MLK 50

MLK 50: Dr. King and the 1968 Memphis Sanitation Worker’s Strike

May 1, 2018

In the months leading up to April 4th, 1968, the day an assassin’s bullet took the life of one of the greatest leaders our country has ever known, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was under immense stress.  He had been enduring constant threats on his life and his family’s lives, while struggling with various setbacks in the movement.  He had also been working himself to exhaustion between several projects and campaigns fighting for the cause of civil rights and economic justice.  

One of these projects, which he would not live to see to fruition, was the Poor People’s Campaign.  It was a campaign that he believed showed great promise and, in many ways, was a departure from his previous organizing strategies.  Throughout his time as a national organizer and leader, Dr. King understood that racial justice and economic justice were interwoven and that one could not be successfully realized without the progress of the other.  The Poor People’s Campaign aimed to advocate for poor working people of all races in our country, based on developing cooperation, understanding and respect between Black, White, Latino, Asian and Native American peoples suffering from economic disenfranchisement and the violence of poverty.  

Dr. King, by sense of duty, was pulled away from this campaign after two black Memphis sanitation workers, Echol Cole and Robert Walker, were killed in a trash compactor.  The city's policy extended paid time off during poor weather conditions to its white sanitation workers, yet denied this same benefit to their African American workers, a significant factor leading to the deaths of Cole and Walker. Upwards of 13,000 workers walked off the job protesting unsafe and unjust conditions, and the city's refusal to allow bereavement leave, sparking the infamous Memphis sanitation workers strike of 1968, with the rallying cry “I AM A MAN.” 

The AFSCME 1173 Sanitation Workers Union, with a majority African American member base, for years had been demanding remediation for their dangerous working conditions, substandard compensation and discriminatory labor policies.  While the city ignored their demands and refused to recognize their union, the 1968 Memphis strikers’ marches and picket lines were met with the brutality of the Memphis Police, many of whom had been gleaned directly from the Klu Klux Klan to enforce Jim Crow order in the city.  

Dr. King, a longtime labor activist and ally of the progressive labor movement, who described unions as America’s first anti-poverty program, arrived in Memphis under turbulent and often violent circumstances. Weeks earlier, as Preeti Sharma wrote, "police broke up a peaceful march using handheld canisters of mace.  This was the first time that mace had been used against civilians at a peaceful protest in the United States."  He and his fellow organizers rallied to bolster the workers’ cause by garnering community support and held non-violent demonstrations throughout the city.   On April 16th, the strike came to an end when the city finally recognized the sanitation workers union and reached an agreement that raised wages and improved working conditions.  Dr. King would unfortunately not live to see the workers' victory, but his dedication and ultimately the sacrifice of his life were integral to this historical achievement of racial and economic justice.  Though the monumental loss of Dr. King would overshadow any triumph in this chapter of history.

On his final visit to Memphis, the night before his assassination, Dr. King spoke to a crowd of supporters at the Mason Temple and delivered his prophetic “Mountaintop” speech when, after speaking of history, the philosophy of non-violence, the moral obligation to help the sanitation workers and the power in how a community chooses to spends its money, dotted with humor and wit, he ends his sermon: 

“Well, I don't know what will happen now. We've got some difficult days ahead. But it doesn't matter with me now. Because I've been to the mountaintop. And I don't mind. Like anybody, I would like to live a long life. Longevity has its place. But I'm not concerned about that now. I just want to do God's will. And He's allowed me to go up to the mountain. And I've looked over. And I've seen the promised land. I may not get there with you. But I want you to know tonight, that we, as a people, will get to the promised land. And I'm happy, tonight. I'm not worried about anything.  I'm not fearing any man. Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord.”

On April 4th, 2018, 50 years to the day after he was taken, an event was held in Memphis in honor of Dr. King and the 1968 sanitation workers who fought for racial and economic justice.  The event drew thousands of union members and their families, equal justice advocates, celebrities, and politicians from around the country, who would march from the AFSCME 1173 union hall to Mason Temple.  It was a celebration of his cause and inspiration, but also a reminder of how far from Dr. King’s “promised land” we lie.  The fallout of his assassination and unfinished work is something we are still dealing with today.  

Though it has underwhelming historical attention, the Poor People’s Campaign did continue to be championed, specifically by Dr. King’s wife, Coretta Scott King.  Less than two months after Dr. King’s death, she was a central figure in leading the “Resurrection City” demonstrations and encampment held on the National Mall in order to demand an Economic Bill of Rights. The campaign ended in the protesters' violent eviction by police that following month.

