1 00:00:02,480 --> 00:00:05,480 Speaker 1: Happy Saturday everyone. Since it's a Labor Day weekend here 2 00:00:05,559 --> 00:00:07,720 Speaker 1: in the US, we thought we would re release an 3 00:00:07,760 --> 00:00:11,320 Speaker 1: episode from the archive that's related to labor rights. So 4 00:00:11,440 --> 00:00:14,320 Speaker 1: today we have the Memphis Sanitation Strike which started in 5 00:00:14,360 --> 00:00:18,320 Speaker 1: February of nine. This was the strikes that brought Dr 6 00:00:18,360 --> 00:00:21,200 Speaker 1: Martin Luther King Jr. To Memphis, Tennessee, where he was 7 00:00:21,239 --> 00:00:24,960 Speaker 1: assassinated on April fourth of that year. This episode, which 8 00:00:25,000 --> 00:00:29,080 Speaker 1: originally came out on February seven, talks about the strike, 9 00:00:29,200 --> 00:00:35,640 Speaker 1: both before and after King's involvement. Welcome to Stuff You 10 00:00:35,640 --> 00:00:45,800 Speaker 1: Missed in History Class, a production of I Heart Radio. Hello, 11 00:00:46,040 --> 00:00:49,159 Speaker 1: and welcome to the podcast. I'm Tracy V. Wilson and 12 00:00:49,200 --> 00:00:52,600 Speaker 1: I'm Holly Frying. We are coming up on the fiftieth 13 00:00:52,720 --> 00:00:56,920 Speaker 1: anniversary of the Memphis Sanitation Workers Strike. After voting to 14 00:00:57,000 --> 00:01:01,560 Speaker 1: strike on February eleventh, ninety eight, Memphis sanitation workers stayed 15 00:01:01,560 --> 00:01:04,160 Speaker 1: off the job starting on the twelfth and a strike 16 00:01:04,240 --> 00:01:07,560 Speaker 1: that lasted for nine weeks. This is a strike that 17 00:01:07,640 --> 00:01:10,560 Speaker 1: brought Dr Martin Luther King Junior to Memphis, Tennessee, where 18 00:01:10,560 --> 00:01:13,080 Speaker 1: he was assassinated on April fourth of that year. And 19 00:01:13,120 --> 00:01:15,360 Speaker 1: for a lot of folks, that is really what they 20 00:01:15,360 --> 00:01:17,480 Speaker 1: know about the strike. They know it's the reason that 21 00:01:17,560 --> 00:01:21,280 Speaker 1: Dr King was in Memphis that day, but his assassination 22 00:01:21,360 --> 00:01:24,360 Speaker 1: also really overshadowed to strike itself, which had been going 23 00:01:24,400 --> 00:01:26,679 Speaker 1: on for a month before he arrived on the scene. 24 00:01:27,240 --> 00:01:29,360 Speaker 1: So today we're going to talk about the strike, which 25 00:01:29,360 --> 00:01:31,760 Speaker 1: started out as an effort to secure better pay and 26 00:01:31,840 --> 00:01:35,560 Speaker 1: conditions for sanitation workers in Memphis, but really came to 27 00:01:35,600 --> 00:01:38,360 Speaker 1: be considered part of the greater civil rights movement and 28 00:01:38,400 --> 00:01:43,080 Speaker 1: the movement for economic justice. Memphis sits along the Mississippi 29 00:01:43,160 --> 00:01:46,920 Speaker 1: River in West Tennessee, and today it's population is majority black, 30 00:01:47,560 --> 00:01:50,160 Speaker 1: but in the nineteen sixties his population was about forty 31 00:01:50,640 --> 00:01:53,760 Speaker 1: black at about sixty percent of those black residents were 32 00:01:53,760 --> 00:01:57,480 Speaker 1: living in poverty. More than eighty percent of black men 33 00:01:57,600 --> 00:02:02,120 Speaker 1: living in Memphis were employed doing menially for very low pay. 34 00:02:02,360 --> 00:02:05,200 Speaker 1: Many had moved to the city from nearby rural areas, 35 00:02:05,320 --> 00:02:09,079 Speaker 1: leaving behind sharecropping cotton in the hope of a better life. 36 00:02:10,160 --> 00:02:14,280 Speaker 1: When Memphis City schools desegregated in nineteen sixty one, things 37 00:02:14,360 --> 00:02:17,680 Speaker 1: progressed without the level of violence that struck so many 38 00:02:17,720 --> 00:02:21,280 Speaker 1: other parts of the South. Steering school desegregation by the 39 00:02:21,360 --> 00:02:25,200 Speaker 1: late sixties, the city government included some elected and appointed 40 00:02:25,200 --> 00:02:28,799 Speaker 1: black officials as well, but at the same time, Memphis 41 00:02:28,880 --> 00:02:33,720 Speaker 1: really still had something of a plantation mentality. This mentality 42 00:02:33,800 --> 00:02:37,640 Speaker 1: was particularly obvious in the city's Department of Public Works, 43 00:02:37,840 --> 00:02:41,960 Speaker 1: especially when it came to sanitation. The workforce for waste 44 00:02:42,000 --> 00:02:46,080 Speaker 1: collection was overwhelmingly black, with the only white employees working 45 00:02:46,120 --> 00:02:50,440 Speaker 1: as supervisors or drivers. In bad weather, employees who worked 46 00:02:50,480 --> 00:02:54,600 Speaker 1: outside who were predominantly black would be sent home without pay, 47 00:02:54,680 --> 00:02:57,919 Speaker 1: while their supervisors, who were white, were allowed to stay 48 00:02:57,919 --> 00:02:59,760 Speaker 1: on the job, even though there really wasn't much for 49 00:02:59,800 --> 00:03:04,560 Speaker 1: them to do. Most of the garbage collectors made minimum wage, 50 00:03:04,600 --> 00:03:06,919 Speaker 1: which was a dollar in sixty cents an hour for 51 00:03:06,919 --> 00:03:10,840 Speaker 1: forty hours of work a week. There was no overtime pay, 52 00:03:10,960 --> 00:03:13,280 Speaker 1: but you were expected to work for as long as 53 00:03:13,280 --> 00:03:15,600 Speaker 1: it took you to finish your collection route, no matter 54 00:03:15,680 --> 00:03:17,920 Speaker 1: how long that took. So a lot of the men 55 00:03:18,000 --> 00:03:20,640 Speaker 1: were working more like sixty hours a week for forty 56 00:03:20,639 --> 00:03:24,320 Speaker 1: hours of pay. This was just not enough money to 57 00:03:24,440 --> 00:03:30,519 Speaker 1: make ends meet. About memphisis sanitation workers qualified for welfare assistance, 58 00:03:31,120 --> 00:03:34,440 Speaker 1: hundreds were on food stamps, and some had second jobs. 59 00:03:34,960 --> 00:03:37,960 Speaker 1: But there was a perception in Memphis that sanitation workers 60 00:03:38,000 --> 00:03:40,720 Speaker 1: had a benefit that made up for this. They got 61 00:03:40,760 --> 00:03:45,080 Speaker 1: so called handouts from households when they collected garbage. This 62 00:03:45,200 --> 00:03:48,640 Speaker 1: was generally cast off clothing given to the workers rather 63 00:03:48,680 --> 00:03:53,480 Speaker 1: than just throwing it away. Aside from the pay, sanitation 64 00:03:53,520 --> 00:03:57,920 Speaker 1: workers had a dehumanizing, filthy, and physically demanding job, and 65 00:03:58,000 --> 00:04:00,200 