February 4, 2018

How Resurrection City got built

 

Terp, University of Maryland - [The] shantytown, called Resurrection City, was meant to honor the final vision of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., assassinated just weeks earlier in Memphis, and to refocus the country’s conscience onto the plight of its most destitute. It was a last gamble to become a lighthouse for a nation adrift on a sea of violence, from riots in urban centers to bombing campaigns in Southeast Asia.

But before the ceremonial first stake was driven into the National Mall with cries of “Freedom!,” King’s Southern Christian Leadership Conference turned to the University of Maryland for help. Needing everything from a proper location for the camp to structural drawings and a site plan, organizers tapped a young architect named John Wiebenson to lead a committee on the project.

PS: For many years John Wiebenson did an urban planning comic strip for the DC Gazette, forerunner of the Progressive Review, which was published out of a room in Wieb's office. -TPR

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