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Abstract
Using the Poor People's Campaign of 1968 as a case study, this essay explores the considerable influence media framing had on the social justice movements of the time. While campaign organizers including Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. sought the nation's rededication to the War on Poverty, national press coverage flattened out the campaign's complexities. A systematic examination of such reporting reveals that common media practices helped obscure many of the campaign's class‐based goals and the practical impact the experience had on those who participated.
Notes
1. Washington Post, June 9, 1968.
2. Tom Offenburger, interview by Kay Shannon, July 2, 1968, Washington, DC, in Ralph Bunche Oral History Collection, Moorland‐Spingarn Research Center, Howard University, Washington, DC (hereafter known as MSRC).
3. Berry, “The Anger and Problems,” 22.
4. Time, May 31, 1968.
5. Fager, Uncertain Resurrection, 141–2; Fairclough, To Redeem the Soul of America, 385–8; Jackson, From Civil Rights to Human Rights, 353–9; and Honey, Going Down Jericho Road, 500–1.
6. McKnight, The Last Crusade; Chase, “Class Resurrection”; Vigil, The Crusade for Justice, Chapter 3; Mariscal, Brown‐Eyed Children of the Sun, 178–99; and Cobb, Native Activism in Cold War America, Chapters 7–8.
7. Gitlin, a journalism scholar and former leader of the Students for a Democratic Society, provides a comprehensive definition of media frames, a concept mostly used by social scientists and psychologists. Media frames are “principles of selection, emphasis, and presentation composed of little tacit theories about what exists, what happens, and what matters. … Media frames, largely unspoken and unacknowledged, organized the world both for journalists who report it and, in some important degree, for us who rely on their reports. … Frames enable journalists to process large amounts of information quickly and routinely: to recognize it as information, to assign it to cognitive categories, and to package it for efficient relay to their audiences.” The Whole World is Watching, 6–7. See also Goffman, Frame Analysis, 10–11; and Hall, “The Determinations of News Photographs.”
8. Most studies on the national press emphasize its positive contributions to the movement. See Roberts and Klibanoff, The Race Beat; Bond, “The Media and the Movement”; Walker, “A Media‐Made Movement?”; Friedman and Richardson, “‘A National Disgrace’”; and Spratt, “When Police Dogs Attacked.” A few scholars offer a more critical analysis, particularly regarding press treatment of Black Power. Morgan, “Media Culture and the Public Memory”; Lentz, Symbols; and Payne, I've Got the Light of Freedom, Chapter 14. For candid insights from a sympathetic journalist, see Good, The Trouble I've Seen.
9. See also Murphree, The Selling of Civil Rights, 11–76; Garrow, Protest at Selma, 161–78; Branch, At Canaan's Edge, 49–202; Greenberg, “The Idea of the ‘Liberal Media’”; and Feldstein, “‘I Wanted the Whole World to See’.” Although not Feldstein's explicit argument, Mamie Bradley, Emmett Till's mother, relied heavily on national press coverage to generate widespread sympathy for her and her son. None of these studies, however, combines a rigorous analysis of the media's “framing,” in terms of social movement theory, with an exploration of civil rights organizations' own efforts to frame their activities to the public.
10. Payne, I've Got the Light of Freedom, 395.
11. Roberts and Klibanoff praise these mostly white reporters and editors, especially Claude Sitton, the southern bureau chief for the New York Times. When Sitton became the Times national editor in 1964, he insisted that the paper always cover Martin Luther King, Jr.'s appearances, partially because “he might be assassinated at any moment; and that, Sitton believed, could touch off a cataclysmic reaction.” The Race Beat, 378. The authors go on to marginalize the years after 1965 as simply “Beyond” – a period of urban riots, unraveling coalitions, and physical attacks on veteran reporters.
12. For instance, see Sugrue, Sweet Land of Liberty; MacLean, Freedom Is Not Enough; and Theoharis and Woodard, Freedom North.
