True Unity News of Resurrection City, June 16, 1968 Special Edition

Washington, D.C.: N.p., 1968. Two double-sided sheets (one page repeated) measuring 8 ½ x 14 inches, stapled. Folded in half with a tear to the upper right corner and some damage to bottom margin; very good to excellent.. The Poor People’s Campaign, conceived of by Martin Luther King Jr. and the Southern Christian Leadership Conference and accomplished after King’s assassination, brought the American poor of all races to protest in Washington, D.C. It culminated in a six-week occupation of the National Mall called Resurrection City which, against King’s plans, was permitted by the National Parks Service. Offered here is June 16, 1968’s Special Edition of the True Unity News of Resurrection City, a periodical printed for the encampment. It contains blurbs on protests outside the Department of Agriculture building, findings of the Civil Rights Commission on conditions for African Americans in Alabama, an invitation to a BBQ—food, along with shelter, sanitation, and healthcare were provided in the city—and remarks from SCLC leader Ralph Abernathy on the movement’s goals.

The campaign is often considered unsuccessful, though it did lead to improvements to school lunches and Head Start programs in several states among other modest wins. We find three institutions holding True Unity News on OCLC, including the Labadie Collection at University of Michigan, which does not have this specific issue, as well as unspecified issues at Emory University and the State Library of South Australia.