Poor People’s Campaign

One of the most well known initiatives led by individuals with lived experience is the Poor People’s Campaign. In 1967, in the midst of the Civil Rights Movement, Martin Luther King, Jr. and the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) organized the Campaign to address poverty across the nation as well as a Poor People’s March on Washington. In 1968 despite Dr. King’s assassination, Ralph Abernathy of the SCLC led the march of an estimated 50,000 demonstrators demanding that the federal government address employment and housing issues. Today, the Poor People’s Campaign encompasses more than 40 state coordinating committees of individuals living in poverty and allies who are fighting to address poverty and racism among other interacting systemic issues. In 2019, more than 1,000 community leaders came together in the nation’s capital for the Poor People’s Moral Action Congress and commenced a 25-state tour to mobilize people in preparation for an assembly and march on Washington in June, 2020. The Campaign has also developed a moral agenda including a description of the state of poverty and inequality in the U.S. and a list of demands surrounding employment, wages, housing, education, health care, and welfare.