“For many years colonial pageantry was limited to a few cities…but 1976 has changed everything!” According to American Legion magazine “…10,000 or more Americans are ‘dressing colonial’ every weekend.” The bicentennial became the year that Americans would try to figure out what the Revolutionary generation and that event in history meant to them. For Robert and Vincent DeForrest of the Afro American Bicentennial Corporation, they “…had experienced the revolution in their own lives. Weknow is it is a continuing thing. And we believe much of the leadership for continuing the American Revolution in recent decades has come for Black Americans.” As opposed to America’s centennial, a lot more people had reason to celebrate being citizens of the United States of America. Since 1876, women had gained the right to vote and African Americans were in the midst of battling for their own civil rights. This appeared to be the perfect time to celebrate the birthday of this country. “…expressions of commemoration reflected a new cultural emphasis on the individual and his or her role in society and several recent changes in American society merged with an emphasis on the self to make historical commercialization newly acceptable.” (9) What is “historical commercialization”? What is the best way to “sell history”?
1976 marked the 200th anniversary celebration of the signing of the Declaration of Independence and what better way to have celebrated than paper towels, t-shirts, and Frisbees? Dr. Crepeau’s collection of Bicentennial Junk is a perfect example of what Tammy Gordon refers to in her book: “The Spirit of 1976: Commerce, Community, and Commemoration” as the effects of a ‘buycentennial sellabration” (6) that seemed to rage in the first half of the 1970’s. The Bicentennial celebration was a perfect time for consumers to “sell “history as “commercialism quickly became a central feature of the meaning of the celebration.” (54) This had been attempted a decade before during the centennial anniversary of the Civil War; however, Confederate flag images did not just have that certain appeal for most Americans. The American Revolution and the imagery that came along with was an excellent opportunity to make history “junk” appeal to the majority of Americans, “…marketers and retailers challenged the sanctity of American history…by putting founding myths and symbols on such ephemera as paper plates and grocery bags.” (3) It turned out that for many corporations and even the federal government that the American Revolution was about to have a major impact on the American economy once again. In order to make the effect and appeal to most Americans, images of George Washington and Thomas Jefferson (slave owners) were used to appeal to white consumers while images of Crispus Attucks (African American Revolutionary war figure) were used to appeal to black consumers. “The sellabration drew on longstanding ideas about the American Revolution but repackaged them for different consumer demographics.” (65)
For major companies such as the Franklin Mint, McDonald’s and Disney, “…the bicentennial was that….’an opportunity, not only for America to support the Revolutionary spirit abroad in the world, but to lead the way once again in the struggle of people against systems of exploitation and oppression.” (ABC 2).
It is at this point where I will talk about one of the items in Dr. Crepeau’s collection: the Mickey Mouse/Paul Revere socks. As someone who has been part of this corporation myself for around six years, I know that the Walt Disney Company will use every opportunity afforded them to make a profit via consumer goods and the one image that may sell even more than the Revolution in Mickey Mouse. This and other products released by Disney during this celebration was a perfect example of how marketers tried to make the American Revolution appeal to more than just white people or historically interested people. Including popular non historical figures ups the appeal and makes the product acceptable for people of all colors, backgrounds and ages. It is a product that any American could wear and show their support of the bicentennial even if they just bought it because of the cartoon character included on the socks. This would be a good product to include because it is relatable and it might be something that people still have. More than likely the burger wrappers and newspaper ads and soda cans will more than likely have found their way to the garbage by now; but these socks might still be available to most Americans and it is something that comes out of the Bicentennial celebration that Americans can still relate to.
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