2 september 1968 & remembering 1st national welfare rights convention

#OTD-ish 2 September 1968 The National Welfare Rights Organization leaders were reflecting on their past year of organizing, including their first national convention held on 26-28 August 1967 at Trinity College (now Trinity Washington University, 125 Michigan Ave, NE).

The National Welfare Rights Organization was co-founded in 1967 by George Wiley, a member of the Congress of Racial Equality and co-founder of the Poverty Action Research Center here c1965. The Welfare Alliance, a local organization of activists receiving welfare and demanding justice, joined the call for a national organization committed to welfare rights. The Welfare Alliance was one of 30 chapters that attended the convention.

Etta Horn, in the photo above, was a member of the Welfare Alliance and Vice-Chair of the NWRO National Coordinating Committee. Dick Gregory is at the podium and James Farmer (former CORE National Director) is seated beside Ms. Horn.

Your comments are welcome below. Did you, family members or neighbors attend the convention? Were you members of the Welfare Alliance? Did you know Etta Horn? Did you know James Farmer? Did you know Dick Gregory? Did you attend Trinity in 1968? Do you recognize this room? Do you have photographs, programs and other material from the convention? Do you have the sign featured in the photo? You may comment privately here.

Photo source: Courtesy DC Public Library Special Collections, c1967. Photographer, Hank Leland. Written on the back of the photo: "All photos are of Dick Gregory addressing a rally at 9pm 8/27 on the event of the National Welfare Rights Organization's Demonstration Monday afternoon (8/28).”
Betty Farmer, "Get All Eligible Persons on Relief, Welfare Rights Convention Urged," Evening Star 27 August 1968.