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In 1968, the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and many others called for a “revolution of values” in America. They sought to build a broad, fusion movement that could unite poor and impacted communities across the country. The name they chose for the movement was a direct cry from the underside of history: The Poor People’s Campaign.

The Poor People’s Campaign: A National Call for Moral Revival builds on the unfinished work of the Poor People’s Campaign and seeks to assemble a massive movement from Alaska to Arkansas, the Bronx to the border, uniting people from all backgrounds to confront the interlocking evils of systemic racism, poverty, ecological devastation, militarism and the war economy, and the distorted false moral narrative of religious nationalism. 

We understand that as a nation we are at a critical juncture — we need a movement that will shift the moral narrative, impact policies and elections at every level of government, and build lasting power for poor and impacted people. 

Below, you’ll find a timeline describing how the  Poor People’s Campaign: A National Call for Moral Revival was founded and how we have grown over the years into the mass movement we are today.

2016

In 2016, we joined forces with religious leaders across the country for “The Revival: Time for A Moral Revolution of Values” gathering. At the invitation of over twenty local communities, we held Moral Revivals in the poorest communities across the country.

We met with Black, White, Brown, and Native leaders who were seeking a new moral vision and strategy to combat the systemic poverty issues in their states. 

Day-long training programs were held with impacted people, clergy, and advocates, while we walked through the history of the reconstruction periods in America and the interlocking nature of systemic injustices from the state to the national level. Our aim was  to gauge the appetite for the kind of moral organizing that had been successful in the North Carolina Forward Together Moral Movement.The response was overwhelming. The states from our 2016 Revival gathering would later become a part of the founding State Coordinating Committees of the Poor People’s Campaign.

2017

In 2017, Repairers of the Breach, a national nonprofit organization that trains moral leaders and builds social justice movements, partnered with the Kairos Center for Religions, Rights, and Social Justice and hundreds of local and national organizations to launch the Poor People’s Campaign: A National Call for Moral Revival.

2018

Launching the Poor People’s Campaign: A National Call for Moral Revival

In the spring of 2018, we mobilized a nationwide 40-day campaign, Moral Fusion Direct Action, which included mass education, religious services, theomusicology gatherings, and direct action. We gathered in DC to formally launch the campaign. During the six-week period, over 30,000 people participated in 200 nationwide actions, and over 5,000 people engaged in nonviolent direct action to bring national attention to the policy violence in our nation.

The Souls of Poor Folk, April 2018

In April 2018, we conducted and released “The Souls of Poor Folk“, an empirical study that demonstrated the direct link between extremist policies and poverty in America. The study adopted an intersectional approach to analyzing and identifying remedies for the evils identified by the Campaign: Systemic Racism, Poverty, Militarism, Ecological Devastation and the Distorted Moral Narrative of Religious Nationalism. 

2019

First Biennial Poor People’s Moral Action Congress

In June 2019, the first Poor People’s Moral Action Congress was held in Washington, D.C., a year after the Campaign’s launch. The Congress was established to deepen the political knowledge and analysis of our state volunteer leaders, train and equip new and continuing state leaders with the tools necessary for building a successful Campaign in their states, and significantly impact the state and national political discourse by shifting the narrative to address the interlocking injustice of systemic racism, systemic poverty, the war economy, ecological devastation, and the distorted moral narrative of religious nationalism affecting over 140 million and poor and low-wealth people.

Over 1,000 people from across 40 states attended the first Moral Action Congress. Day one  featured a forum with nine 2020 presidential candidates, where each candidate committed to addressing the five interlocking issues of the Poor People’s Moral Agenda. We also released a Moral Budget demonstrating the economic benefits of adequately addressing these interlocking issues. On day two, we conducted over 20 moral fusion organizing trainings and workshops. On the third and final day, the Poor People’s Campaign state leaders and national co-chairs testified on Capitol Hill in front of the U.S. House Budget Committee, where key members of Congress reviewed the Campaign’s findings and agreed that the government must do something about the alarming rate of 140 million poor and low-income people living in America.

The convening was a huge success, and the training and organizing that occurred during the gathering propelled the Campaign into a powerful 22 states tour in the fall of 2019, which included mass meetings, training, canvassing, voter education, and mobilization for the Mass Poor People’s Assembly on June 20, 2020.

Poor People’s Moral Budget

During 2019, we also assembled the Poor People’s Moral Budget, which looks at policies and investments for seven critical areas of the Poor People’s Moral Agenda: 1) Democracy and equal protection under the law 

2) Domestic tranquility 

3) Peace and the common defense 

4) Life and health 

5) The planet

6) Our future 

7) An equitable economy. 

In each case, we’ve found that our nation has abundant resources to meet the demands of the poor, and to address the widespread and systemic injustices we face. 

