*The Smithsonian’s National Museum of African American History will include items from Colin Kaepernick’s national anthem protest as part of its Black Lives Matter collection.
“The National Museum of African American History and Culture has nearly 40,000 items in our collection,” the museum’s sports curator, Damion Thomas, told USA Today’s A.J. Perez on Friday. “The Colin Kaepernick collection is in line with the museum’s larger collecting efforts to document the varied areas of society that have been impacted by the Black Lives Matter movement.”
The effort was spearheaded in May by sports sociologist and civil rights activist Harry Edwards.
“I said, ‘Don’t wait 50 years to try to get some memorabilia and so forth on Kaepernick'” Edwards told USA Today. “‘Let me give you a game jersey, some shoes, a picture. … And it should be put right there alongside Muhammad Ali. He’s this generation’s Ali.'”
The National Museum of African American History and Culture, located in Washington, D.C., also features an exhibit dedicated to sports that “demonstrates the centrality of African American contributions and challenges to contemporary American culture and politics.”
Items on display include Tommie Smith’s warm-up suit from the 1968 Olympics in Mexico City, a statue of Jackie Robinson and Jack Johnson’s boxing glove.
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