"Rock Against Reagan" Tank Top
date: label: date made
content: 1984
name: label: depicted (sitter)
content: Reagan, Ronald Wilson
notes: label: Description
content: This "Rock Against Reagan" tank top was purchased by Michelle Cruz Gonzalez (1969-), a Xicana (Chicana) punk musician and author of The Spitboy Rule: Tales of a Xicana in the Punk Band, on July 19, 1984, the day of the Rock Against Reagan concert, in San Francisco, California at the Democratic National Convention's official protest site across the street from the Moscone Convention Center. Rock Against Reagan was a series of punk rock concerts organized in protest of President Ronald Reagan, his administration and its policies, and his 1984 re-election campaign.
label: Description
content: The 1980s saw the rise of conservatism known as the “New Right” in American politics and culture, in part a backlash to the social movements of the 1960s and ‘70s, expressed in the economic, social, and diplomatic policies of President Ronald Reagan who was first elected in 1980. Some objected to the policies and themes of the Reagan era, which included an emphasis on “American” values and traditional roles for women in the family. Punk, an existing countercultural musical and stylistic form that was critical of the mainstream and included many prominent female artists, served as one means of protest.
label: Description
content: The tank top, which makes visible Gonzales’s identification with punk and her resistance to Reagan, is pink with black screen printing that shows a caricature of President Reagan and reads "Rock Against Reagan / U.S. Tour / 1984." The screen-printing technique suggests that many shirts were produced and, given punk’s target audience of teens and young adults, were likely inexpensive. The trim around the arm and neck holes has been removed. In 1985, Gonzales used permanent marker to change the year to read 1985 instead of 1984 to show her anger at Reagan being re-elected.
label: Location
content: Currently not on view
topic: label: Subject
content: Protest
label: general subject association
content: Women's History
label: general subject association
content: Fashion
label: general subject association
content: Gender
label: general subject association
content: Punk culture
label: Subject
content: Presidents--Election
setName: label: See more items in
content: Culture and the Arts: Musical Instruments
label: See more items in
content: Clothing & Accessories
creditLine: label: Credit Line
content: Michelle Cruz Gonzales
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of American History
identifier: label: ID Number
content: 2018.0253.01
label: accession number
content: 2018.0253
label: catalog number
content: 2018.0253.01
objectType: label: Object Name
content: shirt
physicalDescription: label: Physical Description
content: fabric (overall material)
label: Physical Description
content: ink (overall material)
label: Measurements
content: overall (flat): 21 1/2 in x 15 in; 54.61 cm x 38.1 cm