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1968 Olympic warm-up suit jacket worn by Tommie Smith

National Museum of African American History and Culture

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Object Details

Manufactured by
Wilson Sporting Goods Co., American, founded 1914
Worn by
Tommie Smith, American, born 1944
Description
A warm up tack suit jacket worn by Tommie Smith at the 1968 Olympics in Mexico City.
The jacket is navy blue and has a stand up for fold over collar made out of a rib knit fabric. There is a zipper down the center front of the jacket that can go all the way up the collar.
There is a 4" thick cuff on each sleeve and a 4" thick band around the bottom of the jacket, all made out of the same rib knit fabric as the collar. There are two red stripes going around both cuffs and the waistband, and two thite stripes going around each of the red stripes.
On the front of the jacket there is a white piece of rectangular fabric sewn on the upper waist area, 2/3 of it on the proper right and 1/3 on the proper left side. There is black text printed on the fabric. The numbers "30" are on the proper right side of the zipper and the number "7" is on the proper left side of the zipper. The words "JUEGOS DE LA XIX OLYMPIA" are printed in black under the "30" and the words "MEXICO 68" and the Olympic logo are printed in black under the number "7".
On the proper left side of the jacket there is a 1" thick 4" long pocket 3" above the waistband. There is a gold metal zipper. The letters "USA" are sewn on in red and white, going diagonally down the proper left upper chest area.
The same piece of white rectangualr fabric is sewn on the reverse of the jacket in the center of the upper back. The words and numbers are printed with black ink and read "307/JUEGOS DE LA XIX OLYMPIA MEXICO 68" with the Olympic logo.
There is a white manufacturer's label inside the jacket, below the collar. The words "Wilson/MADE IN U.S.A./M" are in red thread and the machine washing instructions are in black thread. There is another small white label with the letter "M" in black thread.
Credit Line
Collection of the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture
1968
Object number
2015.231.2.1
Restrictions & Rights
No Known Copyright Restrictions
Type
jackets
Medium
synthetic fiber, metal, and cotton (fiber)
Dimensions
H x W x D (on form): 31 1/4 × 20 1/2 × 10 1/2 in. (79.4 × 52.1 × 26.7 cm)
H x W (flat): 30 × 19 in. (76.2 × 48.3 cm)
Place used
Mexico City, Distrito Federal, Mexico, Latin America, North and Central America
See more items in
National Museum of African American History and Culture Collection
Classification
Clothing-Historical
Exhibition
Sports: Leveling the Playing Field
On View
NMAAHC (1400 Constitution Ave NW), National Mall Location, Community/Third Floor, 3 052
National Museum of African American History and Culture
Topic
African American
Activism
Black power
Civil Rights
Clothing and dress
Men
Olympics
Sports
Track and field
Record ID
nmaahc_2015.231.2.1
Metadata Usage (text)
CC0
GUID (Link to Original Record)
http://n2t.net/ark:/65665/fd58295c007-bcd7-4783-a4cf-dadb6f0023c1

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