Black and white photograph of Cesar Chavez with black text on a white background

Cesar Chavez was a civil rights activist and American labor leader.  In 1962, he co-founded the United Farm Workers (UFW) union (initially known as the National Farm Workers Association).  Chavez advocated non-violent tactics and gained national support for the farm workers.  In the late 1970s, growers finally recognized the UFW as the bargaining agent for approximately 50,000 farm workers in Florida and California.  After his death in 1993, Chavez became an iconic figure for labor organization and Hispanic empowerment.  In addition to promoting peaceful activism, he promoted the slogan, “Si, se puede” (Yes, it can be done), which was Barack Obama’s 2008 campaign slogan.

White button with black text and a red no symbol over it. 

Swing shifts are employed by businesses that stay open for 24 hours and usually involve covering the "swing" from morning to night. In certain businesses, the "graveyard" or night shifts are also defined as swing shifts. Generally speaking, any hourly shift that does not take place during typical daylight hours could fall into this category. Swing shifts are controversial in the workers' rights movement. On the one hand, they allow for families in which both parents work to avoid paying for childcare, as one parent can be at home during the day and the other at night. Graveyard and swing shifts can also be subject to increased pay due to the physical and mental toll of working overnight. On the other, swing shifts have been linked to increased risk for many health conditions as well as a shortened lifespan and reduced short- and long-term memory. For this reason, swing shifts have often been the subject of protest with workers arguing that businesses such as grocery stores should not stay open for 24 hours at the cost of hourly workers' safety.

Illustration of a grey, white and black robot with black text on a white background with red circle around the outer edge and red line across

In 1980 Edward “Ted” Kennedy, an American politician ran against President Jimmy Carter for the Democratic nomination. However, the delegates had already committed to voting for President Carter during the primaries and the Democratic Rule F3C required them to vote for him. Kennedy argued against this rule, nicknaming it the “robot rule”. Kennedy’s “No F3C Robot Rule” campaign failed, though the rule was eliminated two years later. 

White button with black text and a red no symbol over it. 

This button was likely created to protest 12-hour work days.

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Black and red text on a blue background with an outer yellow edge and a yellow smiley face

"The One With the Most _____ Wins" is a switch-out phrase commonly seen on pinbacks, such as "The One With the Most Toys Wins" or "The One With the Most Guitars Wins".

White text and photograph of Dorothy Hamill on olive-green background. 

Dorothy Hamill is an American figure skating champion. At the age of 12, she won the novice ladies' title at the US Championships in 1969. She placed second at the junior level the following year, and began competing internationally in 1971, at 14 years old. Hamill held the the title of US Champion from 1974 to 1976, and won the gold medals at both the 1976 Winter Olympics held in Innsbruck, Austria and 1976 World Figure Skating Championships in Goteborg, Sweden. The media dubbed young Dorothy as "America's sweetheart" and her signature bobbed hairstyle and oversized eyeglasses started a trend in the 1970's. Hamill is also known for developing a new skating move, a camel spin that turns into a sit spin, which became known as the "Hamill camel". After turning professional, she was a headliner for the Ice Capades, a traveling figure skating show, from 1977 to 1984. Hamill is known as one of America's most popular athletes and has remained active in the figure skating world. 

White button with a red rim with white diamonds. Blue text is featured in the center. 

“Red Hot Papa” is a raunchy phrase that may have been referencing the 1950 era album “Red Hot Papa”, a song by banjo player and Western swing performer Hank Penny. 

Green text on a white background and a circle with an x in it

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Red, white and blue striped button with the illustration of a donkey and elephant in the middle. White text. 

Starlac was a nonfat instant milk powder sold by Borden and marketed as an economical alternative to regular milk. They advertised it as having all vitamins and nutrients of milk without the water and fat.

Starlac was a sponsor for advertisements during the 1956 presidential election. A newspaper ad stated, “Be sure to vote on election day… vote for Starlac everyday!” with a 5 quart container of Starlac on offer for 37c. The campaign is carefully nonpartisan, showing both a Republican elephant and Democrat donkey smiling. That year, Dwight D. Eisenhower ran for reelection with Richard Nixon as vice president against Adlai Stevenson and Estes Kefauver. Eisenhower and Nixon won with 57% of the vote.