13. The “prestige press,” or national press, denotes a handful of respected news organizations with reach beyond their home markets: the New York Times, Washington Post, Chicago Tribune, Atlanta Constitution, Los Angeles Times, Wall Street Journal, Time, Newsweek, and U.S. News & World Report. I also examine the most influential black publications, including the Chicago Defender, New York Amsterdam News, Pittsburgh Courier, Jet and Ebony magazines. At the time, the Defender and Courier were considered national newspapers, with weekly editions read by blacks nationally. For the sake of comparison, I analyze select Spanish‐language and alternative publications, including La Raza, El Gallo, Chicano Student, People's World, The Worker, I.F. Stone's Weekly, Business Week, Commentary, Commonweal, and The New Yorker. Both editorial and news reports will be examined together, as these two “sides” generally reflect different degrees of the same biases. Also, many organizations shared articles. In addition to wire service copy, the Post and the Los Angeles Times shared stories, while the Constitution ran abbreviated New York Times pieces. Several black newspapers had similar arrangements. Unfortunately, national television news broadcasts before August 1968 are not available to scholars – at least not enough for the systematic analysis provided here. Therefore, while undoubtedly contributing to the framing of the era's social justice movements, television coverage of the campaign is not considered.
14. As many scholars persuasively argue, King emerged during the Montgomery bus boycott because he was the right man at the right time, comfortable in front of the cameras and articulate enough to reach sympathetic white liberals through the press. For instance, see Lentz, Symbols, 21–41; Payne, I've Got the Light of Freedom, 400–2; Fairclough, To Redeem the Soul of America, 7–8; and Branch, Parting the Waters, 203–4.
15. Garrow, Protest at Selma, 133–78; Fairclough, To Redeem the Soul of America, 133–8; and Hon, “‘To Redeem the Soul of America’.” The SNCC at times also relied heavily on media strategies, such as during Freedom Summer, but with mixed results. Murphree, The Selling of Civil Rights, 1–10, 58–60.
16. See Spratt, “When Police Dogs Attacked”; Kelley, “‘We Are Not What We Seem’”; Manis, A Fire You Can't Put Out; Eskew, But for Birmingham; Thornton, Dividing Lines; and Walker, “A Media‐Made Movement?”
17. “Beyond Vietnam,” April 4, 1967, in Box 12, Speeches, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Papers, Martin Luther King Jr. Center for Nonviolent Change, Atlanta (hereafter known as KP). The Washington Post called his Vietnam statements “sheer inventions of unsupported fantasy,” while black columnist Carl Rowan called him a communist “dupe.” Post, April 6, 1967; and Carl Rowan, “Martin Luther King's Tragic Decision,” Reader's Digest, September 1967. See also Payne, I've Got the Light of Freedom, 402; and Branch, At Canaan's Edge, 594–7.
18. New York Times, August 17, 1967.
19. Lentz, Symbols, 254.
20. Quote in Pittsburgh Courier, September 2, 1967. See Chicago Tribune, August 17, 1967; Atlanta Constitution, August 17, 1967; Time, August 25, 1967; Newsweek, August 28, 1967; and U.S. News and World Report, August 28, 1967.
21. Transcript of press conference, December 4, 1967, Box 13, Speeches, KP.
22. “King Tells of Plans for Civil Disobedience,” Los Angeles Times, December 5, 1967.
23. Quote in Pittsburgh Courier, December 16, 1967. The Washington Post ran a shortened version of reporter Jack Nelson's Times story, cutting any mention of non‐black poor participation. Also Washington Post, October 24 and December 5, 1967; Chicago Tribune, December 5, 1967; Wall Street Journal, December 5, 1967; Atlanta Constitution, December 5–6, 1967; New York Times, December 5, 1967; New York Amsterdam News, December 9 and 23, 1967; Chicago Defender, December 7, 12 and 14, 1967; and Baltimore Afro‐American, December 9 and 23, 1967. Two late 1967 Defender articles demonstrate the black press's blind spots on organizing outside of the freedom struggle: a piece on why Denver blacks have avoided a violent rebellion, without mentioning the role of the city's largest minority population, ethnic Mexicans; and a short article that characterized ethnic Mexican activists' picketing of a Civil Rights Commission meeting as “the first time … Mexicans threw their weight around out here.” Daily Defender, August 21, 1967, and Defender, December 2–8, 1967.
