The LeFlore County Museum at Hotel Lowrey explores 1968 Poor People’s Campaign with Smithsonian Poster Exhibition.
The LeFlore County Museum at Hotel Lowrey presents “City of Hope: Resurrection city and the 1968 Poor People’s Campaign. The poster exhibition from the Smithsonian honors Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s final and most ambitious vision that each US Citizen have equal access to economic opportunities and the American dream. It examines the Poor People’s Campaign – a grassroots multiracial movement that drew thousands of people to Washington, D. C. For 43 days between May and June 1968, demonstrators demanded social reforms while living side-by-side on the National Mall in a tent city known as Resurrection city.
Organized by the Smithsonian Institution Traveling Exhibition Services (SITES) in collaboration with the National Museum of African American History and Culture, “City of Hope” highlights a series of newly discovered photographs and an array of protest signs and political buttons collected during the campaign. Featuring 18 posters, the exhibition will help visitors engage and contextualize the Poor People’s Campaign’s historical significance and present-day relevance.
Although President Lyndon B. Johnson declared a “war on poverty” in 1964, tens of millions of Americans were denied livable wages, adequate housing, nutritious food, quality education and healthcare. Led by Drs. Martin Luther King Jr. and Ralph David Abernathy, the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) organized the Poor People’s Campaign in response to poverty as a national human rights issue. Stretching 16 acres along the National Mall protesters with structures for essential services like sanitation, communications, medical care and childcare. It included a dining tent, cultural center and a city hall along the encampments bustling “Main Street.”
· Along with the City of Hope Exhibit, will be the Dr. John Montgomery Exhibit. A Poteau Veterinarian.
Dr. Montgomery was born in 1917, raised on a cotton farm in Henderson Texas. He had 8 brothers and sisters.
· He was a Pioneer & leader both for the Vet profession and for black professionals in eastern Oklahoma.
· Ranchers, farmers and pet owners in and around LeFlore County watched the new vet with interest. “They were waiting to see if I knew what to do. I’d be called out to a farm or pasture and when I’d get there, there’d be about 15 or 20 people from other farms standing around waiting for me. They didn’t say much or ask questions. They just watched. I’d start my treatment and they’d watch. When I got all finished, no matter how long it took, they’d still be watching.” Montgomery remembers, laughing. “But I didn’t mind. I knew the next time one of those fellows had a sick animal, he’d call me and that made performing with an audience worth it. It was the way we introduced real quality care and preventive veterinary medicine to this area.” Montgomery said.
· When he and his wife, Doris, arrived in Poteau at dusk one day in 1951, they were welcomed by a black woman who offered them a place to spend the night and some advice: “you all get up in the morning and leave here. You’ve come to the wrong place.” Montgomery said “My customers, I discovered, wanted a professional service and it didn’t matter if the person providing that service was black or white.”
· “My pickup was my office and an audience would be waiting for me at every stop.” “They wanted to see what a black veterinarian could do.”
· Montgomery was called “truly a pioneer in veterinary medicine and in Oklahoma higher education” by J. W. Alexander, dean of the College of Veterinary Medicine.
· Former OSU Regent Carolyn Savage said Montgomery was “a walking role model for young people of all creeds and races.” Montgomery’s only comment was “I’m overwhelmed.”
· A. Montgomery says he has lived his life like a song his father used to sing that tells the listener to “brighten their corner.” “I have tried to do what is honorable and just, because it was the right thing to do.” Montgomery said.
· Montgomery was instrumental in making Poteau the first community in the state to integrate their schools, address the Poteau school board in 1955.
· He was responsible for taking the first steps to integrate Oakland Cemetery and the city pool. When the city voted to open the pool to all members of the community, John and his wife, Doris purchased 36 swimsuits and made them available to kids through a “Check-out” system. “That made our community a better place.”
· Montgomery said too often there is no opportunity for young people to attend an event of this type (Oklahoma Hall of fame awards). “I was fortunate enough to attend something like this when I was young.” He said. “I said to myself then, I can do this.”
· Montgomery was active in organizing a LeFlore County chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of colored People in the 1960s.
· In his work, he encountered clients who had given their black pets and livestock a name he found offensive. He explained to them that the term was an affront to black people, because it was often used to describe a person of low moral character. Montgomery said he told the people he wished they would not use it again and found in many cases they apologized and complied. “In some cases I would go back later and find they had changed their dog’s name to “chigger or Jigger,” he said with a laugh. “I thought it was a real good gesture on their part…they were goodhearted, hones, decent people who wanted my friendship as much as I wanted theirs.
· “God put us here to be somebody”, Montgomery said “The best thing we can do is to see everyone has the opportunity to use the skills God has given them.”
· “I am not worthy of all this praise,” Montgomery said. “I just did what I ought to do and I don’t think you ought to be honored for things you ought to do.”
· He received 3 keys to the City of Poteau
· He received a Lifetime Contribution Award from the Poteau Daily sun and News
· He has a scholarship fund at OSU
· He was on the board of directors for the vocational school from the very beginning.
The exhibit will be on display now through the month of February.
Located at the LeFlore County Museum at Hotel Lowrey, 303 Dewey (entrance on Witte street side), Poteau, OK.
For more information or to schedule tours, please call Director David Deaton at 918-647-9330.
Admission is free.