1968 Poor People’s Campaign

USC Upstate Library Explores 1968 Poor People’s Campaign with Smithsonian Poster Exhibition

On display: February 14th - March 14, 2022

The USC Upstate Library is pleased to present “City of Hope: Resurrection City and the 1968 Poor People’s Campaign.” This poster exhibition from the Smithsonian Institution examines the Poor People’s Campaign, a grassroots, multiracial movement that drew thousands of people to Washington, D.C., 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. The exhibition honors Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s final and most ambitious vision that each U.S. citizen have equal access to economic opportunities and the American dream. 

This poster exhibition is on display from February 14 through March 13, 2022, on the library’s open-air terrace near the building’s main entrance. As the exhibit is outside, mask-wearing is not required but face masks and social distancing are encouraged.

The exhibition offers an opportunity for the USC Upstate Library to reflect upon an important moment in American history during Black History Month. The library has created a resource guide of articles, videos, and other resources that offers background on the Poor People’s Campaign. This guide also features library resources for further research.

Background on the exhibition
Organized by the Smithsonian Institution Traveling Exhibition Service (SITES) in collaboration with the National Museum of African American History and Culture, “City of Hope” highlights a series of newly discovered photographs and an array of protest signs and political buttons collected during the campaign. Featuring 18 posters, the exhibition will help visitors engage and contextualize the Poor People’s Campaign’s historical significance and present-day relevance.

Although President Lyndon B. Johnson declared a “war on poverty” in 1964, tens of millions of Americans were 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) organized the Poor People’s Campaign in response to poverty as a national human rights issue. Stretching 16 acres along the National Mall between the Lincoln Memorial and the Washington Monument, Resurrection City housed 3,000 protesters with structures for essential services like sanitation, communications, medical care, and childcare. It included a dining tent, cultural center, and a city hall along the encampment’s bustling “Main Street.”

The Poor People’s Campaign marked an important moment in U.S. history and set the stage for future social justice movements. Within months after Resurrection City’s evacuation, major strides were made toward economic equality influencing school lunch programs, rent subsidies and homeownership assistance for low-income families, education and welfare services through the Bureau of Indian Affairs, and more.

Important Related Resources

• The Smithsonian Institution Traveling Exhibition Service (SITES)
  Shares the wealth of Smithsonian collections and research programs with millions of people outside Washington, D.C. SITES connects Americans to their shared cultural heritage through a wide range of exhibitions about art, science, and history, which are shown wherever people live, work and play. For exhibition description and tour schedules.
• National Museum of African American History & Culture
  The National Museum of African American History and Culture is the only national museum devoted exclusively to the documentation of African American life, history, and culture. It was established by an Act of Congress in 2003, following decades of efforts to promote and highlight the contributions of African Americans. To date, the Museum has collected more than 40,000 artifacts and nearly 100,000 individuals have become members. The Museum opened to the public on September 24, 2016, as the 19th museum of the Smithsonian Institution.
• USC Upstate Library Guide on City of Hope
  This guide is designed to be a companion to the Poster exhibition at UofSC Upstate Library.
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