24. “Statement of Purpose: Washington, D.C., Poor People's Campaign,” January 1968, Box 49, Folder 3, and “Questions and Answers About the Washington Campaign,” January 1968, Box 179, Folder 19, both in Records of Southern Christian Leadership Conference, Martin Luther King Jr. Center for Nonviolent Change, Atlanta (hereafter known as SCLC); and “Why We Need to Go to Washington” press conference transcript, Atlanta, January 16, 1968, Box 14, Speeches, KP.
25. Quote in New York Times, February 11, 1968. Also, José Yglesias, “Dr. King's March on Washington, Part II,” New York Times Magazine, March 31, 1968; New York Times and Los Angeles Times, March 5, 1968; and U.S. News & World Report, March 18, 1968.
26. Pittsburgh Courier, February 17, 1968.
27. New York Times, February 23 and March 4–5, 20, and 27, 1968; Washington Post, January 17, February 6–8 and March 5, 1968; Los Angeles Times, February 3 and 8, March 5, 1968; Chicago Defender, February 24–March 1, 1968; Pittsburgh Courier, February 17, 1968; March 16 and 30, 1968; and The Worker, March 10, 1968. Hometown paper Washington Post proved an exception in that it occasionally de‐centered King and hinted that recruiting had seen some success. Reporter Bernadette Carey observed Poor People's Campaign official Tony Henry, on loan from the American Friends Service Committee, pitching the campaign to community groups – yet the article only cites Henry.
28. See “Statement of Purpose: Washington, D.C., Poor People's Campaign,” January 1968, Box 49, Folder 3, and “Questions and Answers About the Washington Campaign,” January 1968, Box 179, Folder 19, both in SCLC; King, “Prelude to Tomorrow,” Chicago, January 6, 1968; “Why We Need to Go to Washington” press conference transcript, Atlanta, January 16, 1968; “In Search of a Sense of Direction,” at Vermont Street Baptist Church, Washington, DC, February 7, 1968; mass meetings, Birmingham and Selma, Ala., February 15 and 16, 1968; address to Ministers Leadership Training Program, Miami, February 23, 1968; campaign press conference, Atlanta, March 4, 1968; “Local 1199 Salute to Freedom,” March 10, 1968; mass meetings, Jenning's Temple Church, Greenwood, Miss., Chapel Hill Baptist, Clarksdale, Miss., First New Hope Baptist, Grenada, Miss., and St. Paul Methodist, Laurel, Miss., all on March 19, 1968; mass meeting, First Baptist Church, Eutaw, Ala., March 20, 1968; and campaign rallies, Augusta, Macon, Albany, and Waycross, Ga., March 23, 1968 – all in Box 14, Speeches, KP.
29. Lentz, Symbols, 279.
30. Newsweek, March 25, 1968; Time, March 22, 1968; and “Dr. King Touring Nation in Poor People's Campaign,” SCLC press release, March 17, 1968, Box 122, Folder 10, SCLC.
31. Quote in Myles Horton letter to Andrew Young, April 5, 1968, in Box 177, Folder 20, Reel 26, frame 00614, SCLC microfilm. Also, José Angel Gutiérrez, January 8, 2006, Bernard Lafayette, June 13, 2005, and Leo Nieto, March 9, 2006, all interviews by author, by telephone; Tom Houck, interview by Kay Shannon, July 19, 1968, MSRC; “Mexican American to Join Rev. Martin Luther King March on Washington,” Alianza press release, n.d., Box 31, Folder 28, and Della Rossa interview with Reies Tijerina, April 15, 1968, 1, Box 52, Folder 5, both in Papers of Reies López Tijerina, Center for Southwest Research, University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, New Mexico (hereafter known as RLT); and Tijerina, They Called Me ‘King Tiger’, 103.