Speaker 1: most parts of town trash wasn't brought out to the 66 00:04:00,240 --> 00:04:02,800 Speaker 1: curb on collection day, and workers had to go behind 67 00:04:02,840 --> 00:04:05,720 Speaker 1: every house to retrieve a fifty five gallon metal garbage 68 00:04:05,720 --> 00:04:07,600 Speaker 1: can or a tub and then haul it back to 69 00:04:07,640 --> 00:04:10,920 Speaker 1: the truck. For the smaller tubs, you could ease some 70 00:04:11,000 --> 00:04:13,120 Speaker 1: of the strain on your arms and your back by 71 00:04:13,160 --> 00:04:16,240 Speaker 1: carrying it on your head or on your shoulder, but 72 00:04:16,320 --> 00:04:19,120 Speaker 1: this was before the days of using plastic liners and 73 00:04:19,160 --> 00:04:23,080 Speaker 1: trash cans, so the cans leaked everything from filthy water 74 00:04:23,200 --> 00:04:27,200 Speaker 1: to maggots on the people who were carrying them. Sanitation 75 00:04:27,240 --> 00:04:30,679 Speaker 1: workers had nowhere to shower or change clothes on the job, 76 00:04:31,080 --> 00:04:32,560 Speaker 1: so they had to go home at the end of 77 00:04:32,600 --> 00:04:35,159 Speaker 1: the day in the same filthy clothes and take off 78 00:04:35,160 --> 00:04:37,920 Speaker 1: as much as they could before they got into the house. 79 00:04:38,560 --> 00:04:41,320 Speaker 1: They had no clean place to eat lunch, no paid 80 00:04:41,360 --> 00:04:45,080 Speaker 1: time off, no grievance process, and no workers comp if 81 00:04:45,080 --> 00:04:47,560 Speaker 1: they were injured on the job. In fact, if you 82 00:04:47,600 --> 00:04:49,839 Speaker 1: were injured on the job, you ran the risk of 83 00:04:49,880 --> 00:04:52,440 Speaker 1: being fired for it. In addition to not having a 84 00:04:52,480 --> 00:04:54,320 Speaker 1: clean place to eat lunch, they didn't have anywhere to 85 00:04:54,320 --> 00:04:57,600 Speaker 1: wash their hands before eating lunch. UH. And there are 86 00:04:57,640 --> 00:05:02,040 Speaker 1: like oral histories and and other uh interviews where they 87 00:05:02,040 --> 00:05:05,239 Speaker 1: talk about, like we would find a scrap of soap 88 00:05:05,320 --> 00:05:07,320 Speaker 1: that had been thrown away, and like try to use 89 00:05:07,360 --> 00:05:10,120 Speaker 1: that to wash our hands before we ate. Collecting garbage 90 00:05:10,160 --> 00:05:12,440 Speaker 1: is still i would say, not a pleasant job, no, 91 00:05:12,760 --> 00:05:17,080 Speaker 1: but it was worse in the sixties. In Memphis in 92 00:05:17,120 --> 00:05:20,520 Speaker 1: the sixties, a former sanitation worker named t O. Jones 93 00:05:20,600 --> 00:05:24,080 Speaker 1: had started trying to organize a union. Jones had been 94 00:05:24,080 --> 00:05:27,200 Speaker 1: a sanitation worker himself from nineteen fifty eight to nineteen 95 00:05:27,240 --> 00:05:30,159 Speaker 1: sixty three, and he had led a spontaneous walk out 96 00:05:30,160 --> 00:05:33,520 Speaker 1: of thirty two other workers that year. All of those workers, 97 00:05:33,560 --> 00:05:36,840 Speaker 1: including Jones, were fired. Most of them eventually got their 98 00:05:36,920 --> 00:05:40,040 Speaker 1: jobs back, but rather than returning to work for the city, 99 00:05:40,200 --> 00:05:44,120 Speaker 1: Jones turned his attention to labor activism. In August of 100 00:05:44,200 --> 00:05:48,080 Speaker 1: nineteen sixty four, after months of work. The American Federation 101 00:05:48,080 --> 00:05:51,840 Speaker 1: of State, County and Municipal Employees or asked me, granted 102 00:05:51,880 --> 00:05:55,280 Speaker 1: the sanitation workers a charter as Local seventeen thirty three. 103 00:05:55,600 --> 00:05:58,880 Speaker 1: I'm not sure if this is actually intentional, but a 104 00:05:58,960 --> 00:06:01,400 Speaker 1: lot of the like the local lore about it is 105 00:06:01,400 --> 00:06:04,120 Speaker 1: that thirty three at the end of the number is 106 00:06:04,160 --> 00:06:07,040 Speaker 1: in reference to those thirty three workers who had walked 107 00:06:07,040 --> 00:06:12,280 Speaker 1: out and been fired in uh in nineteen three. The city, however, 108 00:06:12,360 --> 00:06:15,440 Speaker 1: did not recognize this union or allow it to negotiate 109 00:06:15,480 --> 00:06:18,960 Speaker 1: on behalf of the workers. The city also refused to 110 00:06:19,080 --> 00:06:22,000 Speaker 1: deduct union dues from members paychecks, which is known as 111 00:06:22,080 --> 00:06:25,400 Speaker 1: dues check off. Dues check off can be a contentious 112 00:06:25,440 --> 00:06:28,600 Speaker 1: issue in the world of labor relations, but it allows 113 00:06:28,640 --> 00:06:31,760 Speaker 1: the union to collect dues efficiently without workers having to 114 00:06:31,839 --> 00:06:34,880 Speaker 1: keep up with or make individual payments to the union, 115 00:06:35,400 --> 00:06:37,760 Speaker 1: and in this case, it's something that the union members 116 00:06:37,800 --> 00:06:42,880 Speaker 1: specifically wanted. In nineteen sixty six, the sanitation workers tried 117 00:06:42,920 --> 00:06:45,440 Speaker 1: to go on strike for better working conditions, but the 118 00:06:45,480 --> 00:06:48,719 Speaker 1: city petitioned the court for an injunction to stop the strike. 119 00:06:49,279 --> 00:06:53,400 Speaker 1: The resulting court order forbade any future strikes or demonstrations 120 00:06:53,440 --> 00:06:56,960 Speaker 1: by municipal employees. A lot of the workers were also 121 00:06:57,000 --> 00:06:59,880 Speaker 1: really reluctant to make waves even if they had join 122 00:07:00,080 --> 00:07:03,560 Speaker 1: the union. That mass firing in nineteen sixty three made 123 00:07:03,600 --> 00:07:06,440 Speaker 1: it clear that their jobs would be at risk. Then 124 00:07:06,640 --> 00:07:10,600 Speaker 1: in nineteen sixty eight, two events shifted things for Memphis 125 00:07:10,600 --> 00:07:14,440 Speaker 1: sanitation workers. The first was that Henry Loebe was sworn 126 00:07:14,440 --> 00:07:16,960 Speaker 1: in his mayor after being elected in a runoff in 127 00:07:17,080 --> 00:07:20,840 Speaker 1: nineteen sixty seven. Loebe had served as mayor from nineteen 128 00:07:20,880 --> 00:07:24,120 Speaker 1: sixty to nineteen sixty four as well, and both times 129 00:07:24,160 --> 00:07:27,880 Speaker 1: he had run on a campaign of so called white unity. 