Illustration of a green hand on the neck of a pink guitar with a white dove on top over black text on a white background

Woodstock is a documentary about the three day music festival of the same name held in August 1969 in Bethel, New York. Featuring well-known artists such as Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin, the Who, the Grateful Dead, and many more, Woodstock was promoted as “3 days of peace and music.” The logo of a bird perched on a guitar was designed by American artist Arnold Skolnick. The documentary was more financially successful than the music festival itself,  recouping the inexperienced promoters' significant losses due to issues with relocation and ticket sales for the event.

Blue and green illustration of earth with red arms and hands and a red sash with black text on a white background

The very first Earth Day celebration took place on April 22, 1970. A brainchild of United States senator Gaylord Nelson, the occasion was framed as a national teach-in. The event drew as many as twenty million participants, through demonstrations on college campuses and in communities across the U.S. This broad participation brought attention to environmental issues and led to several important pieces of legislation for environmental protection. Today the nonprofit organization Earth Day Network organizes annual international Earth Day celebrations.

Illustration of Santa with green gloves and white text above on a blue background

Illustration of a baby seal on a yellow Girl Scouts emblem on a pink background with white text

"Full speed ahead" was a slogan for the Girl Scouts' 1993 cookie-selling season. The slogan appeared on pins, buttons, t-shirts, and mugs, often accompanied by an image of a seal, a sailboat, or both. Other cookie-selling badges from that year bore the slogan, "Yes I Can!" and a figure of a girl standing with arms raised.

The 1993 cookie season also saw the introduction or re-introduction of two cookie varieties: Snaps -iced oatmeal raisin cookies- made their debut that year; while Juliettes, also known as Golden Nut Clusters, reappeared after a prior run in the 1980s. Both varieties are now discontinued.