Poverty and Protest

It’s part of the reality of working-class existence in our country, it is the experience for many, many people of being hungry and of living on the street and being unhoused, at least in some part of their life. We had a saying when I was a union organizer--and I think it's still true and a lot of people say it--and that is, ‘we're only one paycheck away from living on the streets’ which I think is true for an enormous number of people. The purpose of documenting this is also to show what people do about it. The social struggles and social movements they organize not just to affect their own personal situation, but to change the world for social justice.

David Bacon

The growth of globalization in the American economy during the 1990s and 2000s has led to vast communities of protest and of the unhoused across the United States. Corporations in the United States have outsourced millions of jobs, and industries previously protected by labor unions have shut down operations and moved manufacturing plants to developing countries such as China, India, Mexico, and the Philippines. These economic changes decimated and eliminated living-wage jobs as well as social support networks. In combination with the exponential increase in the cost of living over the past 30 years, this situation has led to a dramatic spike in the unhoused population in the United States.

David Bacon’s photography captures America’s changing economy through images of protest, displacement, and homelessness. One of the largest anti-globalization protests in the United States was the massive mobilization of protestors that surrounded the 1999 Ministerial Conference of the World Trade Organization (WTO) in Seattle, Washington. From November 30 through December 3 of that year, approximately 40,000 protestors representing local, national, and international organizations surrounded the convention center while the police made massive arrests, shutting down the meeting early. Bacon documents both the impact of poverty, the organizing going on against evictions and among unhoused people themselves, and broader protests, like those in Seattle, against the economic changes that make poverty so universal.

The march against the WTO meeting was so large that the end couldn't be seen, even from the roof of a tall building
The march against the WTO meeting was so large that the end couldn't be seen, even from the roof of a tall building
Police arrested demonstrators as they sat in and blocked intersections
Police arrested demonstrators as they sat in and blocked intersections
National union leaders from the AFL-CIO headed a march of labor union members to protest the WTO meeting
National union leaders from the AFL-CIO headed a march of labor union members to protest the WTO meeting
As the crowds of demonstrators grows into the thousands, people sit down in the intersections of the downtown district, where the WTO meeting is set to take place
As the crowds of demonstrators grows into the thousands, people sit down in the intersections of the downtown district, where the WTO meeting is set to take place
Police confront demonstrators sitting in the street and blocking intersections
Police confront demonstrators sitting in the street and blocking intersections
The demonstration against the World Trade Organization shut the city and the meeting down
The demonstration against the World Trade Organization shut the city and the meeting down
A homeless woman sleeps on a bus bench, while another homeless man stands watch over her
A homeless woman sleeps on a bus bench, while another homeless man stands watch over her
Bill Davidson, a veteran, lives with Ebony Brown in a shelter they've built in an empty lot under the freeway
Bill Davidson, a veteran, lives with Ebony Brown in a shelter they've built in an empty lot under the freeway
General TC calls himself "The Peoples' General,” and lives on the sidewalk on Skid Row
General TC calls himself "The Peoples' General,” and lives on the sidewalk on Skid Row
Tents of homeless people on Los Angeles' Skid Row
Tents of homeless people on Los Angeles' Skid Row
Community activists in the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now (ACORN) on the steps of the Alameda County Courthouse
Community activists in the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now (ACORN) on the steps of the Alameda County Courthouse
Tosha Alberty, her husband, four children and two grandchildren were evicted from their Oakland house after First Franklin Mortgage Services foreclosed on the home
Tosha Alberty, her husband, four children and two grandchildren were evicted from their Oakland house after First Franklin Mortgage Services foreclosed on the home
Michelle Lot is a homeless woman, living in the camp outside the Berkeley Post Office
Michelle Lot is a homeless woman, living in the camp outside the Berkeley Post Office
Homeless community activists moved their camp onto the steps of Berkeley City Hall, after being forced by police to disband their camp in front of the homeless service agency
Homeless community activists moved their camp onto the steps of Berkeley City Hall, after being forced by police to disband their camp in front of the homeless service agency
Wade Williams, a homeless man, sleeps on a bus bench
Wade Williams, a homeless man, sleeps on a bus bench