Poster advocating a boycott of the 1968 Olympics signed by Harry Edwards: Museum Object and Cultural History

The object in the museum catalogue

A poster advocating the boycott of the 1968 Summer Olympics. The poster has a white background and black text and design. At the top text surrounding the Olympic rings reads: [Olympic Games]. Below that text, at center, is a large circle. Inside the circle, there is text and a drawing. The drawing depicts outlines of the United States and Africa; raised fists come out from the inner edges of the outlines. Text in the middle of the circle reads: 1968 / Black America / & / Africa / United / 32 Black African Nations Have Voted To Boycott the '68 Olympics]. Below the circle large black text reads: [Can We Do Less?]. Outside the circle, to the bottom right, small black print reads: [Bozé]. Outside the circle, to the bottom left, is the signature of Harry Edwards. The back of the poster is blank.

Materials, dates and provenance

• Issued by: Olympic Project for Human Rights, American, 1967 - 1968
• Illustrated by: Bozé
• Subject of: International Olympic Committee, Swiss, founded 1894
• Signed by: Harry Edwards, American, born 1942
• Type: posters
• Medium: ink on paper
• Dimensions: H x W: 22 7/8 × 17 5/16 in. (58.1 × 44 cm)
• Place depicted: United States, North and Central America
• Place depicted: Africa
• Topic: African American
• Topic: Activism
• Topic: Athletes
• Topic: International affairs
• Topic: Olympics
• Topic: Sports
• Object number: 2016.66.10
• Credit Line: Collection of the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture, Gift of Dr. Harry Edwards
• 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: Public domain Proper usage is the responsibility of the user.