Sass, Abe. J Button Collection

Contributing Institution: Sacramento Public Library

email: sacroom@saclibrary.org

phone: (916) 264-2795

Title: Guide to the Abe J. Sass Button Collection

Identifier/Call Number: MC 120

Physical Description: .5 Linear Feet Single Archival Box

Date (inclusive): 1934 to 2015

Abstract: Collection is composed of 53 buttons that reflect the activism of longtime Sacramento resident Abe J. Sass. The earliest-made button is from 1934, the most recent from circa 2015.

Language of Material: English .

Abe Josef Sass was born in New York City, New York, on September 8, 1938, to Samuel and Sylvia (nee Wendrow) Sass. Growing up in Manhattan's Chelsea neighborhood, he attended P.S. 11 and Charles Evans Hughes High School. He then went on to earn an undergraduate degree from the City College of New York and then a Master's degree in Social Work from Columbia University. He eventually moved to California and went to work for the Napa State Hospital and then later developing an effective drug and alcohol treatment program in Sonoma County. While in California, he met Rivkah Henricksen. They were married on April 18, 1976, and eventually had two children, Ilana and Gabriel. In 2009, the couple moved to Sacramento as Rivkah became the Library Director of the Sacramento Public Library. While there, Abe was involved with the Sacramento Poetry Center and was an active member of the Capital community. Throughout his life, Sass was an ardent activist, supporting the causes of labor, tolerance, peace, and human dignity, all ethics that led him to participate in the August 1963 March on Washington and numerous social justice events to follow. Sass passed away in Sacramento, California, on January 3, 2016.

Buttons are kept in Mylar sleeves and ordered by subject in a single archival box. Subjects are as follows: 1) Apartheid; 2) Black Panther Party; 3) Central American; 4) Labor; 5) May Day; 6) Nuclear War; 7) Peace; 8) Ronald Reagan; 9) Women's Rights; and 10) General.

1) Included are two buttons addressing Apartheid; both the need to divest from South Africa and a call for halt of any U.S. support of South Africa.

2) Two buttons from the Black Panther Party, one states "Free All Political Prisoners"; the other reads "Black Panther Party, Panther Power." Panther imagery in both.

3) Included are three buttons that demand the cessation of U.S. intervention in Central America, specifically El Salvador.

4) Included are twelve buttons. Organizations represented are the International Ladies Garment Workers Union; the United Farm Workers; Chauffeurs, Teamsters, and Helpers (April 1940); United Automobile Workers of America (November 1937, March, May, September, and December 1938; International Longshoremen's Association (October 1934).

5) Four buttons supporting the observance of May Day. One button reads "Celebrate the struggle for the 8-hour day – 1986 Union Square – NYC – May 1st, 1985;" two of the other buttons are from 1979 and 1980; a fourth is not dated, but reads "May Day: International Workers Day."

6) Nine buttons address the threat of nuclear war. Slogans include "End the Arms Race, Not the Human Race"; "The Freeze, Because Nobody Wants a Nuclear War"; "You Can't Hug a Child with Nuclear Arms"; "Bread not Bombs" (Chelsea Against Nuclear Destruction United); and, "No Nukes."

7) Six buttons address peace. Peace signs and slogans "Swords into Plowshares"; "Jobs Not War" (Young Socialist Alliance).

8) Included are four buttons. Slogans are "Reagan: Bombs, Bullets, Bullshit"; "Jobs, Peace, Equality: Dump Reagan" (May Day 1984).

9) Women's Rights are addressed with two buttons. "Women United, Take Back the Night" and "Peace is a Women's Issue" (Women's International League for Peace and Freedom, 1213 Race St., Philadelphia, Pa., 19107).

10) Nine buttons are the National Committee to Reopen the (Julius and Ethel) Rosenberg Case with image of the Rosenbergs; the New York Association for American-Soviet Friendship (Eagle and Bear embracing); the Peace and Freedom Party; Lesbian and Gay Pride (1969-1989); "Please God, Keep George Okay" with marked out face of Dan Quayle; "Out Now" from Vietnam (Student Mobilization Committee to End the War in Vietnam); "Fight Racism" (Students for a Democratic Society); "United Against War, Racism, and Oppression" (YWLL); and "The March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom, August 28, 1963" with white and black hands shaking.

[Identification of item], Abe J. Sass Button Collection, MC 120, Sacramento Room, Sacramento Public Library, Sacramento, California.

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Guide to the Abe J. Sass Button Collection MC 120