Making the Movement: How Activists Fought for Civil Rights with Buttons, Flyers, Pins, and Posters

This book displays the collection of Making the Movement: Civil Rights Museum, a traveling exhibition founded by author Crane that collects the graphic objects used during the civil rights movement in the United States. Crane notes that these objects were not intended as collectors’ items, rather they were produced to be used as nonviolent weapons against racial discrimination. These items served as vital tools that helped the movement to raise money, inspire people to action, and increase awareness. Organized chronologically into five chapters, the work highlights more than 200 pieces from the museum’s collection, including buttons, posters, flyers, and pamphlets. Noteworthy items include a photographic likeness of Sojourner Truth from 1864, a Martin Luther King and the Montgomery Story comic book from 1957, a March on Washington flyer from 1963, and an Emmett Till Day button from 1991. The listings are complemented by an introductory essay by Silas Munro and an afterword discussing the future of the movement. The result is an impactful book that makes a powerful statement about the struggle for equality in the nation’s history, a statement with the potential to inspire future generations.