Broadside from the N.A.A.C.P. for citizenship for Our Lady Queen of Peace Church: Museum Object and Cultural History

The object in the museum catalogue

Paper broadside for the “First Class Citizenship Campaign”. It has black printed text and graphics, blue gridlines, and handwritten text. The sheet discusses voting rights and citizenship ideas. The top half of the broadside above the fold has an image of a large community with two children in front facing out. Above this graphic is [FIRST CLASS CITIZENSHIP / BENEFITS / YOU - YOUR CHILDREN - AND YOUR COMMUNITY]. To the left of the image are the requirements to be a first class citizens, listed as [1. Pay his poll taxes; / 2. Register; / 3. Vote in all elections; / 4. JOIN the N.A.A.C.P. / to help secure equal / protection under the / Constitution of the / United States for all, / regardless of color, / race or creed.] On the right, [Our Lady, Queen of Peace / Church] located in [Arlington / Virginia] is handwritten in as part of the [FIRST CLASS CITIZENSHIP CAMPAIGN.] Directly above the fold [One God One Country One Citizenship] is evenly spaced across the sheet.

The lower half of the broadside has a grid spanning across the sheet with fourteen columns. The column headers are [NUMBER; NAME; 3 YEAR POLL TAX PD.; REGISTERED; CURRENT N.A.A.C.P. MEMBER; VOTED IN LAST ELECTION; QUALIFIED FOR 1ST CLASS AWARD]. These seven columns are listed twice on the left and repeat on the right. Four columns (number and name) on the left side are completed. The names of thirty-nine parishioners have been handwritten in and numbered. The reverse of the broadside is blank.

Materials, dates and provenance

• Date: 1948-1952
• Created by: Unidentified
• Subject of: Our Lady Queen of Peace Catholic Church, American, founded 1945
• Subject of: National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, American, founded 1909
• Type: broadsides
• Medium: ink on paper
• Dimensions: H x W (image): 20 15/16 × 21 7/8 in. (53.2 × 55.6 cm)
• Place used: Arlington, Virginia, United States, North and Central America
• Topic: African American
• Topic: Activism
• Topic: Catholicism
• Topic: Civil Rights
• Topic: Local and regional
• Topic: Religion
• Topic: U.S. History, 1945-1953
• Object number: 2016.26.6
• Credit Line: Collection of the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture
• Data Source: National Museum of African American History and Culture

Sources and reuse

Catalogue descriptions and facts adapted from National Museum of African American History and Culture through the Smithsonian's official Open Access dataset. This record explicitly marks its metadata CC0 1.0; formatting and selection have been changed. The underlying object's rights statement is: No Known Copyright Restrictions Proper usage is the responsibility of the user.