The Presidential Medallion

Tom Hughes

Sergeant Major
Joined
May 27, 2019
Location
Mississippi
This is another relic from the old Perkins plantation in the deep South. I am listing and writing about several of these relics I've found over the next several weeks. I hope you find them interesting.

First of all, please forgive me. I realize this discussion forum is for mid 19th century life topics. This relic is a presidential necklace souvenir medallion featuring William Howard Taft, our 27th president. He was president from 1909-1913.
Although this relic post-dates the desired time period for this forum, this is yet another relic from this Antebellum Southern plantation that tells its story well into the early years of the 20th century.

The medallion says: We Love Our President William Howard Taft.
Born in 1857, Taft was the only president in U.S. history to have served as both a president and a U.S. Supreme Court Chief Justice.
Even more importantly, he was Republican.
From the years of the Antebellum South through the mid-Twentieth Century, the majority of the South was predominately Democrat. I found it strange that someone from a Southern Plantation would embrace a Republican president during these early years by wearing a necklace medallion in his support.

This is the only presidential medallion or political memorabilia that I have ever found. As simple as it seems, things like this tell a lot about the political or philosophical leanings of the wearer. Another piece of recovered history telling its story across the pages of time!

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Great One, Thanks for sharing. That's why I love digging old plantations as they have great stuff in the yards as the folks that owned them had means. The rarest button I ever found was at a plantation here in Demop.
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Very interesting item and history! Thanks for posting.

One cannot rule out the possibility that the medallion was owned by an African-American, as most of them leaned Republican, even though most African Americans could not vote at the time of his presidency. Although most could not vote, there were, I believe, some who were registered to vote during those years.

IIRC, did you not find a Negro fraternal medallion over there as well? It seems his name was on it and he worked on the railroad or something. I think you tried to find more about him but ran into problems.

I hope you post that item up here. There are folks here who might be able to help track living relatives of that guy down.

Nevertheless, I love your posts. Keep them coming!!
 
Great One, Thanks for sharing. That's why I love digging old plantations as they have great stuff in the yards as the folks that owned them had means. The rarest button I ever found was at a plantation here in Demop.
View attachment 318466
Great One, Thanks for sharing. That's why I love digging old plantations as they have great stuff in the yards as the folks that owned them had means. The rarest button I ever found was at a plantation here in Demop.
View attachment 318466
Great One, Thanks for sharing. That's why I love digging old plantations as they have great stuff in the yards as the folks that owned them had means. The rarest button I ever found was at a plantation here in Demop.
View attachment 318466
Is that a University of Alabama..WOW!!! and ROLL TIDE!
 
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