1973 - 74 Levenworth Brothers Defense Committee Prison Rebellion Protest Pin

Description

THIS LISTING BEGAN ON JULY 26, 2021 AND
WILL END WITHIN  30 DAYS
,
ON OR BEFORE  AUGUST 26, 2021,
IF THE ITEM IS NOT SOLD
OFFERED FOR SALE IS THIS
1 3/4 INCH CELLULOID PINBACK BUTTON
IN WHAT I BELIEVE TO BE REALLY GREAT SHAPE.
HOWEVER, THAT IS JUST MY OPINION.  SEE PHOTOS FOR CONDITION, AND YOU BE THE JUDGE.
IF YOU HAVE ANY QUESTIONS, PLEASE CONTACT ME BEFORE BIDDING OR BUYING.
RETURNS ARE NOT ACCEPTED UNLESS THE ITEM IS NOT AS DESCRIBED OR SHOWN IN THE PHOTOS OR HAS SIGNIFICANT DAMAGE OR DEFECTS  NOT VISIBLE IN THE PHOTOS OR OTHERWISE DESCRIBED.
GUARANTEED AUTHENTIC AND ORIGINAL AS DESCRIBED
.
Check out my other Political and Social Protest and Cause items!
This Pin was issued and sold by
the Leavenworth Brothers Defense Committee
(see photo of curl of button) to raise funds and support for the defense of the so called Leavenworth Brothers, prisoners at Leavenworth Federal Prison, who united and rebelled on
July 31, 1973
against the inhuman and repressive conditions within the prison.
The pin has nice graphics of prison bars being broke open. (
See also
the paper from the Defense  Committee, which is not included with the pin, but is shown for illustration only.) The pin reads:
FIGHT RACISM  support the Leavenworth Brothers  END THE FRAME-UP
.
Several of the Leavenworth Brothers were charged and tried in connection with the prison uprising.
Four black Leavenworth Brothers
(Odell Bennett, Jessie Evans, Alf Hill and Alfred Jasper) were
convicted of assault and inciting to riot charges
by an
all-white jury
in Wichita.  Of the
two Chicano Brothers
charged,
Jesse
Lopez
and Armando
Miramon
were brought to trial on charges of
4 counts of kidnapping
(carrying a maximum sentence of 100 years each) and
Miramon
was also charged with
assault on a prison guard
. The charges against Lopez were dismissed by the court for lack of evidence. Miramon was tried and convicted.
William Hurst
-- the only white Leavenworth Brother
to be indicted -- would have been tried with Miramon and Lopez, but i
n May of 1974, he was found hanged in his cell
in the Wyandotte County Jail. Officials at the jail called Hurst's death suicide, but a more apt term for his death is murder.
The four hostages
t
hat Hurst and Miramon were accused of taking,
were released unharmed after the Warden agreed to meet with a prisoner grievance committee
. During the presentation of the prosecution's case, the 4 hostages testified that they were treated well by Hurst and Miramon.
This underground pinback button pin or badge relates to the Hippie (or Hippy ) Counterculture Movement of the psychedelic Sixties (1960s and Seventies (1970s).  That movement included such themes and topics as peace, protest, civil rights, radical, socialist, communist, anarchist, union labor strikes, drugs, marijuana, pot, weed, lsd, acid, sds, iww, anti draft, anti war, anti rotc, welfare rights, poverty, equal rights, integration, gay, women's rights, black panthers, black power, left wing, liberal, etc.  progressive political movement and is guaranteed to be genuine as described.
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THANK YOU FOR YOUR INTEREST
The Deacons emerged as one of the first visible self-defense forces in the South and as such represented a new face of the
civil rights
movement.  Traditional civil rights organizations remained silent on them or repudiated their activities.  They were effective however in providing protection for local African Americans who sought to register to vote and for white and black civil rights workers in the area.  The Deacons, for example, provided security for the 1966 March Against Fear from Memphis to Jackson,
Mississippi
.  Moreover their presence in Southeastern Louisiana meant that the Klan would no longer be able to intimidate and terrorize local African Americans without challenge.