130 00:07:28,040 --> 00:07:31,560 Speaker 1: He was a conservative, anti union segregationist, and in the 131 00:07:31,640 --> 00:07:36,800 Speaker 1: runoff election he had defeated incumbent William B. Ingram. Ingram's 132 00:07:36,840 --> 00:07:39,840 Speaker 1: record on race wasn't all that progressive, but he had 133 00:07:39,920 --> 00:07:43,520 Speaker 1: spoken to black church congregations, and he had a reputation 134 00:07:43,600 --> 00:07:47,000 Speaker 1: for treating black defendants fairly in his work as a judge, 135 00:07:48,000 --> 00:07:51,560 Speaker 1: and the election that led to that runoff, Artie Walker Willis, 136 00:07:51,600 --> 00:07:54,800 Speaker 1: known as a w had also been defeated. Willis was 137 00:07:54,840 --> 00:07:57,680 Speaker 1: a black civil rights activist, a lawyer, and a businessman 138 00:07:57,720 --> 00:08:01,360 Speaker 1: who had helped desegregate Memphis public gools. So with the 139 00:08:01,400 --> 00:08:04,600 Speaker 1: defeats of both Willis and Ingram, and the election of 140 00:08:04,680 --> 00:08:08,000 Speaker 1: Henry Loebe the nineteen sixties seven mayoral election felt like 141 00:08:08,080 --> 00:08:11,480 Speaker 1: a huge step backward for the black community in Memphis. 142 00:08:12,200 --> 00:08:15,160 Speaker 1: The second event was the tragic and horrifying deaths of 143 00:08:15,240 --> 00:08:19,559 Speaker 1: two sanitation workers on February one, Echo Cole and Robert 144 00:08:19,600 --> 00:08:22,040 Speaker 1: Walker had taken shelter in the back of their garbage 145 00:08:22,040 --> 00:08:23,880 Speaker 1: truck to try to get out of a heavy rain. 146 00:08:24,560 --> 00:08:28,080 Speaker 1: A short circuit caused the truck's compactor to start without warning, 147 00:08:28,400 --> 00:08:31,760 Speaker 1: and they weren't able to escape. These trucks were well 148 00:08:31,840 --> 00:08:34,360 Speaker 1: past the end of their life expectancy, and the workers 149 00:08:34,360 --> 00:08:37,679 Speaker 1: had been raising concerns about their safety for months before 150 00:08:37,720 --> 00:08:41,600 Speaker 1: this tragic event happened. Cole and Walker were both in 151 00:08:41,640 --> 00:08:44,520 Speaker 1: their thirties. They both had families and children, and the 152 00:08:44,559 --> 00:08:47,600 Speaker 1: city gave each family five hundred dollars to cover funeral 153 00:08:47,640 --> 00:08:51,080 Speaker 1: expenses along with a month's pay for Cole and Walker. 154 00:08:51,760 --> 00:08:55,160 Speaker 1: They got no other compensation, no other insurance pay out, 155 00:08:55,200 --> 00:08:57,800 Speaker 1: and no one from the city attended either man's funeral. 156 00:08:58,200 --> 00:09:00,840 Speaker 1: The city also did nothing to us whether the same 157 00:09:00,880 --> 00:09:03,839 Speaker 1: malfunction could happen again in all these trucks that were 158 00:09:03,840 --> 00:09:07,760 Speaker 1: still on the road. After the two men's deaths, union 159 00:09:07,840 --> 00:09:10,040 Speaker 1: leaders stepped up their efforts to get the city to 160 00:09:10,160 --> 00:09:13,560 Speaker 1: officially recognize the union and to allow the union to 161 00:09:13,679 --> 00:09:19,600 Speaker 1: negotiate a contract for the sanitation workers. Mayor Loebes steadfastly refused. 162 00:09:20,720 --> 00:09:23,480 Speaker 1: This refusal is what ultimately led the men to strike, 163 00:09:23,559 --> 00:09:25,520 Speaker 1: which we are going to get to after a quick 164 00:09:25,600 --> 00:09:38,520 Speaker 1: sponsor break. On February eleventh, after talks with the city 165 00:09:38,559 --> 00:09:41,920 Speaker 1: failed to reach any kind of resolution, the Memphis Sanitation 166 00:09:41,920 --> 00:09:45,200 Speaker 1: Workers Union voted to go on strike. Ed Gillis, who 167 00:09:45,200 --> 00:09:47,680 Speaker 1: was one of the workers, became their main liaison with 168 00:09:47,720 --> 00:09:50,880 Speaker 1: t O Jones, and Jones became the workers representative with 169 00:09:50,920 --> 00:09:54,840 Speaker 1: the city. Going on strike was a risky decision. On 170 00:09:54,920 --> 00:09:57,520 Speaker 1: top of the inherent risk in walking off the job 171 00:09:57,600 --> 00:10:00,439 Speaker 1: and the loss of income that comes with it, Striking 172 00:10:00,440 --> 00:10:05,679 Speaker 1: workers often face harassment, intimidation, threats, and even violence. Then 173 00:10:05,720 --> 00:10:09,320 Speaker 1: there was also the injunction prohibiting municipal employees from going 174 00:10:09,400 --> 00:10:13,600 Speaker 1: on strike. The workers also voted to strike without discussing 175 00:10:13,640 --> 00:10:16,800 Speaker 1: it with National ASTHMA leadership. They knew that the national 176 00:10:16,960 --> 00:10:20,800 Speaker 1: organization wasn't really likely to support this decision. In general, 177 00:10:21,120 --> 00:10:23,400 Speaker 1: garbage strikes are a lot more effective in the summer 178 00:10:23,920 --> 00:10:26,520 Speaker 1: because it's hot and the garbage is a lot stickier, 179 00:10:26,520 --> 00:10:28,440 Speaker 1: and the public gets a lot more on board with 180 00:10:28,480 --> 00:10:32,600 Speaker 1: getting things resolved quickly. The national organization also didn't have 181 00:10:32,640 --> 00:10:35,320 Speaker 1: a fund that could support the strike, but knew that 182 00:10:35,360 --> 00:10:38,560 Speaker 1: the city already had a strong anti union sentiment, and 183 00:10:38,679 --> 00:10:41,360 Speaker 1: it was a union of black workers and a majority 184 00:10:41,400 --> 00:10:45,120 Speaker 1: white Southern city with a segregationist mayor. So at the 185 00:10:45,160 --> 00:10:48,120 Speaker 1: beginning of the strike, the Memphis sanitation workers were essentially 186 00:10:48,160 --> 00:10:53,080 Speaker 1: on their own regardless. On Monday, February twelve, most of 187 00:10:53,120 --> 00:10:56,679 Speaker 1: the city's hundred sanitation workers did not go to work. 188 00:10:57,320 --> 00:11:00,200 Speaker 1: According to reports, two hundred or so state on them, 189 00:11:00,360 --> 00:11:03,160 Speaker 1: but fewer than forty of the city's fleet of one 190 00:11:03,600 --> 00:11:07,319 Speaker 1: eight garbage trucks rolled out that day. From the very beginning, 191 00:11:07,440 --> 00:11:10,320 Speaker 1: Mayor Loeb maintained that the strike was illegal and that 192 00:11:10,360 --> 00:11:12,760 Speaker 1: he would not negotiate with the men in any way 193 00:11:12,880 --> 00:11:17,200 Speaker 1: unless they returned to work. The strike progressed, along with 194 00:11:17,360 --> 00:11:19,800 Speaker 1: meetings and protests to try to draw attention to the 195 00:11:19,800 --> 00:11:24,840 Speaker 1: workers demands. Uncollected garbage started to pile up around the city. 196 