‘Solidarity Now! 1968 Poor People’s Campaign’ Brings Story of Economic Justice and Resurrection City

In late May of 1968, the Poor People’s Campaign erected a small city on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., as a site of protest and collective action for economic justice. Martin Luther King organized the Campaign, but following his assassination in April, Ralph Abernathy helped lead efforts.

There was considerable diversity within the campaign, not only across ethnic and religious lines, but geographically too. To ensure the campaign addressed New México’s concerns about land, Reies López Tijerina and many other New Mexicans also made the 1,500-mile trip to Washington, D.C. This fall, the story of the Poor People’s Campaign comes to New Mexico History Museum.

Solidarity Now! 1968 Poor People’s Campaign is a traveling exhibition from the Smithsonian that illuminates the often-overlooked history of the multicultural movement to confront poverty that redefined social justice and activism in America. The exhibition is on display at the New Mexico History Museum will be on view through January 14, 2024.

The exhibition is supported by the CVS Health Foundation, a private foundation created by CVS Health to help people live healthier lives.

Solidarity Now! features photographs, oral histories with campaign participants and organizers, and an array of protest signs, political buttons, and audio field recordings collected during the campaign. The exhibition explores the significance of the tactics and impact of this campaign that drew thousands of people to build a protest community on the National Mall in Washington, D.C. For nearly six weeks they inhabited “a city of hope” on 15 acres between the Washington Monument and the Lincoln Memorial to call the nation’s attention to the crippling effects of poverty for millions of Americans. The protest site was called Resurrection City.

Through a 3D map of Resurrection City, visitors can examine the planned spaces for housing, a cultural center, city hall, theater stage, and essential services, including facilities for food and dining, sanitation, communications, education, medical and dental care, and childcare.

In the 1960s, as the United States emerged as a global model of wealth and democracy, an estimated 25 million Americans lived in poverty. From the elderly and underemployed to children and persons with disabilities, poverty affected people of every race, age, and religion. In response, the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, led by King and Abernathy, organized the Poor People’s Campaign as a national human rights crusade.

As a multiethnic movement that included African Americans, Mexican Americans, Native Americans, Puerto Ricans, Asians, and poor whites from Appalachia and rural communities, the six-week protest community in Washington attracted demonstrators nationwide. The campaign leaders presented demands to Congress, including demands for jobs, living wages, and access to land, capital, and health care. It was the first large-scale, nationally organized demonstration after King’s death.

Solidarity Now! 1968 Poor People’s Campaign is organized by the Smithsonian Institution Traveling Exhibition Service in collaboration with the National Museum of African American History and Culture.

The exhibition title is a reference to the Solidarity Day Rally held June 19, 1968, as a major highlight and capstone for the movement. The rally at the Lincoln Memorial featured speeches by celebrities, activists, and campaign organizers as a continuation of the 1963 March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom.