Joe Louis’s boxing gloves
“Joe Louis is, of course, an important athlete in terms of being heavyweight champion. But these gloves come from a 1936 bout against a German fighter, Max Schmeling. People talk about keeping politics out of sports, but that was pretty impossible this time, having an African American fighter representing America. The Black community was super energized about it, but [Louis] also drew the attention and excitement of the [entire] American population, because they wanted to differentiate themselves from the Nazis. So I think he played a really important part by becoming one of the first truly national African American heroes. He lost the first fight, but then he famously won two years later, in 1938. He would go on to serve sort of as a representative for the American military in World War II.”