Poor People's Campaign

Envisioned by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. as a response to growing national poverty and urban riots in the late 1960s, the Poor People’s Campaign was a multiracial human rights political campaign focused on economic justice. It was meant to draw attention to the plight of poor people across the country from urban ghettos to rural Appalachia. Following the assassination of Dr. King on April 4, 1968, a diverse group of activists led by Rev. Ralph Abernathy of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference vowed to carry on with the campaign in memory of the fallen leader. The Poor People’s Campaign culminated with a sixteen-acre encampment called Resurrection City on the National Mall in Washington, D.C. Although plagued by poor weather and negative media attention, over the course of six weeks in May and June 1968 Resurrection City served as a multiracial community for approximately 3,000 people. The Poor People’s Campaign focused national attention on poverty and became a catalyst to federal programs and legislation that laid the groundwork for later change. This collection of artifacts and oral histories explores the economic environment of the late 1960s, including President Johnson’s war on poverty, as well as the history and legacy of the 1968 Poor People’s Campaign.

From August 13, 2022 to February 26, 2023, The Sixth Floor Museum at Dealey Plaza is pleased to host the traveling exhibition, “Solidarity Now! 1968 Poor People’s Campaign,” organized by the Smithsonian Institution Traveling Exhibition Service in collaboration with the National Museum of African American History and Culture. Supported by the CVS Health Foundation.