00:11:25,280 --> 00:11:27,960 Speaker 1: Some residents hauled their own garbage to the dump, while 197 00:11:28,080 --> 00:11:31,440 Speaker 1: organizations like the j c S raged bulk pickups. By 198 00:11:31,480 --> 00:11:34,480 Speaker 1: February fourteenth, the few garbage trucks that were still on 199 00:11:34,520 --> 00:11:38,640 Speaker 1: the road were traveling with police escorts. The Memphis branch 200 00:11:38,760 --> 00:11:41,760 Speaker 1: of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, 201 00:11:41,840 --> 00:11:44,720 Speaker 1: that is, the ub A CP, endorsed the strike on 202 00:11:44,760 --> 00:11:48,640 Speaker 1: the sixteenth of February. On the eighteenth asked me national 203 00:11:48,679 --> 00:11:52,839 Speaker 1: president Jerry Wirth arrived in Memphis to help with the negotiations, 204 00:11:52,920 --> 00:11:56,680 Speaker 1: having been convinced that the strike should go ahead. There 205 00:11:56,760 --> 00:11:59,760 Speaker 1: wasn't much progress between the city and the union, though. 206 00:12:00,200 --> 00:12:03,520 Speaker 1: On the eighteenth, Rabbi James Wax tried to mediate one 207 00:12:03,600 --> 00:12:06,280 Speaker 1: of the many meetings that would take place over the 208 00:12:06,280 --> 00:12:09,679 Speaker 1: course of the strike. Talks went on until five am 209 00:12:09,679 --> 00:12:13,319 Speaker 1: with nothing resolved. After a sit in at city Hall, 210 00:12:13,679 --> 00:12:18,079 Speaker 1: a city council subcommittee voted to recognize the Sanitation Workers Union. 211 00:12:18,679 --> 00:12:21,560 Speaker 1: This took place on February twenty two, and the committee 212 00:12:21,559 --> 00:12:25,160 Speaker 1: recommended an increase in the workers pay as well. They 213 00:12:25,160 --> 00:12:27,920 Speaker 1: passed all these recommendations up to the mayor, who again 214 00:12:27,960 --> 00:12:31,800 Speaker 1: stated that he would not negotiate with the union. On 215 00:12:31,840 --> 00:12:34,959 Speaker 1: the twenty three, the full city Council was scheduled to 216 00:12:35,040 --> 00:12:39,200 Speaker 1: vote on the subcommittee's resolution. The striking workers arranged a 217 00:12:39,240 --> 00:12:42,720 Speaker 1: non violent march to City Hall to coincide with this vote, 218 00:12:42,840 --> 00:12:45,600 Speaker 1: but in the end, the city council voted to support 219 00:12:45,640 --> 00:12:49,720 Speaker 1: the mayor rather than supporting the striking workers. The crowd 220 00:12:49,840 --> 00:12:53,640 Speaker 1: of about fiftundred people was, of course disappointed and angry 221 00:12:53,640 --> 00:12:57,320 Speaker 1: at this decision. They started their return march from City 222 00:12:57,360 --> 00:13:00,600 Speaker 1: Hall back to Mason Temple, Church of God in Christ, 223 00:13:01,160 --> 00:13:04,360 Speaker 1: but as they were marching, police started nudging their cruisers 224 00:13:04,400 --> 00:13:07,959 Speaker 1: into the marchers, until one eventually rolled over a woman's foot. 225 00:13:08,760 --> 00:13:12,000 Speaker 1: People nearby responded by pushing and rocking the police car. 226 00:13:12,559 --> 00:13:16,000 Speaker 1: Then police broke up the march with indiscriminate use of 227 00:13:16,040 --> 00:13:18,480 Speaker 1: mace in what came to be known as the Mazing 228 00:13:18,520 --> 00:13:23,280 Speaker 1: of Main Street. Seven protesters were arrested and jailed the 229 00:13:23,360 --> 00:13:26,400 Speaker 1: next day. In response to this, about a hundred and 230 00:13:26,480 --> 00:13:29,640 Speaker 1: fifty local clergy formed the Community on the Move for 231 00:13:29,720 --> 00:13:33,079 Speaker 1: Equality or Come to act as allies to the striking 232 00:13:33,080 --> 00:13:37,120 Speaker 1: sanitation workers. They plan to use non violent civil disobedience 233 00:13:37,160 --> 00:13:39,440 Speaker 1: to put more pressure on the city and to raise 234 00:13:39,520 --> 00:13:43,400 Speaker 1: more awareness of these issues. The Reverend James T. Lawson, 235 00:13:43,520 --> 00:13:47,440 Speaker 1: activist and pastor at Sentinary Methodist Church in Memphis, led 236 00:13:47,480 --> 00:13:51,600 Speaker 1: this new organization. Before moving to Memphis, Lawson had a 237 00:13:51,679 --> 00:13:54,720 Speaker 1: long history with the civil rights movement, including helping to 238 00:13:54,800 --> 00:13:58,240 Speaker 1: coordinate the Freedom Rides in ninety one. He's one of 239 00:13:58,280 --> 00:14:01,600 Speaker 1: the civil rights leaders alive as of when we are 240 00:14:01,600 --> 00:14:05,760 Speaker 1: recording this podcast. Over the course of the strike, Come 241 00:14:05,960 --> 00:14:09,160 Speaker 1: printed its own newspaper called The Appeal to keep the 242 00:14:09,160 --> 00:14:12,520 Speaker 1: community informed about what was happening and offer guidance about 243 00:14:12,520 --> 00:14:15,760 Speaker 1: how to stay involved in to rally the greater community 244 00:14:15,840 --> 00:14:19,400 Speaker 1: around the cause of the striking workers. This included daily 245 00:14:19,480 --> 00:14:23,520 Speaker 1: marches and protests with the intent of filling Memphis jails 246 00:14:23,520 --> 00:14:28,000 Speaker 1: with non violent demonstrators. Another of the organization strategies was 247 00:14:28,040 --> 00:14:32,240 Speaker 1: a boycott of all downtown Memphis businesses, especially the ones 248 00:14:32,320 --> 00:14:35,920 Speaker 1: that had connections to the mayor and his family. A 249 00:14:35,960 --> 00:14:38,440 Speaker 1: lot of this episode today is really focused on men 250 00:14:38,560 --> 00:14:41,400 Speaker 1: because the striking workers and many of the city and 251 00:14:41,440 --> 00:14:44,720 Speaker 1: civil rights leaders involved were men. But here's where we 252 00:14:44,760 --> 00:14:47,280 Speaker 1: should note that women were an active part of this 253 00:14:47,360 --> 00:14:51,520 Speaker 1: strike as well. Overwhelmingly, women were the ones maintaining this 254 00:14:51,600 --> 00:14:54,920 Speaker 1: boycott of downtown businesses. The mayor and his family had 255 00:14:54,960 --> 00:14:57,200 Speaker 1: a lot of businesses downtown, so this was affecting the 256 00:14:57,200 --> 00:15:00,760 Speaker 1: mayor directly. Women were also at i in the church 257 00:15:00,880 --> 00:15:04,480 Speaker 1: community and civil rights organizations that were arranging demonstrations and 258 00:15:04,600 --> 00:15:08,680 Speaker 1: aid for the striking workers. Women prepared food, they laundered 259 00:15:08,680 --> 00:15:12,160 Speaker 1: and donated clothing, and