The strategy and methods that the Deacons employed attracted the attention and concern of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), which authorized an investigation into the group’s activities. The investigation stalled, however, when more influential black power organizations such as US and the
Black Panther Party
emerged after the
1965 Watts Riot
.  With public attention, and the attention of the FBI focused elsewhere, the Deacons lost most of their notoriety and slowly declined in influence.  By 1968 they were all but extinct.  In 2003 the activities of the Deacons was the subject of a 2003, “Deacons for Defense.” - See more at: HTTPS://www.blackpast.org/aah/deacons-defense-and-justice#sthash.s6D3h3ZZ.dpuf
On July 10, 1964, a group of African American men in Jonesboro,
Louisiana
led by Earnest “Chilly Willy” Thomas and Frederick Douglas Kirkpatrick founded the group known as The Deacons for Defense and Justice to protect members of the
Congress of Racial Equality (CORE)
against Ku Klux Klan violence.  Most of the “Deacons” were veterans of
World War II
and the
Korean War
. The Jonesboro chapter organized its first affiliate chapter in nearby Bogalusa, Louisiana led by Charles Sims, A.Z. Young and Robert Hicks. Eventually they organized a third chapter in Louisiana. The Deacons tense confrontation with the Klan in Bogalusa was crucial in forcing the federal government to intervene on behalf of the local African American community.  The national attention they garnered also persuaded state and national officials to initiate efforts to neutralize the Klan in that area of the Deep South.
The Deacons emerged as one of the first visible self-defense forces in the South and as such represented a new face of the
civil rights
movement.  Traditional civil rights organizations remained silent on them or repudiated their activities.  They were effective however in providing protection for local African Americans who sought to register to vote and for white and black civil rights workers in the area.  The Deacons, for example, provided security for the 1966 March Against Fear from Memphis to Jackson,
Mississippi
.  Moreover their presence in Southeastern Louisiana meant that the Klan would no longer be able to intimidate and terrorize local African Americans without challenge.
The strategy and methods that the Deacons employed attracted the attention and concern of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), which authorized an investigation into the group’s activities. The investigation stalled, however, when more influential black power organizations such as US and the
Black Panther Party
emerged after the
1965 Watts Riot
.  With public attention, and the attention of the FBI focused elsewhere, the Deacons lost most of their notoriety and slowly declined in influence.  By 1968 they were all but extinct.  In 2003 the activities of the Deacons was the subject of a 2003, “Deacons for Defense.” - See more at: HTTPS://www.blackpast.org/aah/deacons-defense-and-justice#sthash.s6D3h3ZZ.dpuf
On July 10, 1964, a group of African American men in Jonesboro,
Louisiana
led by Earnest “Chilly Willy” Thomas and Frederick Douglas Kirkpatrick founded the group known as The Deacons for Defense and Justice to protect members of the
Congress of Racial Equality (CORE)
against Ku Klux Klan violence.  Most of the “Deacons” were veterans of
World War II
and the
Korean War
. The Jonesboro chapter organized its first affiliate chapter in nearby Bogalusa, Louisiana led by Charles Sims, A.Z. Young and Robert Hicks. Eventually they organized a third chapter in Louisiana. The Deacons tense confrontation with the Klan in Bogalusa was crucial in forcing the federal government to intervene on behalf of the local African American community.  The national attention they garnered also persuaded state and national officials to initiate efforts to neutralize the Klan in that area of the Deep South.
The Deacons emerged as one of the first visible self-defense forces in the South and as such represented a new face of the
civil rights
movement.  Traditional civil rights organizations remained silent on them or repudiated their activities.  They were effective however in providing protection for local African Americans who sought to register to vote and for white and black civil rights workers in the area.  The Deacons, for example, provided security for the 1966 March Against Fear from Memphis to Jackson,
Mississippi
.  Moreover their presence in Southeastern Louisiana meant that the Klan would no longer be able to intimidate and terrorize local African Americans without challenge.
The strategy and methods that the Deacons employed attracted the attention and concern of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), which authorized an investigation into the group’s activities. The investigation stalled, however, when more influential black power organizations such as US and the
Black Panther Party
emerged after the
1965 Watts Riot
.  With public attention, and the attention of the FBI focused elsewhere, the Deacons lost most of their notoriety and slowly declined in influence.  By 1968 they were all but extinct.  In 2003 the activities of the Deacons was the subject of a 2003, “Deacons for Defense.” - See more at: HTTPS://www.blackpast.org/aah/deacons-defense-and-justice#sthash.s6D3h3ZZ.dpuf
On July 10, 1964, a group of African American men in Jonesboro,
Louisiana
led by Earnest “Chilly Willy” Thomas and Frederick Douglas Kirkpatrick founded the group known as The Deacons for Defense and Justice to protect members of the
Congress of Racial Equality (CORE)
against Ku Klux Klan violence.  Most of the “Deacons” were veterans of
World War II
and the
Korean War
. The Jonesboro chapter organized its first affiliate chapter in nearby Bogalusa, Louisiana led by Charles Sims, A.Z. Young and Robert Hicks. Eventually they organized a third chapter in Louisiana. The Deacons tense confrontation with the Klan in Bogalusa was crucial in forcing the federal government to intervene on behalf of the local African American community.  The national attention they garnered also persuaded state and national officials to initiate efforts to neutralize the Klan in that area of the Deep South. - See more at: HTTPS://www.blackpast.org/aah/deacons-defense-and-justice#sthash.s6D3h3ZZ.dpuf