Activism by Yoana Kosturska

This project visualizes historical artifacts related to activism and political movements in the Smithsonian Institution Museums. The data and images are sources from the Smithsonian API. The used search term was for “Memorabilia and Ephemera – Political and Activist Ephemera.” The constraints for the resulting query was that all artifacts should have an image that has a CC0 license. As of September 28th, 2021, this search yields 173 artifacts spanning 1830s – 2010s. I wanted to focus on this topic as in recent years we have seen an uptick in activism, spanning multiple movements such as race, immigration, women’s rights, lgbt rights, and general demand for equality across all populations. These fights are not new and it is fascinating to see how the artifacts and visuals associated with activism have evolved throughout time. The fact that the Smithsonian museums contain ephemera dating back to the 18th century speaks to the importance of these artifacts in preserving history and human’s plight for change.