they participated in the marches, sit ins, 260 00:15:12,200 --> 00:15:15,920 Speaker 1: and other demonstrations themselves as well. This strike really could 261 00:15:16,000 --> 00:15:19,960 Speaker 1: not have continued without the involvement of women. Even with 262 00:15:20,120 --> 00:15:25,240 Speaker 1: memphisis religious community increasingly supporting the strike, the stalemate between 263 00:15:25,280 --> 00:15:29,360 Speaker 1: the union and the city continued. Local seventeen thirty three 264 00:15:29,480 --> 00:15:32,760 Speaker 1: drafted and distributed an apology letter to the city. It 265 00:15:32,840 --> 00:15:37,000 Speaker 1: began to our fellow citizens, we apologize for the inconvenience 266 00:15:37,080 --> 00:15:40,120 Speaker 1: created by the mayor of your city. He has refused 267 00:15:40,120 --> 00:15:43,200 Speaker 1: to recognize the basic human needs of the workers who 268 00:15:43,240 --> 00:15:47,160 Speaker 1: provide vital services to you and your family. Every Man 269 00:15:47,280 --> 00:15:50,360 Speaker 1: should receive a decent wage for his labor. Every Man 270 00:15:50,440 --> 00:15:53,160 Speaker 1: should have the right to have his grievances resolved in 271 00:15:53,200 --> 00:15:57,000 Speaker 1: an orderly fashion without fear of reprisal. Every Man who 272 00:15:57,000 --> 00:16:00,840 Speaker 1: performs his work should have security on his job. Every 273 00:16:00,880 --> 00:16:03,760 Speaker 1: man should have adequate insurance to meet the needs of 274 00:16:03,880 --> 00:16:07,520 Speaker 1: unexpected illness or death. And the letter went on from 275 00:16:07,560 --> 00:16:09,880 Speaker 1: there and it concluded that these were not issues of 276 00:16:10,000 --> 00:16:13,840 Speaker 1: race relations, that it was about economic justice and dignity 277 00:16:13,880 --> 00:16:16,600 Speaker 1: for all of those who work for a living. On 278 00:16:16,720 --> 00:16:19,360 Speaker 1: February twenty nine, the mayor published a letter of his 279 00:16:19,400 --> 00:16:22,440 Speaker 1: own in the Memphis Press Simitar, in which he maintained 280 00:16:22,480 --> 00:16:25,440 Speaker 1: again that the strike was illegal and that no negotiation 281 00:16:25,480 --> 00:16:29,440 Speaker 1: would happen until everyone returned to work. Only after everyone 282 00:16:29,480 --> 00:16:32,000 Speaker 1: went back to work would he meet with representatives of 283 00:16:32,040 --> 00:16:35,720 Speaker 1: the Public Works Department and, in his words, quote, make 284 00:16:35,760 --> 00:16:40,760 Speaker 1: our meaningful grievance procedure even more meaningful. The letter said 285 00:16:40,800 --> 00:16:43,720 Speaker 1: that the mayor would recommend an eight cent raised, but 286 00:16:43,760 --> 00:16:46,280 Speaker 1: it also made it clear that he would not approve 287 00:16:46,480 --> 00:16:50,240 Speaker 1: dudes check off. The mayor also sent letters to every 288 00:16:50,280 --> 00:16:53,800 Speaker 1: striking worker, and each letter invited that man back to 289 00:16:53,880 --> 00:16:58,640 Speaker 1: work that day without union recognition and without any other concessions. 290 00:16:59,200 --> 00:17:02,400 Speaker 1: The union filed a suit against the city in federal court, 291 00:17:02,840 --> 00:17:05,760 Speaker 1: but the court rejected that suit on March one. The 292 00:17:05,840 --> 00:17:09,240 Speaker 1: same day, the mayor's home was vandalized and he blamed 293 00:17:09,280 --> 00:17:13,399 Speaker 1: the striking workers. By this point, the Memphis strike had 294 00:17:13,440 --> 00:17:16,880 Speaker 1: started to gain more attention among national civil rights leaders. 295 00:17:17,119 --> 00:17:19,640 Speaker 1: Reverend Lawson and was a friend and colleague of Dr. 296 00:17:19,680 --> 00:17:21,840 Speaker 1: Martin Luther King, Jr. And he had been in touch 297 00:17:21,880 --> 00:17:24,639 Speaker 1: with him about the strike, and on March five, the 298 00:17:24,640 --> 00:17:29,480 Speaker 1: announcement came that King was coming to Memphis. We're gonna 299 00:17:29,560 --> 00:17:32,199 Speaker 1: talk more about this part of the story after we 300 00:17:32,240 --> 00:17:42,600 Speaker 1: first paused for a little sponsor break. In March of 301 00:17:42,680 --> 00:17:46,720 Speaker 1: nineteen sixty eight, tensions in Memphis were escalating. Ten union 302 00:17:46,800 --> 00:17:49,880 Speaker 1: leaders had been jailed for contempt of court. On the sixth, 303 00:17:50,359 --> 00:17:54,000 Speaker 1: demonstrators held a mock funeral at City Hall to symbolically 304 00:17:54,080 --> 00:17:57,320 Speaker 1: more in the depth of freedom in Memphis. Trash fires 305 00:17:57,320 --> 00:17:59,560 Speaker 1: had broken out in South Memphis on the eight and 306 00:17:59,600 --> 00:18:02,720 Speaker 1: the nash Sational Guard had started holding drills at the 307 00:18:02,760 --> 00:18:07,480 Speaker 1: Mayor's suggestion a day later. By mid March, national civil 308 00:18:07,520 --> 00:18:10,280 Speaker 1: rights leaders had arrived on the scene, including in double 309 00:18:10,320 --> 00:18:14,440 Speaker 1: a CP Executive secretary Roy Wilkins and Buyard Rustin, who 310 00:18:14,480 --> 00:18:17,160 Speaker 1: is the subject of a two part podcast in our archive. 311 00:18:18,000 --> 00:18:21,159 Speaker 1: Ralph David Abernathy and James Bevel of the Southern Christian 312 00:18:21,240 --> 00:18:23,800 Speaker 1: Leadership Conference came to Memphis to work with the strike 313 00:18:23,840 --> 00:18:27,280 Speaker 1: as well. On March fourteenth, Roy Wilkins met with a 314 00:18:27,320 --> 00:18:30,800 Speaker 1: crowd of about ten thousand people and encouraged them to 315 00:18:30,880 --> 00:18:33,679 Speaker 1: approach the strike as a non violent protest, and on 316 00:18:33,720 --> 00:18:37,240 Speaker 1: the fifteenth he held a news conference expressing the national 317 00:18:37,280 --> 00:18:41,480 Speaker 1: civil rights movements support of this strike. At this point, 318 00:18:41,640 --> 00:18:44,280 Speaker 1: Dr Martin Luther King Jr. Was working on the Poor 319 00:18:44,320 --> 00:18:48,080 Speaker 1: People's Campaign. This is a planned series of protests for 320 00:18:48,160 --> 00:18:52,480 Speaker 1: economic justice, jobs, education, and housing which were to culminate 321 00:18:52,560 --> 00:18:55,720 Speaker 1: in a takeover and mass occupation of the National Mall 322 00:18:55,800 --> 00:18:59,840 Speaker 1: in Washington, d C. During this occupation, people would live 323 00:19:00,080 --> 00:19:02,840 Speaker 1: on the mall in