At its peak, the number of protesters reached nearly 7,000 but still far short of the expectation of 50,000 people. SCLC leadership still was mourning Martin Luther King Jr.'s death when the campaign began. Catch up on a single episode or binge-watch full seasons before they air on TV. Robert Hamilton depicts the experience of poor people who traveled to Washington in May 1968 to dramatize the issue of poverty by building a temporary city, Resurrection City. The Poor People's Campaign faced many challenges. For the sanitation workers, the strike was the culmination of almost a decade of organizing. Photo is dated --1968. On 12 th May 1968 Ralph Abernathy, King’s chosen successor to head the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, went forward with the Poor People’s Campaign. Desegregation and the right to vote were essential, but King believed that African Americans and other minorities would never … It also advocated giving "middle class" people a "large role in government. Unlike earlier efforts directed toward helping African Americans gain civil rights and voting rights, SCLC and its leader, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., now addressed issues that impacted all who were poor regardless of racial background. There were also worries in the administration that the demonstration could start a riot, based on the various uprisings and riots that had swept the county during the previous year in what KQED characterized as the "long, hot summer. It also likely wasn't a coincidence that previously, on June 19, there had been a rally that "drew over 50,000 participants. According to the Smithsonian's National Museum of African American History and Culture, 1,000 of the neediest counties in the country received food programs, labor programs were extended by Congress, and "the government also approved rent subsidies and home ownership assistance for the poor. AFSCME Local 1733, the number chosen to honor 33 sanitation workers who were fired during the IWA organizing attempt, was chartered in 1964. King was planning a poor people’s campaign in Washington D.C. during the spring of 1968. The first week, May 12-29, brought a wave of nearly 5,000 demonstrators. In his book In a Single Garment of Destiny, Dr. King wrote, "The dispossessed of this nation — the poor, both white and Negro — live in a cruelly unjust society. Photo by Warren K. Leffler, Courtesy U.S. Library of Congress (LC-U9- 19271-33A), African American History: Research Guides & Websites, Global African History: Research Guides & Websites, African Americans and the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, The Alma Stephenson Dever Page on Afro-britons, With Pride: Uplifting LGBTQ History On Blackpast, Preserving Martin Luther King County’s African American History, Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs), Envoys, Diplomatic Ministers, & Ambassadors, African American Newspapers, Magazines, and Journals, Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC), http://poorpeoplescampaignppc.org/HISTORY.html. He hoped to unite Americans of all colors under one banner to join in a common fight against poverty. It was preceded by the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., and midway through, Robert Kennedy's assassination. They must organize a revolution against that injustice, not against the lives of the persons who are their fellow citizens, but against the structures through which the society is refusing to take means which have been called for, and which are at hand, to lift the load of poverty. Their immediate aim was to secure federal legislation ensuring full employment and promoting the construction of low-income housing to raise the quality of life of the nation’s impoverished citizens. Faith leaders with the Florida Poor People’s Campaign say a state effort to “combat rioting, looting, and violence” is an attack on Floridians’ right to protest for causes such as policing reforms, living wages, and protection against eviction. Resurrection City closed two weeks later on June 19, 1968. Episode 7. ", The True Story Of The 1968 Poor People's Campaign, The Martin Luther King Jr. Research and Education Institute at Stanford University, The Martin Luther King Jr. Research and Education Institute, Encyclopedia of African American Education, Smithsonian's National Museum of African American History and Culture. They planned for 3,000 people to travel to Washington, D.C. to "petition the government for an 'economic bill of rights'" during a non-violent demonstration on April 22, 1968.