32. Quote in Pittsburgh Courier, March 30, 1968. Also, “American Indians, Poor Whites, Spanish‐Americans Join Poor People's Washington Campaign,” SCLC release, March 15, 1968, Poor People's Campaign folder, Box 2101, unprocessed papers of the National Welfare Rights Organization, MSRC; New York Times, March 15, 1968; Atlanta Constitution, March 15, 1968; People's World, March 23, 1968; El Gallo (Denver), April 1968; Inferno (San Antonio), April 1968; and La Raza (Los Angeles), May 11, 1968. The Chicago Daily Defender also mentioned the conference, although the story was little more than a poorly edited version of the SCLC press release. March 23–29, 1968. The Courier also ran a photograph from the conference – of King, Tijerina, and an unidentified woman – but only after King's death. April 13, 1968.
33. New York Times, March 18, 1968.
34. This was a change from the 1964 launch of the War on Poverty. While the Johnson administration took pains to depict the program as primarily for the majority of poor people who were white, the face of poverty became darker over time as urban uprisings erupted and a predominantly black welfare rights movement emerged between 1964 and 1968. See Gilens, Why Americans Hate Welfare.
35. U.S. News & World Report had long referred to the campaign as a “siege.” February 12 and March 18, 1968. For similar allusions to conflict, see Atlanta Constitution, December 5–6 and 15, 1967, and March 5, 1968; Washington Post, December 5, 1967, February 6–8, 24 and March 5, 1968; New York Times, February 23 and March 5, 1968; and Los Angeles Times, December 5–7, 1967, and March 5, 1968.
36. Quotes in Atlanta Constitution, March 29, 1968, and Chicago Tribune, March 30, 1968. Also, New York Times, March 29–30, 1968; Los Angeles Times, March 29 and April 1, 1968; Washington Post, March 29 and April 3, 1968; and U.S. News & World Report, April 8, 1968.
37. New York Times, March 30, 1968.
38. Washington Post, March 30, 1968. The FBI used several newspapers, including the St. Louis Globe Democrat, to spread even more negative rhetoric against King, calling him “one of the most menacing men in America today.” Branch, At Canaan's Edge, 745.
39. Chicago Defender, March 30–April 5, 1968; and Pittsburgh Courier, April 13, 1968. The Courier also ran the Defender's take on Memphis – in the form of a Sengestacke wire news analysis rather than an unsigned editorial – in its April 6 issue, but then clarified its position in an editorial the next week. This may have been in response to King's death. Other publications, such as Jet magazine, Chicano newspapers, and The Worker, did not publish on the march in Memphis probably because King's death six days later forced them to revamp their coverage at the last moment. Weekly newspapers routinely had to treat breaking news differently than their daily counterparts.
40. New York Amsterdam News, April 6, 1968.
41. Atlanta Constitution, April 10–11, 1968.
42. Quote in Los Angeles Times, April 8, 1968. Also, Post, April 23, 1968; Los Angeles Times, April 6, 1968; Atlanta Constitution, April 8, 1968; John Rutherford, June 4, 1968, Washington, DC, MSRC, and Tom Houck, interviews by Kay Shannon; and Lauren Watson, interview by author, June 27, 2005, Denver, Colorado.
43. U.S. News & World Report, March 18, April 29, and May 6 and 20, 1968.
44. Newsweek, May 6, 1968; and Lentz, Symbols, 11–15.
45. See Washington Post, April 27–28 and May 26, 1968; New York Times, April 23, 1968; Los Angeles Times, April 23 and May 7, 1968; Paul Good, “‘No Man Can Fill Dr. King's Shoes’ – But Abernathy Tries,” New York Times Magazine, May 26, 1968; Houston Post, May 19, 1968; and Time, May 31, 1968.