a shanty town to emphasize the 324 00:19:02,880 --> 00:19:05,720 Speaker 1: disparities and wealth between rich and poor people in the 325 00:19:05,800 --> 00:19:09,480 Speaker 1: United States. King had begun to conceive of the Poor 326 00:19:09,520 --> 00:19:12,480 Speaker 1: People's Campaign after visiting some of the poorest parts of 327 00:19:12,480 --> 00:19:15,840 Speaker 1: the South, after which he refocused his own advocacy to 328 00:19:15,880 --> 00:19:20,560 Speaker 1: include economic inequality in addition to racial inequality. And even 329 00:19:20,600 --> 00:19:23,880 Speaker 1: though the Poor People's Campaign was ultimately focused on Washington, 330 00:19:24,480 --> 00:19:27,560 Speaker 1: King saw how compatible the Memphis strike was with it, 331 00:19:28,480 --> 00:19:31,240 Speaker 1: so he decided to basically make the Memphis strike part 332 00:19:31,320 --> 00:19:34,639 Speaker 1: of the Poor People's Campaign. He arrived in Memphis on 333 00:19:34,680 --> 00:19:37,200 Speaker 1: March eighteenth, more than a month into the strike, which 334 00:19:37,240 --> 00:19:40,080 Speaker 1: is really when the strike started to become national news. 335 00:19:40,680 --> 00:19:43,959 Speaker 1: On the eighteenth, he addressed a huge crowd at Mason Temple. 336 00:19:44,560 --> 00:19:47,800 Speaker 1: Estimates of the total attendance very I saw it marked 337 00:19:47,800 --> 00:19:51,159 Speaker 1: as anywhere from fifteen thousand to twenty five thousand people, 338 00:19:51,600 --> 00:19:55,440 Speaker 1: regardless though it is believed to be the largest indoor 339 00:19:55,520 --> 00:19:59,400 Speaker 1: gathering of the civil rights movement. The address King delivered 340 00:19:59,400 --> 00:20:01,359 Speaker 1: that day later out why he saw them at the 341 00:20:01,440 --> 00:20:04,919 Speaker 1: strike is so compatible with the poor People's campaign, and 342 00:20:04,960 --> 00:20:07,320 Speaker 1: in it he asked what good it did to sit 343 00:20:07,359 --> 00:20:09,879 Speaker 1: in an integrated lunch counter if you could not afford 344 00:20:09,920 --> 00:20:14,119 Speaker 1: to eat there. He went on to address the workers themselves, quote, 345 00:20:14,240 --> 00:20:16,960 Speaker 1: you are demanding that the city will respect the dignity 346 00:20:17,040 --> 00:20:20,320 Speaker 1: of labor. So often we overlook the worth and the 347 00:20:20,359 --> 00:20:23,679 Speaker 1: significance of those who are not in professional jobs, of 348 00:20:23,720 --> 00:20:27,160 Speaker 1: those not in the so called big jobs. But let 349 00:20:27,200 --> 00:20:30,480 Speaker 1: me say to you tonight that whenever you are engaged 350 00:20:30,560 --> 00:20:33,640 Speaker 1: in work that serves humanity and is for the building 351 00:20:33,720 --> 00:20:37,800 Speaker 1: of humanity, it has dignity and it has worth. One 352 00:20:37,880 --> 00:20:41,160 Speaker 1: day our society must come to see this. One day 353 00:20:41,240 --> 00:20:44,359 Speaker 1: our society will come to respect the sanitation worker. If 354 00:20:44,400 --> 00:20:47,000 Speaker 1: it is to survive for the person who picks up 355 00:20:47,040 --> 00:20:50,439 Speaker 1: our garbage, and the final analysis is as significant as 356 00:20:50,520 --> 00:20:54,080 Speaker 1: the physician, for if he doesn't do his job, diseases 357 00:20:54,200 --> 00:20:58,600 Speaker 1: are rampant. All labor has dignity. The plan was for 358 00:20:58,720 --> 00:21:01,800 Speaker 1: King to return on March twenty two, but an unexpected 359 00:21:01,840 --> 00:21:06,160 Speaker 1: snowstorm forced it to be rescheduled to they In the interim, 360 00:21:06,480 --> 00:21:09,520 Speaker 1: the city and the union agreed to mediation and round 361 00:21:09,560 --> 00:21:13,960 Speaker 1: the clock talks, but by those talks had once again 362 00:21:14,160 --> 00:21:18,679 Speaker 1: fallen apart, so by the time they arrived, the situation 363 00:21:18,760 --> 00:21:22,960 Speaker 1: in Memphis had become incredibly tense. About twenty two thousand 364 00:21:23,040 --> 00:21:25,800 Speaker 1: students skipped school to be part of the march, and 365 00:21:25,840 --> 00:21:28,320 Speaker 1: before the march actually began, some of them were spotted 366 00:21:28,359 --> 00:21:32,480 Speaker 1: throwing rocks at police. King was also delayed and arriving 367 00:21:32,520 --> 00:21:34,560 Speaker 1: because of a bomb threat, and by the time he 368 00:21:34,640 --> 00:21:38,240 Speaker 1: got there everyone was really on edge, and video footage 369 00:21:38,280 --> 00:21:42,600 Speaker 1: from this march, he was also obviously exhausted. Early in 370 00:21:42,640 --> 00:21:45,920 Speaker 1: the march, violence broke out someone and it's not clear 371 00:21:45,960 --> 00:21:51,960 Speaker 1: who started breaking windows. Looting and fires followed. Organizers took 372 00:21:52,040 --> 00:21:55,880 Speaker 1: King to a hotel as chaos spread through Memphis over 373 00:21:55,920 --> 00:21:58,240 Speaker 1: the course of the day, sixty two people were injured, 374 00:21:58,280 --> 00:22:01,200 Speaker 1: nearly all of them black, and an unarmed sixteen year 375 00:22:01,200 --> 00:22:04,400 Speaker 1: old named Larry Payne was shot and killed by police. 376 00:22:04,920 --> 00:22:07,639 Speaker 1: Organizers tried to control the crowd and get them to 377 00:22:07,680 --> 00:22:11,359 Speaker 1: return to Claybourne Temple, African Methodist Episcopal Church, which was 378 00:22:11,440 --> 00:22:14,960 Speaker 1: being used as the headquarters for the strike, but once 379 00:22:15,000 --> 00:22:18,320 Speaker 1: they did, police surrounded the church through tear gas through 380 00:22:18,359 --> 00:22:21,560 Speaker 1: the windows and clubbed people with nightsticks as they escaped. 381 00:22:22,480 --> 00:22:25,520 Speaker 1: About two hundred and eighty people were arrested. Following the 382 00:22:25,560 --> 00:22:29,639 Speaker 1: incidents of March twenty eight, the state legislature implemented a 383 00:22:29,720 --> 00:22:33,560 Speaker 1: seven pm curfew in Memphis. The mayor placed the city 384 00:22:33,640 --> 00:22:37,200 Speaker 1: under martial law, and four thousand National Guard troops were 385 00:22:37,200 --> 00:22:41,760 Speaker 1: called to the scene. Initially, the violence that had broken 386 00:22:41,760 --> 00:22:44,159 Speaker 1: out at the at the march was blamed on an 387 00:22:44,280 --> 00:22:48,119 Speaker 1: organization of young black activists known as the Invaders, but 388 00:22:48,200 --> 00:22:51,480 Speaker 1: one of their leaders, Charles Cabbage, met with King and 389 00:22:51,520 --> 00:22:53,919 Speaker 1: had denied that he had been involved in any way, 390 00:22:54,440 --> 00:22:57,639 Speaker 1: and other interviews other members maintained that they knew about 391 00:22:57,680 --> 00:23:01,000 Speaker 1: and followed King's commitment to non vin at the march. 