01/30/2024
The six men pictured here in 1968 were advocating for more and better housing. They were living in an America that had become starkly divided. While one group of Americans enjoyed the benefits of an economic boom, another 25 million people lived in poverty. This divide created two Americas separated by unequal access to economic opportunities and the American dream.
For Martin Luther King Jr. and Ralph David Abernathy, poverty and economic justice were civil rights and human rights issues. Poverty affected people across America of every race, age, and religion. In 1968, community activists and organizers confronted poverty through a new kind of movement that brought the faces of poverty to the front steps of American Democracy: The Poor People’s Campaign. It was the first large-scale national demonstration after Dr. King’s death.
Learn more about Resurrection City and the historic movement in “Solidarity Now! 1968 Poor People’s Campaign” on view from February 3 to April 28, 2024 at the Washington State History Museum.
