Black August Lesson: ‘Denim Is Interwoven With Stories Of Struggle And Resistance’

I was 13 years old, in a parking lot on the South Side of Chicago, selling roses when my mom bought me my first Levi’s® Trucker Jacket being resold out of a trunk. It was love at first sight. I did everything in that jacket, with the hope that it would collect the memories that I might have otherwise forgotten. I went on to wear this jacket to my first march for labor rights, on Mayday. What was most impactful to me that day was how many Trucker Jackets I saw around me, all designed with different political commitments and dreams for the world. I felt a deep sense of belonging. That by having my own Trucker, I had joined a league of extraordinary freedom fighters committed to changing the world. I was now a part of a culture committed to collective transformation. There, I began the journey of collecting patches and buttons that would visually tell the story of my political identity — what I was committed to fighting for, and my vision for the futures of oppressed people.

This was followed by the heartbreak of losing that jacket at a protest. I would go on to lose many more, always when the time was right. When it was time to transform and start anew. I lost my favorite one at the 50th anniversary of the March on Washington. I remember losing my Trucker in Ferguson, while organizing when Mike Brown was killed. I had another one confiscated in Baltimore during a curfew sweep when Freddie Gray was killed. For a century, movements have used denim as a uniform and a canvas of resistance. When you jump into your favorite pair of jeans or throw on your favorite Trucker Jacket, you’re connecting yourself to the visual lineage of nearly every major political resistance in the history of this country and beyond.

Inherently, denim is interwoven within Black culture. Enslaved African peoples and their descendants created this beautiful fabric rooted in their experiences, and skill sets adapted from the continent, and culture, like the batik dyeing process of the Osogbo people. Denim originally functioned as “workwear” by Black enslaved people and was considered “unfit” for anyone else to wear. However, during the rise of the Civil Rights Movement, denim became more than just a symbol of the working class, transforming into a tool of worker resistance.

Nearly 60 years ago, 250,000 people convened at the March on Washington. The crowd was filled with organizers, activists, laborers, and college students who were freedom fighting across the South, like SNCC organizer Joyce Ladner. The denim she wore stretched as far into the past as it did into the future. Like other organizers and activists, Joyce’s wardrobe choice was intentional. Wearing denim was more than an act of class solidarity. It was a homage to the hands that picked the cotton the jeans were woven with, as well as an act of defiance to respectability politics. And just like that, Black organizers turned denim into the uniform of revolution.

While SNCC organized throughout the South to build political power and win voting rights for Black people, they realized that in order to bridge the class divide between college student organizers —in suits and dresses with penny loafers and lace socks — and the farmers whom they were determined to activate, they needed to reflect workers’ experience.

They needed to demonstrate solidarity and illustrate their commitment to risk their own class status for the benefit of all Black people. Blue jeans became one way to bridge that gap. This organizing work led to denim experiencing a dramatic shift in purpose. Jeans, overalls, and Trucker Jackets became a uniform for activists. The Levi’s® Trucker Jacket, introduced in the ‘60s and worn largely by counterculture and war protesters, was inspired by the bond jacket worn by workers, sharecroppers, and Black Tenant Farmers for decades prior.

As the Civil Rights Movement continued in response to state-sanctioned violence in the form of intense economic inequality, housing disparities, and white supremacy, Black organizers continued to popularize denim. Organizers were tired of patching up the rips from police attack dogs and high-pressure hoses, and denim was sturdy enough to withstand the abuse. Denim also visually helped to differentiate them from the suits of the ruling class. Martin Luther King and Ralph Abernathy wore matching denim work pants and shirts while arrested in Birmingham, Alabama, in April of 1963. Denim was a visual representation of the conditions Black people were forced to endure. A symbol of disregard for “respectability,” the white gaze, and the middle-class worldview that was at odds with the visions for freedom they were organizing for. The next time you wear your denim, roll up the sleeves of your Trucker Jacket, or cuff the ends of your overalls, remember that interwoven into the fabric are stories of struggle and resistance.

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