392 00:23:01,119 --> 00:23:03,520 Speaker 1: So it's I mean, it's just really not clear who 393 00:23:03,600 --> 00:23:06,560 Speaker 1: started the rock throwing in the first place. The striking 394 00:23:06,560 --> 00:23:09,720 Speaker 1: workers continued their daily marches on the twenty nine, now 395 00:23:09,880 --> 00:23:14,160 Speaker 1: proceeding past tanks and National guardsmen armed with bayoneted rifles. 396 00:23:14,880 --> 00:23:17,320 Speaker 1: Many of them carried signs that simply read I Am 397 00:23:17,359 --> 00:23:20,760 Speaker 1: a Man, a slogan credited to William Lucy known as 398 00:23:20,800 --> 00:23:24,840 Speaker 1: Bill from the National as swe Office. Before he went 399 00:23:24,880 --> 00:23:27,680 Speaker 1: back to Atlanta, King gave a press conference and which 400 00:23:27,680 --> 00:23:30,720 Speaker 1: he was asked why he had abandoned the march. He 401 00:23:30,760 --> 00:23:33,679 Speaker 1: said that he hadn't abandoned anything, that he had always 402 00:23:33,680 --> 00:23:37,480 Speaker 1: said that he wouldn't lead a violent demonstration. He found 403 00:23:37,560 --> 00:23:41,159 Speaker 1: himself under really heavy criticism from all sides. To the 404 00:23:41,160 --> 00:23:44,120 Speaker 1: white community, he was an outside agitator who had come 405 00:23:44,160 --> 00:23:47,480 Speaker 1: to Memphis start up trouble and left. Critics in the 406 00:23:47,520 --> 00:23:49,560 Speaker 1: black community said that he was out of touch with 407 00:23:49,600 --> 00:23:52,080 Speaker 1: the people of Memphis and what their needs were, and 408 00:23:52,080 --> 00:23:54,600 Speaker 1: that if he didn't connect more with the local communities 409 00:23:54,640 --> 00:23:57,520 Speaker 1: he came to, he would have the same problem everywhere 410 00:23:57,520 --> 00:24:01,320 Speaker 1: he went. After all of the King debated whether to 411 00:24:01,320 --> 00:24:04,520 Speaker 1: go back to Memphis. On the one hand, this situation 412 00:24:04,640 --> 00:24:08,800 Speaker 1: was obviously volatile. He could not be associated with violent demonstrations, 413 00:24:09,240 --> 00:24:12,119 Speaker 1: nor could the Poor People's Campaign or the greater Civil 414 00:24:12,200 --> 00:24:15,399 Speaker 1: Rights movement. But it seemed just as damaging to have 415 00:24:15,480 --> 00:24:17,960 Speaker 1: gone to Memphis, left in the wake of an outbreak 416 00:24:17,960 --> 00:24:20,720 Speaker 1: of violence, and then stayed away without finishing what he 417 00:24:20,800 --> 00:24:25,480 Speaker 1: started there. The Southern Christian Leadership Conference was also divided 418 00:24:25,480 --> 00:24:28,360 Speaker 1: about what King should do, but on March thirtie finally 419 00:24:28,400 --> 00:24:31,840 Speaker 1: agreed to support his going back to Memphis. He arrived 420 00:24:31,840 --> 00:24:34,520 Speaker 1: on April three, at which point the curfew and Memphis 421 00:24:34,520 --> 00:24:37,560 Speaker 1: had been lifted for two days. The plan was for 422 00:24:37,640 --> 00:24:40,000 Speaker 1: him to give an address on the third, then then 423 00:24:40,119 --> 00:24:43,720 Speaker 1: lead a march on the fourth. King delivered this address 424 00:24:43,760 --> 00:24:46,879 Speaker 1: at Mason Temple. The crowd was enormous in spite of 425 00:24:46,880 --> 00:24:49,879 Speaker 1: a terrible storm. In this speech, which is known as 426 00:24:49,960 --> 00:24:52,800 Speaker 1: I've been to the Mountaintop, King said, I've seen the 427 00:24:52,840 --> 00:24:55,679 Speaker 1: Promised Land. I may not get there with you, but 428 00:24:55,720 --> 00:24:57,760 Speaker 1: I want you to know tonight that we as a 429 00:24:57,840 --> 00:25:00,600 Speaker 1: people will get to the Promised Land and we will wait. 430 00:25:00,640 --> 00:25:02,920 Speaker 1: To the entirety of that speech. In the show notes 431 00:25:02,960 --> 00:25:06,199 Speaker 1: to this episode, Yeah, a lot of people describe it 432 00:25:06,280 --> 00:25:11,920 Speaker 1: as as prophetic in hindsight, because it's clear in this 433 00:25:12,000 --> 00:25:15,480 Speaker 1: speech that King thought someone was going to kill him. 434 00:25:15,560 --> 00:25:18,840 Speaker 1: There were plenty of threats that had led up to 435 00:25:18,880 --> 00:25:21,320 Speaker 1: this moment, but like it is really obvious from the 436 00:25:21,320 --> 00:25:23,199 Speaker 1: text of this speech that he was speaking as a 437 00:25:23,240 --> 00:25:27,199 Speaker 1: man who knew that he was going to die in 438 00:25:27,320 --> 00:25:29,720 Speaker 1: service to try and to get justice for other people. 439 00:25:30,760 --> 00:25:32,879 Speaker 1: I don't think that he knew he was going to 440 00:25:32,960 --> 00:25:38,119 Speaker 1: die tomorrow. The next day, April four, King was at 441 00:25:38,119 --> 00:25:41,320 Speaker 1: the Lorraine Motel getting ready for dinner. He left his 442 00:25:41,359 --> 00:25:44,119 Speaker 1: second floor room and leaned out over the railing to 443 00:25:44,160 --> 00:25:46,920 Speaker 1: talk to people below, where he was shot at six 444 00:25:46,960 --> 00:25:50,680 Speaker 1: o one pm. King was pronounced dead a little over 445 00:25:50,720 --> 00:25:54,399 Speaker 1: an hour later. James Earl Ray pleaded guilty to the crime, 446 00:25:54,480 --> 00:25:58,479 Speaker 1: but he later recanted that confession, and ongoing questions linger 447 00:25:58,640 --> 00:26:02,119 Speaker 1: about whether or not he act alone. Shock and outrage 448 00:26:02,160 --> 00:26:05,840 Speaker 1: followed the assassination, and demonstrations and riots swept through cities 449 00:26:05,840 --> 00:26:10,240 Speaker 1: throughout the United States. In Memphis, Mayor Loebe still refused 450 00:26:10,240 --> 00:26:15,320 Speaker 1: to negotiate. President Lyndon Baines Johnson ultimately sent his Secretary 451 00:26:15,320 --> 00:26:18,399 Speaker 1: of Labor, James Reynolds, to Memphis to settle the strike. 