Signs of the time

Source catalog description

This description refers to material held by Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture. Visual details below describe the original material.

This color photograph shows a young man in a red jacket and pants, standing in front of a brick wall with signs on it in the East Flatbush section of Brooklyn, New York in 1981. Two of the green signs are titled: [Reaganism: Black Genocide]. They advertise African Liberation Day 1982 and contain three black and white images. Additional text reads: [We want self-determination and equal rights for black people from the U.S. to South Africa. We have no recourse but to take our struggle to the world’s people. March to the United Nations May 22nd. Meet 11 am at 125th St. & 2nd Ave. March 1 pm to UN Plaza]. The sign on the bottom advertises a boxing match and reads: The Leonard-Hearns Showdown. The back of the photograph is inscribed with the title and photographer Jamel Shabazz’s signature.

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