Black Lives Matter t-shirt worn by NASCAR racer Bubba Wallace
date: label: date made
content: 2020
name: label: user
content: Wallace, Jr., William Darrell
notes: label: Description (Brief)
content: Black, short sleeve Black Lives Matter t-shirt worn by NASCAR driver Bubba Wallace at the Atlanta (Ga.) Motor Speedway and then at the Martinsville (Va.) Speedway. This was worn after the Ahmaud Arbery incident and according to Wallace, "as a response to the continued quest for racial equality and the eradication of social injustices."
label: Description (Brief)
content: William Darrell “Bubba” Wallace, Jr. is one of the only, and at times, the only African American driver on the NASCAR racing circuit. While a development driver with Toyota in 2010, he drove part time for Joe Gibbs Racing winning Rookie of the Year honors, becoming the first African American to do so. In 2013, he began driving full time for Kyle Busch Motorsports in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series. In October of that year, with his win at Martinsville Speedway, Wallace became the first African American driver to win in one of NASCAR's national series since 1963. Moving to the Ford driver development training, he drove full time for Roush Fenway Racing and in 2017 landed at Richard Petty Motorsports in the NASCAR Cup Series. In 2018, as the team’s principal driver, he became the first African American to become a full- time driver in the Cup series since Wendell Scott in 1971. In September of 2020, Wallace became the first driver for Michael Jordan’s team, 23XI Racing and is still driving for the team as of the 2024 season. Wallace founded the Live to Be Different Foundation in 2017 giving opportunities to individuals to realize their full potential no matter what their age, skin color or disabilities. His involvement in the Black Lives Matter movement began in February of 2020 after the murder of Ahmaud Arbery and later that year the murder of George Floyd. Wallace called for NASCAR to ban the display of the Confederate flag at their events which NASCAR began enforcing June of 2020. His car was painted to honor Black Lives Matter at the 2020 Blue-Emu Maximum Pain Relief 500 where he also wore the BLM t-shirt in the museum collections.
label: Location
content: Currently not on view
topic: label: name of sport
content: auto racing
label: level of sport
content: Professional
label: web subject
content: African American
setName: label: See more items in
content: Culture and the Arts: Sport and Leisure
label: See more items in
content: Sports & Leisure
creditLine: label: Credit Line
content: Darrell Wallace Jr.
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of American History
identifier: label: ID Number
content: 2020.0089.01
label: accession number
content: 2020.0089
label: catalog number
content: 2020.0089.01
objectType: label: Object Name
content: t-shirt, auto racing
label: Object Name
content: t-shirt
physicalDescription: label: Physical Description
content: fabric, cotton (overall material)
label: Measurements
content: overall, mounted: 28 in x 24 1/2 in x 10 in; 71.12 cm x 62.23 cm x 25.4 cm
label: Measurements
content: overall: 28 1/4 in x 18 in; 71.755 cm x 45.72 cm