Defend Black Memories (DBM) Launched Historical Portrait Capsule Collection
Defend Black Memories launches apparel collection defined by Historical Storytelling, Empowerment, and Black Brilliance
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As Black History Month arrives amid nationwide rollbacks on Black books, DEI programs, and cultural education, a new apparel brand is stepping into the gap. Defend Black Memories (DBM) has launched its first Historical Portrait Capsule Collection, transforming overlooked Black innovators and erased communities into fashionable, wearable, QR-coded storytelling.
Created by Dick Burroughs, a Brooklyn-based journalist and art curator, DBM was built in response to what he calls “a coordinated effort to erase Black people from the American story, in schools, in libraries, in museums, and in public policy.”
“People shouldn’t have to go to a museum or crack a history book to encounter Black excellence,” Burroughs says. “These stories deserve to be seen in the street, on a subway platform, at the grocery store, on the bodies of everyday people.” The capsule collection contains hoodies and sweatshirts, T-shirts, full-zip jackets, tote bags, and more.
Drop 1, now available, features designs honoring: Garrett A. Morgan, Susan King Taylor, Frederick McKinley Jones, Granville T. Woods, Harriet Tubman & Sojourner Truth, and the Tulsa Race Massacre.
Each historical portrait piece includes a QR code linking to a digital archive where wearers can take a deeper dive on the person or erasure event featured on the design. It turns apparel into a living history portal. The collection also addresses deliberate erasure, including tragedies like Tulsa and Rosewood, two Black towns destroyed by racial terror.
All portraits and patent drawings are pulled from the public domain, grounding the designs in historical authenticity while reclaiming Black intellectual legacy. Morgan’s traffic signal, Jones’s refrigeration systems, and Woods’s railway innovations are still foundational to how the modern world works in 2026.
As Black history faces renewed suppression, Defend Black Memories makes erasure harder by embedding truth into everyday apparel.
The Historical Portrait Capsule Collection is available now at DefendBlackMemories.com.