teddy bear

teddy bear

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Description (Brief)
Matthew Shepard was a college student, targeted for being gay, robbed, and brutally murdered in Laramie, Wyoming, in 1998.
Shepard's murder affected people around the world in a range of ways. Two men from Denver organized a Teddy Bear Project, in which people created bears in memory of victims of hate or violence. The Bear Foundation (Bringing Equality and Respect) was in Littleton, Colorado. The men hiked from Fort Collins to the fence where Shepard was tortured and left to die and left 150 Teddy Bears. Later, this bear along with the others toured as an educational project.
This bear was contributed to the project by Carolyn Jones, a grandmother from Clackamas, Oregon, in memory of the students killed and injured at Columbine. Columbine is a high school in Littleton, CO where two students murdered 13 people and injured 21 in April 1999.
Location
Currently not on view
Object Name
teddy bear
date made
1999
Physical Description
fabric; plastic (overall material)
Measurements
overall: 6 1/4 in x 2 1/2 in x 2 in; 15.875 cm x 6.35 cm x 5.08 cm
ID Number
2019.0004.25
catalog number
2019.0004.25
accession number
2019.0004
Credit Line
Gift of Dennis and Judy Shepard
subject
LGBTQ
Gay Rights
LGBTQ Rights
See more items in
Medicine and Science: Medicine
Data Source
National Museum of American History
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