Poster for the 1968 Poor People’s Campaign: Museum Object and Cultural History

The object in the museum catalogue

A poster distributed by the Southern Christian Leadership Conference for the Poor People’s Campaign. The poster is white with a large, centered, blue rectangular field. Inside the rectangle is white text printed in a stylized block font that reads, [WE WANT / A MEANiNGFUL / JOB AT A LiViNG / WAGE FOR EVERY- / ONE WHO WANTS / TO WORK]. In smaller additional white text that reads, [S.C.L.C. POOR PEOPLE’S CAMPAIGN]. Printed in the bottom right corner is the graphic designer’s partial name, [OSTrOW], printed in white stylized text. There is an inscription written vertically in black ink on the back of the poster that reads, [GIFT OF JOHN DE FOREST].

Materials, dates and provenance

• Date: 1968
• Designed by: Unidentified
• Distributed by: Southern Christian Leadership Conference, American, founded 1957
• Subject of: Poor People's Campaign, American, 1967 - 1968
• Type: posters
• Medium: ink on paperboard
• Dimensions: H x W x D: 28 1/16 × 22 1/16 × 1/16 in. (71.2 × 56 × 0.2 cm)
• Place used: Washington, District of Columbia, United States, North and Central America
• Topic: African American
• Topic: Activism
• Topic: Civil Rights
• Topic: Justice
• Topic: Poverty
• Topic: U.S. History, 1961-1969
• Object number: 2017.107.1
• Credit Line: Collection of the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture, Gift of Vincent A. deForest in honor of Faye Porche, SCLC
• Data Source: National Museum of African American History and Culture

Sources and reuse

Catalogue descriptions and facts adapted from National Museum of African American History and Culture through the Smithsonian's official Open Access dataset. This record explicitly marks its metadata CC0 1.0; formatting and selection have been changed. The displayed image also has an explicit CC0 designation. The underlying object's rights statement is: No known copyright restrictions Proper usage is the responsibility of the user.