Laminated  8″ x 10″ lithograph of “The Poor People’s Campaign” (1968) by Herman “Kofi” Bailey. This item is donated by CPF Trustee Rita Cofield.

The Poor People’s Campaign was a 1968 effort to gain economic justice for people in the U.S., organized by Martin Luther King, Jr., and the Southern Christian Leadership Conference. The campaign was carried out by Ralph Abernathy after King’s assassination in April 1968. The artist Herman “Kofi” Bailey (also known as Kofi X, 1931-1981) was an African-American artist best known for his conte and charcoal drawings. Born in Chicago and raised in Los Angeles, Bailey obtained an MFA at the University of Souterh California.

From Wikipedia: James Early cites Kofi’s work as a major influence, describing the illustrations by Bailey as “among the great, energizing artistic expressions created in the crucible of social justice activism and organizing that was Atlanta in the 1960s.” Artist and art historian Floyd Coleman described Bailey as a rule breaker: “Although he didn’t follow the rules he was committed to the struggle of African Americans and set a standard in his work that many of us tried to emulate.” Carmen Riddle described Bailey as “a genius, a pure genius at his art.”