Resurrection City

In 1968, devastated by the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., Jill Freedman left her copy editing job in New York after meeting a recruiter in Central Park, motivated to capture a crucial moment in the civil rights movement. She drove from New York to Washington, picking up protesters along the way, to join the Poor People’s Campaign, a movement formed to address economic inequality across racial lines. For six weeks Jill lived in and documented life in Resurrection City, the temporary encampment of three thousand plywood shacks built on the National Mall. She lived alongside the residents through constant rain, mud, and political upheaval, photographing the daily lives of the community united in protest. These photographs were featured in LIFE Magazine, launching her career as a documentary photographer. In 1970, this historic body of work was published as her debut book, Old News: Resurrection City, standing today as a vital record of nonviolent solidarity and the enduring struggle for economic justice.