46. Chicago Tribune, April 11, 1968.
47. Wall Street Journal, April 8, 1968; Atlanta Constitution, April 8, 11, 16, 19, 25, 1968; New York Times, April 6, 11, 19, 23, 28, 1968; Los Angeles Times, April 5, 9, 11, 23, 24, 1968; Washington Post, April 11, 18, 23–29, 1968; U.S. News & World Report, April 29 and May 6, 1968; Newsweek, May 6, 1968; and Time, May 3, 1968.
48. New York Amsterdam News, April 20 and 27, 1968; and Los Angeles Sentinel, April 11 and May 2, 1968.
49. Pittsburgh Courier, April 27, 1968.
50. Jet, April 25, 1968.
51. Los Angeles Sentinel, April 11, 1968.
52. “Statements of Demands for Rights of the Poor Presented to Agencies of the U.S. Government by the Poor People's Campaign and Its Committee of 100,” April 29–30, 1968, Box 177, Folder 24, SCLC; and Washington Post, April 29–30 and May 1–2, 1968.
53. Washington Post, April 30, 1968.
54. Washington Post, April 29–30 and May 1–2, 1968.
55. Jet, May 16, 1968.
56. Quote in New York Times, April 30, 1968. Los Angeles Times, April 30 and May 1–2, 1968; Chicago Tribune, April 29–30 and May 1–2, 1968; Wall Street Journal, May 1, 1968; Time, May 10, 1968; U.S. News & World Report, May 13, 1968; and Newsweek, May 13, 1968.
57. Washington Post, May 7–10, 12, 1968; Los Angeles Times, May 3–4, 6–7, 1968; New York Times, May 6–10, 1968; Pittsburgh Courier and New York Amsterdam News, both May 11 and 18, 1968; Chicago Defender, May 4–10, 1968; Abernathy, And the Walls Came Tumbling Down, 506–8 ; McKnight, The Last Crusade, 96–7; Chase, “Class Resurrection”; Jackson, From Civil Rights to Human Rights, 355. The Mule Train also inspired at least two books: Freeman, The Mule Train; and Lackey, Marks, Martin and the Mule Train.
58. New York Times, May 11, 1968; Los Angeles Times, May 11 and 14–15, 1968; Washington Post, May 17–23, 1968; Chicago Tribune, 12–14, 17–25, 1968; Atlanta Constitution, May 12–24, 1968; Pittsburgh Courier and New York Amsterdam News, both May 11, 18 and 25, 1968; and Chicago Defender, May 11–17 and 18–24, 1968. See also Otto, “The Use of Converging Caravans in the Poor People's Campaign,” in “PPC – Caravans” folder, 1–45, unprocessed papers of Albert E. Gollin, Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, New York Public Library, New York (hereafter known as AGP); and SCLC, “Poor People's Campaign 1968 – Caravan Chronicle,” Box 177, Folder 8, SCLC.
59. Los Angeles Times, May 16, 19 and 26 and June 6, 1968; New York Times, May 18 and 20, 1968; Atlanta Constitution, May 16, 1968; People's World, May 18 and 25 and June 1, 1968; Worker, May 28 and June 2, 1968; Los Angeles Sentinel, May 16, 1968; and Washington Post, May 26, 1968.
60. Fager, Uncertain Resurrection, 37.
61. Quote in Fager, Uncertain Resurrection, 42. Headlines from the Post included, “‘Resurrection City’ Needs More Money,” “‘City’ of Poor Encounters Difficulties,” “March Problems Spur Emergency Meeting,” “Marshals Picked from Gangs,” and “Financial Crises Hit Marchers.” Post, May 14, 16–18, 1968.
62. U.S. News & World Report, May 13, 1968; Atlanta Constitution, May 15, 16 and 18, 1968; and Chicago Tribune, May 12 and 21–2, 1968; Fager, Uncertain Resurrection, 21–9. Examples of such coverage of Abernathy are Good, “‘No Man Can Fill Dr. King's Shoes’,” New York Times Magazine, May 26, 1968; Washington Post, May 25, 1968; Time, May 31, 1968; and Afro‐American, June 8, 1968.
