Knowra Poor People's Campaign Poor People's Campaign A 1968 multiracial movement led by Martin Luther King Jr. and the Southern Christian Leadership Conference that demanded federal action against poverty, culminating in an encampment in Washington, D.C.
Martin Luther King Jr. : A Baptist minister and civil rights leader who advocated nonviolent protest and economic justice. He proposed the campaign and was assassinated weeks before its Washington mobilization.
Solidarity Day : A June 19, 1968, rally in Washington, D.C., held during the Poor People's Campaign. The rally was the campaign’s largest scheduled demonstration and brought thousands to the Mall.
Coretta Scott King : A civil rights activist who continued public advocacy after Martin Luther King Jr.’s assassination. She supported the campaign and helped carry forward its economic justice agenda.
Civil Rights Act of 1968 : A U.S. law addressing discrimination in housing and strengthening federal protections for civil rights. Passed during the campaign, it was a significant legal measure but did not meet the campaign’s broad economic demands.
Southern Christian Leadership Conference : A civil rights organization founded in 1957 to coordinate nonviolent direct action through Black churches. The organization developed and organized the campaign after King’s death.
Economic Bill of Rights : A set of proposed guarantees of employment, adequate income, housing, education, and economic security. The campaign used these demands to frame federal responsibility for ending poverty.
Marian Wright Edelman : An American lawyer and children’s advocate who worked with the Southern Christian Leadership Conference. She helped develop the campaign’s plans and connect them to anti-poverty policy.
War on Poverty : A group of federal programs launched in the 1960s to reduce poverty in the United States. The campaign sought to expand and deepen federal anti-poverty commitments.
Memphis sanitation strike : A 1968 labor strike by Black sanitation workers seeking union recognition, better wages, and safer conditions. King was in Memphis supporting the strikers when he was assassinated.
Nonviolent resistance : A strategy of opposing injustice through disciplined protest and refusal to use violence. The campaign drew on nonviolent direct action to press its economic demands.
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