This poster exhibit honors Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s daring vision for economic justice and opportunity for every U.S. citizen. The Poor People’s Campaign—a grassroots, multiracial movement that drew thousands of people to Washington, D.C. For 43 days between May and June 1968, demonstrators demanded social reforms while living side-by-side on the National Mall in a tent city known as Resurrection City. 

During the 1960s, the United States emerges as a superpower on the world stage. But at home, poverty prevents access to opportunities to people of every race, age, and region of the country. Although President Lyndon B. Johnson declares a “War on Poverty” in 1965, tens of millions of Americans are denied livable wages, adequate housing, nutritious food, quality education, and healthcare.

Led by Drs. Martin Luther King Jr. and Ralph David Abernathy, the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) declares poverty a national human rights issue. The organization plans the Poor People’s Campaign – a grassroots, multiracial movement that draws thousands of people to Washington, D.C.

For 43 days between May and June 1968, demonstrators demand social reforms while living side-by-side on the National Mall in a tent city known as Resurrection City. Dr. Abernathy declares it a “City of Hope” that resurrects Dr. King’s hope for justice and faith in the American dream.