2020

Mass Poor People’s and Low-Wage Workers Assembly

On June 20, 2020, the Poor People Campaign, along with 43 state coordinating committees, 200 mobilizing partners, and religious bodies, advocates, and artist-activists, successfully reorganized the Mass Poor People’s Assembly and Moral March on Washington into a 3.5-hour digital justice gathering. The digital march focused on the 140 million poor and low-income people in the U.S. Impacted people spoke directly to the nation and shared their personal experiences with systemic racism, systemic poverty, the war economy and militarism, ecological devastation, and the distorted moral narrative of religious nationalism. Over 2.5 million viewers joined in on Facebook, and over 240,000 letters were sent to governors and Congress members to support the newly released Poor People’s Moral Justice Jubilee Policy Platform.

Unleashing the Power of Poor and Low-Income Americans

The report, “Unleashing the Power of the Poor and Low-Income Americans: Changing the Political Landscape,” provides a closer look at the voting behaviors of poor and low-income people relative to the size of the total electorate and recent voting margins by state. The findings support our analysis that organizing among the poor around a moral agenda that represents the concerns of the poor can fundamentally change the political map of this country and lead to policies that are just and representative for all Americans.

2021

Third Reconstruction: Fully Addressing Poverty & Low Wages From the Bottom Up.

On May 20, 2021, the co-chairs of the Poor People’s Campaign, Rev. Dr. William J. Barber, II and Rev. Dr. Liz Theoharis, joined Representatives Pramila Jayapal and Barbara Lee as they announced a non-partisan congressional resolution to support this movement, entitled: Third Reconstruction: Fully Addressing Poverty & Low Wages From the Bottom Up.

This historic effort comes as a response to years of movement-building and emerges from the pain and organizing power of the 140 million. It reflects an omnibus vision to restructure our society from the bottom up, recognizing that in order to build a true Third Reconstruction we must simultaneously deal with the interlocking injustices of systemic racism, poverty, ecological devastation and the denial of health care, militarism and the distorted moral narrative of religious nationalism that blames the poor instead of the systems that cause poverty.

Waking the Sleeping Giant

In 2021, we also released “Waking the Sleeping Giant: Poor and Low-Income Voters in the 2020 Election,” a report that demonstrates the impact and importance of poor and low-wealth voters on the electorate and the need to engage with policy issues that directly impact them, like living wages and voting rights.

2022

Mass Poor People’s and Low-Wage Workers Assembly and Moral March on Washington

Using the moral fusion organizing model in which Repairers of the Breach has trained thousands of community-based leaders over the years, we focused our mobilizing in late 2021 and early 2022 on the Mass Poor People’s and Low-Wage Workers Assembly and Moral March on Washington on June 18, 2022.

• We assembled to give poor and low-wealth people a national platform from which to tell their own stories and make their demands to elected leaders.
• We assembled to demand immediate and transformative action to address the vast interlocking injustices in our nation.
• We assembled to show the power of a moral fusion coalition. 
• We assembled to engage in a nationwide teach-in by presenting the state of affairs, putting a face on the state of affairs, and ending with a commitment to intensify our action in our communities following the assembly.

The Assembly included workers, families, children, youth, faith leaders, labor unions, environmental, and civil rights groups, representing a powerful and diverse coalition of over 200 organizations fighting to address systemic poverty and racism, gun violence, immigration, voter suppression, environmental devastation, militarism, and many other interlocking issues. Our organizing model has always built connections between organizations and people who often work in silos. June 18 brought communities of different races, identities, backgrounds, and beliefs together. We represented a moral resurrection amidst great division. The Assembly illustrated how interconnected social justice work is and the kind of fusion power we need to create to save our democracy and change this nation. As one attendee put it – “This campaign’s consciousness is growing and unstoppable.”

Over 5 Million Poor and Low Wealth Voters Contacted!

During the 2022 mid-term election season, the Poor People’s Campaign intensified its non-partisan voter mobilization effort to encourage voter participation in poor and low-income communities in 15 states (WI, TX, SC, PA, OH, NC, MS, MI, ME, KY, IL, GA, FL, AK, and AZ). From September through November, we canvassed communities educating them about the issues, hosted a national text-banking program, encouraged voter registration, and partnered with local and national organizations. We surpassed our goal of reaching 5 million poor and low-income voters.

A Poor People’s Pandemic Report.

Mapping the Intersections of Poverty, Race and COVID-19. The Poor People’s Pandemic Report exposed the glaring omissions in collecting and disseminating data on poverty in the US as it relates to the pandemic. It showed how the pandemic exacerbated preexisting social & economic disparities. 

2024

Mass Poor People’s and Low Wage Worker’s Mass Assembly and March on Washington D.C. and to the Polls

Building on the momentum from the previous assembly in 2022, we gathered in Washington, D.C. for the “Mass Poor People’s and Low Wage Worker’s Mass Assembly and March on Washington D.C. and to the Polls,” on June 29th. 

Thousands of attendees heard testimonies directly from poor and low-wage impacted people — who came from every corner of the country to describe what life is like for the least of these in the richest nation on earth.

They left inspired to embark on a campaign to turn out 15 million poor and low-wage infrequent voters during the election this year. That ongoing campaign has already reached millions of voters.