63. New York Times, May 28, 1968.
64. Washington Post, May 28, 1968.
65. Washington Post, May 28, June 4 and 6, 1968; Los Angeles Times and Atlanta Constitution, May 28, 1968; Jet, June 13, 1968; and Chicago Daily Defender, June 3, 1968. Tijerina initially aired his concerns two days earlier away from Resurrection City, sparking little notice beyond the New York Times. May 26, 1968.
66. Newsweek, June 3, 1968.
67. Time, May 31, 1968.
68. Washington Post, May 20, 1968.
69. Quote in Berry, “The Anger and Problems.” See also Washington Post, May 12, 15, 19, 24 and 28, 1968; New York Times, May 24, 1968; Worker, May 26, 1968; Chicago Tribune, May 21 and June 23, 1968; and Atlanta Constitution, May 27, 1968.
70. Chicago Tribune, June 6, 1968.
71. Stewart Block, “PPC ‐ Participants Observer,” June 4, 1968, AGP.
72. Washington Post, June 7–10, 1968; Time, June 28, 1968; Los Angeles Times, June 10 and 16, 1968; Berry, “The Anger and Problems”; U.S. News & World Report, June 24, 1968; New York Times, June 24, 1968; Tom Offenburger, interview by Kay Shannon; Kay Shannon, interview by Claudia Rawles, August 12, 1968, Washington, DC, MSRC; and Dittmer, The Good Doctors, 178–85. Only Jet continued to praise the city, calling it a “Model Community Run by Poor.” June 6, 1968. For six weeks, the magazine's “Week's Best Photos” featured sympathetic photographs from Resurrection City.
73. On May 29, more than 400 people marched on the Supreme Court to protest a recent decision regarding Indian fishing rights. Front‐page coverage ignored the substance, however, and just expressed outrage over the “assault” on the court, which resulted in a few broken windows. Washington Post, May 30–31, 1968; and New York Times, May 30, 1968.
74. Mike Clark letter to Chuck Fager, “Resurrection City comments,” 5, Box 105, Folder 12, Highlander Research and Education Center Records, Part II, Wisconsin Historical Society, Madison, Wis.
75. Ernesto Vigil, December 10, 2005, by telephone; Gerry and Rudy Gonzales, Corky Gonzales' wife and son, June 26, 2005, Denver, Colorado; Alicia Escalante, September 19, 2005, by telephone; Carlos Montes, August 8, 2005, Los Angeles, Calif.; and Gloria Arellanes, November 9, 2006, El Monte, Calif., all interviews by author; and “Proposal Draft for Developing National Cooperation and Communication Among Minority Group Leadership,” undated [September 1968?], Box 31, Folder 20, RLT.
76. Rustin, “Memo on the Spring Protest.”
77. New York Times, May 25, 1968.
78. New York Times, June 2, 1968. The absence of a clear message had been a longstanding media criticism of the campaign. Editorial desks insisted that the campaign avoid a vague and unattainable “blue‐sky, 59‐page manifesto of demands,” as Time had characterized the Committee of 100's initial goals. King earlier had admitted that he did not want to tie the campaign to specific congressional bills, or to writing up legislation themselves, which Andrew Young characterized as “building in failure.” Yet the demands included numerous actionable policy requests, such as the rigorous enforcement of housing provisions in the Civil Rights Act of 1968. In reality, reporters had their own ulterior motive for making such demands: a limited number of clearly articulated objectives created an unambiguous standard for success and failure, making it easier to determine who won, who lost, and by how much.
79. Washington Post, June 5, 1968.
80. After initial enthusiasm by potential allies on the left, the proposed Freedom Budget went nowhere as it drew the increasing ire of anti‐war activists who accused Rustin of implicitly endorsing current defense budgets, and therefore the Vietnam War. D'Emilio, 436–9.
