Having grown up as part of a single- parent, working-class family in east Durham, Wilbur Hobby empathized with the plight of those who struggled daily on low incomes. Hobby became a union organizer and a Civil Rights and Democratic Party activist, as well as president of the AFL-CIO. This button dates from Hobby's failed bid for the North Carolina Democratic gubernatorial nomination in 1972. In 1981, he was removed from his position in the AFL-CIO, after being found guilty of fraud and conspiracy to misuse federal job training funds.

Photo by Hugh Morton