The dark gray sweater Trayvon Martin was last wearing on the night he was shot to death could be displayed at the Smithsonian's National Museum of African American History and Culture.
Museum director Lonnie Bunch says he wants the hoodie "because it's such a symbol, it would allow you to talk about race in the age of Obama," the Washington Post reported.
The now iconic hoodie was displayed in a glass frame as evidence during the criminal trial of George Zimmerman in July. Hundreds of protesters wore black hoodies at marches in the aftermath of Zimmerman's acquittal.
"I would like to see it preserved," said the Rev. Al Sharpton, one of the pivotal leaders who organized major rallies in Sanford, Fla., in the wake of the shooting, which attracted national attention.
The hoodie will be returned to the Martin family afer the Justice Department conducts its civil rights investigation, according to the Washington Express.
The museum, which is being built on the National Mall at the corner of 14th Street and Constitution Avenue NW, is slated to be finished in 2015.
So far the museum has collected items such as Emmett Till's glass casket, Louis Armstrong's trumpet and a Jim Crow-era segregated railroad car.
