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Memphis, Martin and the Mountaintop

In February of 1968, two African American sanitation workers were killed by unsafe garbage truck equipment in Memphis, Tennessee. Discouraged and outraged, sanitation workers formed a labor union to advocate their rights to higher pay and safer working conditions. Mayor Loeb and the city refused to recognize the labor union, the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME) Local 1733 and 1,300 sanitation workers organized a labor strike on February 12, 1968. The strike lasted two months, successfully crippling garbage collection and bringing Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. to Memphis to help with the protests in his nonviolent way. With his presence the community was greatly inspired, and he delivered his infamous "I've Been to the Mountaintop" sermon in the Mason Temple Church, rallying behind the protesters "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." Dr. King was assassinated the next day. On April 8, 1968 Coretta Scott King flew to Memphis for a nonviolent memorial march to honor Dr. King's life. With 40,000 people, the marchers silently raised protest signs and remembered the man and the cause. Finally, on April 16, 1968 the Memphis Sanitation Strike ended with the help of James Reynolds, a top US labor official. Author Alice Faye Duncan describes the history of the Memphis strike through a child's perspective.

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With your purchase, you enable The King Center to change the world by equipping a global audience of individuals and organizations to think, speak, and engage in a love-centered way.

With your purchase, you enable The King Center to change the world by equipping a global audience of individuals and organizations to think, speak, and engage in a love-centered way.


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