Assembling the Poor People's Campaign (1968) Queer Activism and Economic Justice

Author

Christina Juhasz-Wood

Publication Date

8-31-2011

Abstract

This thesis attempts to bring the Poor People's Campaign (PPC) of 1968 into contemporary discussions about queer scholarship and activism. The PPC assembled a diverse racial and ethnic constituency in an unprecedented way to produce a massive, national political campaign to end poverty. This complex assemblage was largely indecipherable to the press and many historians, which has contributed to the view that the campaign was a failure, particularly in relation to the civil rights movement . I describe how the mainstream gay rights movement appropriates the civil rights movement as normative to seek forms of national inclusion. I argue that the PPC provides a historical model for queer disruptions to homonormativity through radical alliances for racial, gendered, decolonial, and economic justice.

Language

English

Keywords

Queer Studies, Southwest Studies, Race, Class and Ethnicity

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

American Studies

Level of Degree

Masters

Department Name

American Studies

First Committee Member (Chair)

Alyosha Goldstein

Second Committee Member

Laura E. Gómez

Third Committee Member

Bárbara O. Reyes

Recommended Citation

Juhasz-Wood, Christina. "Assembling the Poor People's Campaign (1968) Queer Activism and Economic Justice." (2011). https://digitalrepository.unm.edu/amst_etds/21