Pins of the Civil Rights Movement

Easily-made, low-cost pins were the badges and insignia of the Southern Freedom Movement.

Though they were cheap to make, the price of wearing one could be high. In many places throughout the South, wearing a Movement pin in public irrevocably marked you for good or ill. It was an act of courage and committment that could never be undone.
   
[We Shall 
Overcome pin] This pin was widely worn by members of all the Freedom Movement organizations for many years.
[CORE Freedom 
Rider pin] Pin wore by the CORE Freedom Riders in 1961.
[SNCC 
pin] Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee pin, 1962 — 1966
[ACMHR 
pin] Pin of the Birmingham Movement (Alabama Christian Movement for Human Rights), 1963.
[mow 
pin] March on Washington pin, 1963.
[OMOV 
pin] SNCC Voting Rights pin, 1963 — 1966.
[SCLC 
pin] Southern Christian Leadership Conference pin, possibly from 1963 or 1964.
[SCLC 
pin] Southern Christian Leadership Conference pin, 1965 and later.
[GROW 
pin] Get Rid of Wallace pin wore during Selma Movement, 1965.
[SCOPE 
pin] Southern Community Organizing & Political Education pin from SCLC's summer project of 1965.
[SSOC pin] Southern Student Organizing Committee, 1965 — 
[Meredith March pin] Meredith March Against Fear pin, Mississippi 1966.
[We Shall Overcome pin] [Unknown] Anyone know where/when this pin is from?
[CORE Freedom Now pin] A CORE pin from the early '60s.
[Southern Student Organizing Committee (SSOC) pin from later 
'60s] Southern Student Organizing Committee (SSOC) pin from later '60s
[I Am a White Agitator pin] In the early '60s a prominent segregationist (Wallace?) stated that the local "nigras" were just being stirred up from their normal happy and contented state by "white agitators." CORE responded with this satirical pin. (When asked, wearers replied that "CWA" stood for "Congress of White Agitators.")
[Fist pin] From the drawing by SNCC volunteer Frank Ciciorca, this fist symbol was widely used in the late '60s on pins, flyers, posters, pamphlets, and so on.
[Let's End Discrimination pin] [Unknown] Anyone know where/when this pin is from?
[SCLC pin from Chicago project, 1966] SCLC pin from Chicago project, 1966

If you would like to add a pin to this list, email a digital image of the pin (.JPG or .GIF format) to Webspinner: webmaster@crmvet.org.


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