81. Washington Post, June 4, 1968; New York Times, May 25 and June 3, 1968; Atlanta Constitution, June 1, 3 and 7, 1968; Time, May 31 and June 7, 1968; Wall Street Journal, June 10, 1968; Pittsburgh Courier, June 8, 1968; New York Amsterdam News, June 1, 1968; and Jet, June 6, 1968.
82. Washington Post, June 7, 1968.
83. Quotes in New York Times, June 8, 1968; and Washington Post, June 9, 1968.
84. Los Angeles Times, June 9, 1968; New York Times, June 8, 1968; and Chicago Tribune, June 9, 1968.
85. Chicago Daily Defender, June 11, 1968.
86. New York Amsterdam News, June 15, 1968; Los Angeles Sentinel, June 13, 1968; and Jet, June 13, 1968.
87. People's World, June 15, 1968; and Worker, June 11, 1968. Two mainstream papers acknowledged – but buried – the omissions. Atlanta Constitution, June 11, 1968; and Chicago Tribune, June 8, 1968.
88. Washington Post, June 16, 1968.
89. New York Times, June 20, 1968.
90. Quote in Newsweek, July 1, 1968. Also, Time, June 28, 1968; Washington Post, June 20, 1968; and Atlanta Constitution, June 20, 1968.
91. Chicago Defender, June 22–28, 1968.
92. Quote in Baltimore Afro‐American, June 22, 1968. Also, Worker, June 23, 1968; and Chicago Daily Defender, June 22, 1968. The publishing schedule of some weekly newspapers, such as the New York Amsterdam News and Pittsburgh Courier, kept them from reporting on Solidarity Day before police closed Resurrection City and arrested Ralph Abernathy.
93. U.S. News & World Report, July 8, 1968; Atlanta Constitution, June 25, 1968; New York Times, June 30, 1968; Jet, July 11, 1968; and Los Angeles Sentinel, July 11, 1968.
94. U.S. News & World Report, August 19, 1968; New York Times, July 15 and 17, 1968; and Los Angeles Times, August 6–7, 1968.
95. The New Yorker, June 15, 1968.
96. Los Angeles Times, June 16, 1968.
97. Commonweal, July 12, 1968.
98. Young, An Easy Burden, 483–4.
99. Tom Offenburger, interview by Kay Shannon. According to researcher Ken Mann, most of the reporters covering Resurrection City did not have much experience covering either the movement or poor people in the United States. Those assigned to the campaign included reporters who had covered the space program, Mexico City, and Indonesia. “Resurrection City and the Media,” Box 10, “TV: Media: Ken Mann,” AGP.
100. Quote by Kay Shannon, interview by Claudia Rawles. Also, Tom Offenburger, interview by Kay Shannon.
101. Abernathy, And the Walls Came Tumbling Down, 499 ; Tom Offenburger, interview by Kay Shannon; and Soul Force, June 1968, Box 180, Folders 3 and 4, reel 28, frames 431–457, SCLC.
102. Southern Patriot, June 1968.
103. True Unity News, June 1968, Box 180, Folder 14, Reel 28, frames 558–583, SCLC.
104. Letters and telegrams to the White House were overwhelmingly against the campaign until mid‐June, when favorable notes began to outnumber negative ones by nearly two to one. In polls specifically about the campaign, Americans were against it by a large margin. But in less specific polls regarding poverty, the public proved generally favorable – for instance, 65% agreed that poverty causes crime and 80% agreed that “society bears a major responsibility for the plight of poor people.” “Harris Survey” on campaign in Los Angeles Times, June 10, 1968; “Weekly Mail Summaries,” May 3, 10, 17, 24, 31, June 7, 14, 21, 28, and July 5, 1968, in “12/29/67” folder, Box 13, WH5‐1‐1, Lyndon Baines Johnson Library, Austin, Texas; Harris Poll, June 1968, (http://cgi.irss.unc.edu/tempdocs/20:04:14:2.htm) and (http://cgi.irss.unc.edu/tempdocs/20:08:21:3.htm), accessed March 3, 2007.
105. Washington Post, June 9, 1968.