Poor People’s Campaign

April 29, 2022

|In Black History in Two Minutes (or so), Season 2

In 1967, the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. expanded the Civil Rights Movement by creating a sweeping economic and healthcare care plan aimed at the poor. While he would not be around to see the efforts of his movement come to light, his wife, Coretta Scott King, and the Reverend Ralph Abernathy, picked up where he left off.

On Mother’s Day 1968, thousands of women marched in Washington D.C. and set up shop in the mall. Those in attendance would stay until the permits for their organizing expired. With each passing day, women vowed to make sure low-income Americans had more resources and a fair shot at income equality. Reverend William J. Barber II has since taken the reigns and serves as the leader of the modern poor people’s campaign, vowing to ignore any social divider and to help rid income inequality.

In this episode of Black History in Two Minutes or So hosted by Henry Louis Gates Jr. — with additional commentary from Peniel Joseph of the University of Texas, Civil Rights Activist Jesse Jackson and Hasan Jeffries of Ohio State University — we look at a campaign that was created by the late Dr. King and still has relevancy today.

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Archival Materials Courtesy of:
• Alamy Images
• Associated Press
• Everett Collection, Inc.
• Getty Images
• Shutterstock

Additional Archival Courtesy of:
• Fusion Films
• National Archives and Records Administration
• Repairers of the Breach
• Rev. William J. Barber II

Additional Footage Courtesy of:
• Inkwell Films, Kunhardt & WNET

Executive Producers:
• Robert F. Smith
• Henry Louis Gates Jr.
• Dyllan McGee
• Deon Taylor

Senior Producer:
• William Ventura

Series Producers:
• Chinisha Scott
• William Ventura

Executive in Charge of Production:
• Robert L. Yacyshyn

Post Production Supervisor:
• Veronica Leib

Post Production Coordinator:
• Katherine Swiatek

Written By:
• Henry Louis Gates, Jr.

Additional Writing:
• Kevin Burke
• Kelsi Lindus
• Chinisha Scott
• William Ventura

Editors:
• Margaret Metzger
• Anne Yao