On this special day we are honoring the birthday of Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King (although the official day was on Saturday). Many know the legacy of King fighting for civil rights and equal justice for all, but often his fight for financial justice towards the end of his life is undervalued. Dr. King when he died was working on the Poor People’s Campaign with the Southern Christian Leadership Conference.
The Poor People’s Campaign is an important part of his legacy—in the last year of his life King was fighting for economic justice for poor people in America. We cannot talk about finance without addressing our need to look out for people at all income levels—Dr. King understood that.
The focus of the campaign was addressing the employment and housing gaps of the poor in this country. The Poor Peoples’s Campaign sought to alleviate poverty. The campaign also consisted of people from all races. Some of the demands of the campaign included full employment for all Americans, a minimum guaranteed income and the construction of affordable housing. King understood the powerful relationship between access and poverty. He understood if poor people were offered the same opportunities for housing and empowered with more viable employment options it could lift people out of poverty.
Over 50 years after the initial launch of the Poor People’s Campaign, we have made some strides dealing with poverty in America, but we still have more work. What has worked over the years? What do we need to do different? Education, community programs, mentorship and apprenticeships have all proven to be valuable assets in the fight against poverty. How we deal with the poor says a lot about who we are as a country. We want to highlight organizations that are working to end poverty in a series we will call finance and service.
