Pins of the Freedom Movement

Low-cost pins were the badges and insignia of the Southern Freedom Movement.

Nationally circulated pins
Local movement pins

Though they were cheap to make, the price of wearing a freedom pin could be high. In many places throughout the South, wearing a civil rights emblem in public irrevocably marked you for good or ill. For local Afro-Americans, wearing a pin in public was an act of defiance, courage, and committment that put you at risk of ostracism, economic retaliation, and violence.

Nationally Circulated Pins from Organizations and Major Events

NAACP pin from the mid-1940s.

This pin was widely worn by members of all the Freedom Movement organizations for many years.

NAACP Legal Defense & Education Fund Inc. pin, circa 1954 & later.

SNCC Sit-in support pin, circa 1960

The Committee to Defend Martin Luther King was formed in 1960 to fight the lawsuit filed against King for the ad he and others ran in the New York Times supporting the sit-ins and to raise bail money for students who had been arrested.

From the 1960s sit-ins, possibly from New Orleans CORE.

Pin wore by the CORE Freedom Riders in circa 1961.

A CORE pin from the early '60s.

Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) pin, 1962 — 1965

Basic CORE organizational pin. Dates uncertain, but probably from at least 1963 on.

SNCC pin. Dates uncertain, possibly from as early as 1961 or 1962, in use until 1965 or 1966.

Alabama Christian Movement for Human Rights pin, Birmingham AL. Circa mid-1960s.

Used during the Albany GA, Movement and the Birmingham AL, Movement. Possibly an SCLC pin.

March on Washington pin, 1963.

Possibly from the March on Washington in 1963.

SNCC Voting Rights pin, circa 1963 — 1965.

Southern Christian Leadership Conference pin, from 1963 or 1964.

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.")

From the drawing by SNCC volunteer Frank Cieciorka. This fist symbol was widely used in the mid and late 1960s on pins, flyers, posters, pamphlets, flags, etc.

National Association for the Advancement of Colored People membership pin, circa 1964.

Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party (MFDP) pin from some time between 1964 and 1968.

Southern Christian Leadership Conference pin, circa 1965 and later.

Southern Student Organizing Committee (SSOC) pin, 1964 —

[Southern Student Organizing Committee (SSOC) free university pin]

Southern Student Organizing Committee (SSOC) 1966 or 1967.

Southern Student Organizing Committee (SSOC) pin from later '60s

CORE pin in colors used by African liberation movements, late '60s..

SNCC Black Power pin, 1966.

CORE Black Power pin, 1966 or 1967.

Summer Community Organization Political Education Project (SCOPE) pin from SCLC's summer project in 1965.

Meredith Mississippi March Against Fear pin, Mississippi 1966.

NAACP Youth Division pin, circa 1967.

Poor Peoples Campaign pin, circa 1968.

Local Pins

Post Brown v Board of Education pin. Date, organization, and locale unknown.

"Get Rid of Wallace" (GROW) pin wore during Selma Voting Rights Campaign, 1965.

Segregationists in Alabama and elsewhere wore "Never" pins declaring their opposition to integration and voting rights for Blacks. In response, Movement supporters made up these "Forever" pins. Date unknown, but probably circa 1965.

From CORE's protest against job discrimination and other forms of racism at the opening of the New York World's Fair in April of 1964 .

[Unknown] Anyone know where/when this pin is from?

[Unknown] Anyone know where/when this pin is from?

[SCLC pin from the Chicago Freedom Movement, 1966]

SCLC pins from Chicago Freedom Movement, 1966. The "V" stands for victory over slums.

Maryland Freedom Union pin, circa 1966. Organization of low-paid nursing home workers who went on strike in Baltimore MD, supported by CORE.

Grass Rooters Interested in Poverty Elimination pin, circa 1968. Baltimore?

We Shall Overcome pin with sun motif, origin and date unknown.

Date unknown

1964 march in Frankfort KY for passage of a state civil rights bill.

Source and date unknown.

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