Hear an illuminating lecture by Professor Emeritus Mike Honey, followed by a tour of the traveling Smithsonian exhibit at Tacoma’s Washington State History Museum. This exhibition highlights the often-overlooked history of the multicultural movement to confront poverty that redefined social justice and activism in America.

The lecture will be offered at 12:30 p.m. A tour of the exhibit is offered both before and after the talk (at 11:30 a.m. or 1:30 p.m.).

In 1968, thousands of people built a protest community and for nearly six weeks inhabited “a city of hope” on 15 acres of the National Mall in Washington, D.C., to call the nation’s attention to the crippling effects of poverty for millions of Americans. The protest site was called Resurrection City.

The exhibition presents photographs, oral histories of participants and organizers, and an array of protest signs, political buttons, and audio field recordings collected during the campaign. A 3D map of Resurrection City allows visitors to examine the planned spaces for housing, a cultural center, city hall, theater stage and essential services, including food and dining, sanitation, communications, education, medical and dental care, and childcare.
Prof. Honey will speak on “To the Promised Land: Martin Luther King and the Poor People’s Campaign in Historical Perspective, Then and Now.” He will tie the Poor People’s Campaign into Martin Luther King’s economic justice and antiwar framework and the Memphis labor strike. Mike also will get out his guitar and share songs from the Civil Rights era.

In this session, participants can gather in the museum auditorium for Mike’s talk at 12:30 and then tour the museum exhibit at 1:30. There is no charge for this tour and talk. Our thanks to the UW Tacoma Labor Solidarity Project for their financial contribution to this program.