Pinback button worn by members of the Texas delegation to the Democratic National Convention in protest of the refusal of Mississippi to seat African American delegates, 1964. No maker mark.
To bring attention to suppression of black voting in the South, the NAACP and other civil rights organizations recruited students from Northern colleges to spend their summer vacations in Mississippi helping to register the largely poor and rural black population. When the white-controlled state Democratic Party barred blacks from membership, activists formed the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party, and sent an all-black delegation to the DNC in Atlantic City. The resulting imbroglio over which delegation to seat played out on national television, prompting President Johnson to intervene. A compromise was worked out, but was rejected by both sides; the white Mississippi delegation walked out, and the black MFDP delegation staged a protest by taking their empty seats.
A scarce button worn by members of the delegation from Johnson's home state in sympathy with the MFDP delegates.