There is just as much need for the efforts of today’s Poor People’s Campaign as there was 50 years earlier.  The ‘Fight for 15’ campaign is reminiscent of one of the demands of the famous 1963 March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom, where Dr. King delivered his “I have a dream” speech, in which they called for a nationwide $2 per hour minimum wage (equivalent to $17 today). As economic inequality in this country has grown across the board, it is amplified in the black community, *where black households in 2016 held a median net wealth of $17,150 compared to the $171,000 median net wealth of a white household.  Many decades later, systemic racism persists in our justice, health and education systems, in employment and housing, as well as in the voting booth.  Though these facts are dispiriting, this is not a reason to believe that the war has been lost, but to acknowledge that there is still so much work to be done.

The day before the rally, I had the privilege of hearing many powerful accounts of people who were eyewitnesses to the events that spring of 1968.  But I was left in awe that day, following the oration of the Rev. James Lawson, who worked with Dr. King as one of the early architects of the Civil Rights movements’ nonviolent resistance tactics and played a leading role in many of the seminal demonstrations of the era.  Yet, maybe even more incredibly, he was still fighting for the cause of racial and economic justice as he approached 90 years old and his genuine passion was contagious.  The iconic words, “I AM A MAN,” printed on picket signs by the 1968 strikers, were apparently inspired by Lawson’s words 50 years earlier when he spoke to the protesting workers after being assaulted by the police: “For at the heart of racism is the idea that a man is not a man, that a person is not a person. You are human beings. You are men. You deserve dignity.” 

Dr. King is positively one of the greatest figures in American history, but as a society we often do a disservice by posthumously iconizing figures to such superhuman heights that makes it feel like their accomplishments could have only been achieved through divine intervention, instead of highlighting the years of intense dedication, sacrifice and endurance of repeated defeat to produce them, as Michael Eric Dyson powerfully argues in his work, April 4th, 1968.  Hearing Rev. Lawson speak, regrounded Dr. King as the man, not the legend.

Dyson also fairly contends that it is detrimental to gloss over how drastically America’s historical opinions on Dr. King have changed since his death.  In his time, though beloved by many, he was also very much marred with criticism from all sides, commonly labeled a communist for what he is revered for today and was aggressively harassed by the FBI for being perceived as one of the singular greatest threats to the United States.  If a young Dr. King was here today preaching, as he did then, for things like an end to wealth inequality, the strengthening of labor laws and unions, an end to police brutality in the black community, desegregating schools systems and neighborhoods, the end to the militarism of our government and holding boycotts and protests throughout the country to fight for those demands, there is little doubt that he would be met with the same public and institutional vitriol as he did in his day.  The same venom and hostility continues to be cast upon those who take up these same causes today in Dr. King’s spirit.

Thanks to UNITE-HERE Local 23 in New Orleans, especially Leah, for having me as their guest in the pilgrimage up to Memphis and who continue to carry on the fight for economic justice.

Sources

Henry Hampton et al. "The promised land, 1967-1968," Eyes on the Prize, Vol 2, pt. 4
(Alexandria, VA: PBS Video, 2006) DVD.

"'I've Been to the Mountaintop' by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. ", AFSCME, 2018, https://www.afscme.org/about/history/mlk/mountaintop

Kelly D. Evans, "Thousands attend MLK50 commemoration in Memphis for different reasons", The Undefeated, 4/5/2018 , https://theundefeated.com/features/thousands-attend-mlk50-commemoration-in-memphis-but-for-different-reasons/

Kent Wong, Ana Luz Gonzalez and Rev. James M. Lawson Jr., Nonviolence and Social Movements: The Teachings of Rev. James M. Lawson Jr. (Los Angeles: UCLA Center for Labor Research and Education, 2016).

King in the Wilderness, Peter Kunhardt, (Kunhardt Films, HBO, April 2, 2018) Digital Stream

Michael Eric Dyson, April 4, 1968: Martin Luther King, Jr.'s Death and How it Changed America, (New York: Basic Civitas Books, 2008).

Michael K Honey, "Martin Luther King's forgotten legacy? His fight for economic justice," The Guardian, 4/3/2018, https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2018/apr/03/martin-luther-king-50th-anniversary-

Ryan Poe, "MLK50: I Am 2018 march aims to highlight ongoing labor struggles", Commercial Appeal, 4/4/2018, https://www.commercialappeal.com/story/news/local/2018/04/04/mlk-50-am-2018-march-highlights-ongoing-struggle/486872002/

*2020, Updated statistics: 

*Tommy Beer, "Top 1% of U.S. Households Hold 15 Times More Wealth Than Bottom 50% Combined", Forbes, 10/1/2020, https://www.forbes.com/sites/tommybeer/2020/10/08/top-1-of-us-households-hold-15-times-more-wealth-than-bottom-50-combined/?sh=235ab39c5179