Poor People's Campaign

Poor People's Campaign
Warren K. Leffler, U.S. News & World Report · Public domain · source
Name	Poor People's Campaign
Formation	1968
Founder	Martin Luther King Jr., Southern Christian Leadership Conference
Type	Social justice movement
Focus	Economic justice, anti-poverty, multiracial organizing
Headquarters	Washington, D.C.
Key people	Ralph Abernathy, Jesse Jackson, Coretta Scott King

Poor People's Campaign. The Poor People's Campaign was a 1968 social justice movement conceived by Martin Luther King Jr. and the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) to address issues of economic inequality and poverty across racial lines. It marked a significant shift in the Civil Rights Movement from a primary focus on civil rights and desegregation to a broader struggle for economic justice and human rights. The campaign's most visible action was the establishment of a protest community known as Resurrection City on the National Mall in Washington, D.C..

Origins and Context

The campaign emerged from the evolving analysis of Martin Luther King Jr. and other leaders following major legislative victories like the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965. King argued that these laws did not address the fundamental economic inequality plaguing Americans of all races. His experiences in the Chicago Freedom Movement and his growing opposition to the Vietnam War deepened his commitment to linking racial justice with economic justice. The final planning for the campaign was announced in December 1967, with King stating the need for a "radical redistribution of economic and political power." The assassination of King on April 4, 1968, in Memphis, Tennessee, where he was supporting the Memphis Sanitation Strike, infused the campaign with a renewed, urgent sense of purpose under the leadership of his successor at the SCLC, Ralph Abernathy.

Goals and Demands

The Poor People's Campaign presented a set of ambitious economic and human rights demands to the federal government, encapsulated in an "Economic Bill of Rights." Key demands included a commitment to full employment, a guaranteed annual income, and the construction of 500,000 low-income housing units per year until all slums were eliminated. The campaign also sought increased funding for anti-poverty programs, a stronger social safety net, and access to quality healthcare and education. It called for the protection of the right to organize for farmworkers and a shift in national priorities away from military spending, as highlighted in King's "Beyond Vietnam" speech. This platform aimed to unite poor people from diverse backgrounds—including African Americans, Appalachian whites, Latinos, and Native Americans—around shared economic grievances.

Organization and Tactics

Organized primarily by the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, the campaign utilized nonviolent direct action and mass mobilization. A key tactic was the "Poor People's March on Washington" in the spring of 1968, which involved caravans of participants from across the country converging on the capital. Upon arrival, they constructed Resurrection City, a temporary settlement of plywood and canvas shelters on the National Mall near the Lincoln Memorial. For six weeks, thousands of residents engaged in daily protests, lobbying, and cultural events to keep poverty in the national spotlight. Leaders like Jesse Jackson and Coretta Scott King played prominent roles in demonstrations and negotiations. The campaign faced significant challenges, including internal logistical problems, persistent rain that turned the site to mud, and tensions with law enforcement, culminating in a police sweep and the clearing of Resurrection City in late June 1968.

Resurrection and Resurrection (2018)

In 2018, a new Poor People's Campaign: A National Call for Moral Revival was launched, co-chaired by Rev. Dr. William J. Barber II and Rev. Dr. Liz Theoharis. This modern revival, building on the unfinished work of the 1968 campaign, is a multi-year effort of moral fusion organizing that explicitly links issues of poverty, racism, militarism, and ecological devastation. It involves coordinated direct action across state capitals, voter mobilization drives, and the publication of policy audits like "The Souls of Poor Folk." The campaign has organized major gatherings in Washington, D.C., including a 2020 digital march and a 2022 mass mobilization at the National Mall, continuing to advocate for systemic change and a "Third Reconstruction" in America.

Legacy and Impact

While the 1968 campaign did not achieve its specific legislative goals, its legacy is profound. It boldly expanded the scope of the Civil Rights Movement to encompass economic justice as a fundamental human right, influencing subsequent movements like the Fight for $15 and modern labor movement activism. It provided a powerful model for multiracial coalition-building among the poor and highlighted the structural nature of poverty. The campaign's tactics of sustained encampment and mass protest in the nation's capital presaged later movements such as Occupy Wall Street. Historians view it as a critical, if underappreciated, chapter that challenged America to confront the intertwined evils of poverty, racism, and militarism, a challenge taken up anew by the 21st-century revival campaign.