Poor People's Campaign demonstrators in front of the Smithsonian Castle, 1968

In the late 1960s Smithsonian curators began to actively collect materials from civil rights, antiwar, and other contemporary political movements. One of the first events they documented was the Poor People's Campaign, held in Washington from May 13 to June 24, 1968. Led by the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, the live-in demonstration protested poverty, unemployment, and racial discrimination.

See also: Civil Rights Movement, Political Protest

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