The Cleveland Museum of Art
Collection Online as of December 17, 2025
Introduces "Mayor" of Resurrection City: The Rev. Ralph D. Abernathy, head of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference in Washington DC introduced Resurrection City manager, the Reverend Jesse Jackson of Chicago. Black leaders gathered at the plywood shelter encampment of the Poor People's Campaign. In background one of the demonstrators nails up a "City Hall" sign, May 22, 1968
1968
(American, born Hungary, 1925–2008)
Image: 18.1 x 22.2 cm (7 1/8 x 8 3/4 in.)
Location: Not on view
Did You Know?
To demand jobs and income for the poor, a town of 3,000 wooden tents was erected and occupied in Washington, DC, in 1968.Description
Take a month after the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., this image shows Reverend Ralph D. Abernathy and Reverend Jesse Jackson presiding over a gathering at Resurrection City. This temporary town established in Washington, D.C. fulfilled King’s call for “a trek to the nation’s capital by suffering and outraged citizens who will go to stay until some definite and positive action is taken to provide jobs and income for the poor.”- {{cite web|title=Introduces "Mayor" of Resurrection City: The Rev. Ralph D. Abernathy, head of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference in Washington DC introduced Resurrection City manager, the Reverend Jesse Jackson of Chicago. Black leaders gathered at the plywood shelter encampment of the Poor People's Campaign. In background one of the demonstrators nails up a "City Hall" sign, May 22, 1968|url=false|author=Charles Tasnadi|year=1968|access-date=17 December 2025|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}
Source URL:
https://www.clevelandart.org/art/2021.215