452 00:26:19,160 --> 00:26:23,400 Speaker 1: Reynolds started holding meetings on April six. Southern Christian Leadership 453 00:26:23,440 --> 00:26:27,520 Speaker 1: Conference leaders and Coretta Scott King, King's widow let a 454 00:26:27,640 --> 00:26:30,400 Speaker 1: silent march in Memphis on April the eight to honor 455 00:26:30,480 --> 00:26:34,240 Speaker 1: Dr King and to support the Memphis sanitation workers. Ahead 456 00:26:34,240 --> 00:26:37,240 Speaker 1: of this march, Reverend James Lawson wrote out instructions to 457 00:26:37,280 --> 00:26:41,400 Speaker 1: the participants. They began, quote, Doctor King came to Memphis 458 00:26:41,400 --> 00:26:44,199 Speaker 1: to help all of us, and especially to help the 459 00:26:44,240 --> 00:26:48,760 Speaker 1: sanitation workers win economic justice. We asked him to come 460 00:26:48,960 --> 00:26:51,800 Speaker 1: because we wanted to win this strike as human beings 461 00:26:51,920 --> 00:26:55,720 Speaker 1: and as men, not as animals who used violence. Doctor 462 00:26:55,880 --> 00:26:59,399 Speaker 1: King died in Memphis trying to help us. Today we 463 00:26:59,480 --> 00:27:01,640 Speaker 1: honor Doctor or King for the great work he did 464 00:27:01,760 --> 00:27:05,560 Speaker 1: for all people, and particularly his great love and sacrifice 465 00:27:05,760 --> 00:27:09,760 Speaker 1: for us. Lawson's instructions went on to ask how is 466 00:27:09,800 --> 00:27:13,000 Speaker 1: it best to honor him now? And they answered to 467 00:27:13,119 --> 00:27:16,240 Speaker 1: make sure that sanitation workers in Memphis won their rights 468 00:27:16,280 --> 00:27:20,359 Speaker 1: without violence. Then they directed the marchers to carry themselves silently, 469 00:27:20,640 --> 00:27:24,520 Speaker 1: with pride and dignity. The instructions final line read, let 470 00:27:24,600 --> 00:27:27,480 Speaker 1: us march in peace that there shall be peace. More 471 00:27:27,520 --> 00:27:31,320 Speaker 1: than forty people were part of the silent march. Martin 472 00:27:31,400 --> 00:27:34,400 Speaker 1: Luther King Jr's funeral took place in Atlanta the next day, 473 00:27:34,520 --> 00:27:39,000 Speaker 1: April nine. After King's death, the strike continued until negotiators 474 00:27:39,040 --> 00:27:44,360 Speaker 1: finally reached a deal on April sixteenth. Nine. Terms included 475 00:27:44,400 --> 00:27:48,080 Speaker 1: to pay increases totaling fifteen cents an hour, recognition of 476 00:27:48,080 --> 00:27:51,960 Speaker 1: the union, and dues check off. The terms also promised 477 00:27:52,000 --> 00:27:55,680 Speaker 1: the creation of grievance procedures and promotions based on seniority 478 00:27:55,720 --> 00:27:59,600 Speaker 1: and merit. Striking workers were to report for duty with 479 00:27:59,640 --> 00:28:02,560 Speaker 1: anyone and not back on the job by April removed 480 00:28:02,560 --> 00:28:06,760 Speaker 1: from the city payroll. The so called memorandum of understanding 481 00:28:06,880 --> 00:28:10,719 Speaker 1: was essentially a contract which would expire on June nineteen 482 00:28:10,800 --> 00:28:15,240 Speaker 1: sixty nine. Although the city did recognize the union, it 483 00:28:15,320 --> 00:28:18,119 Speaker 1: didn't set the sanitation department up as a union shop. 484 00:28:18,320 --> 00:28:21,240 Speaker 1: In other words, employees did not have to join the union. 485 00:28:21,760 --> 00:28:24,840 Speaker 1: This gave employees freedom to choose to join the union 486 00:28:24,920 --> 00:28:27,760 Speaker 1: or not, but it also gave the union less leverage 487 00:28:27,840 --> 00:28:31,080 Speaker 1: since it didn't necessarily represent all of the employees when 488 00:28:31,119 --> 00:28:35,000 Speaker 1: trying to negotiate. After the Memphis strike, other municipal and 489 00:28:35,080 --> 00:28:39,240 Speaker 1: service workers in the South started to unionize. Asked ME 490 00:28:39,400 --> 00:28:41,680 Speaker 1: became one of the largest unions in the country, and 491 00:28:41,760 --> 00:28:45,560 Speaker 1: local seventeen thirty three became the largest union in Memphis. 492 00:28:46,200 --> 00:28:49,600 Speaker 1: On April twenty nine, two thousand eleven, the Memphis Sanitation 493 00:28:49,640 --> 00:28:52,720 Speaker 1: Workers were inducted into the U. S. Department of Labor's 494 00:28:53,080 --> 00:28:56,920 Speaker 1: Labor Hall of Fame. In twenty seventeen, the City of 495 00:28:57,000 --> 00:29:00,640 Speaker 1: Memphis announced that it would compensate the nineteen sixty sanitation 496 00:29:00,680 --> 00:29:03,640 Speaker 1: workers who were still living with a tax free grant 497 00:29:03,680 --> 00:29:08,040 Speaker 1: of fifty thou dollars. The city Council eventually increased this 498 00:29:08,160 --> 00:29:11,320 Speaker 1: to seventy thousand dollars. This is basically in lieu of 499 00:29:11,320 --> 00:29:15,720 Speaker 1: a pension, and their initial negotiations, the union had opted 500 00:29:15,760 --> 00:29:19,520 Speaker 1: out of the city's pension program in favor of social security. 501 00:29:19,680 --> 00:29:22,960 Speaker 1: It only became clear that social security alone would not 502 00:29:23,040 --> 00:29:26,160 Speaker 1: be enough money to secure a person's retirement later on, 503 00:29:26,920 --> 00:29:30,240 Speaker 1: and this led to years of negotiations and a complicated 504 00:29:30,320 --> 00:29:34,240 Speaker 1: legal tangle that was never successfully resolved. The mayor's twenty 505 00:29:34,280 --> 00:29:38,360 Speaker 1: seventeen announcement also included plans to improve retirement benefits for 506 00:29:38,440 --> 00:29:41,800 Speaker 1: current solid waste workers in the city. When the city 507 00:29:41,840 --> 00:29:45,880 Speaker 1: initially made this announcement, it knew of fourteen surviving strikers, 508 00:29:46,000 --> 00:29:48,760 Speaker 1: and that number has since grown to at least twenty six. 509 00:29:49,640 --> 00:29:54,640 Speaker 1: On December eleven, surviving sanitation workers helped break ground on 510 00:29:54,680 --> 00:29:57,520 Speaker 1: the I Am a Man Plaza at the historic Claybourne Temple. 511 00:29:58,120 --> 00:30:00,720 Speaker 1: This is a memorial for the strike and it's expected 512 00:30:00,760 --> 00:30:04,280 Speaker 1: to be completed before the April anniversaries of King's assassination 513 00:30:04,400 --> 00:30:08,120 Speaker 1: and the strikes end. The Double A CP honored the 514 00:30:08,160 --> 00:30:12,080 Speaker 1: strikers at their Image Awards on January nine with the 515 00:30:12,160 --> 00:30:15,880 Speaker 1: Vanguard Award, and William Lucy received the Chairman's Award. On 516 00:30:15,960 --> 00:30:21,040 Speaker 1: January fourteen. Surviving workers were in attendance for the ceremony, 517 00:30:21,320 --> 00:30:24,680 Speaker 1: four of whom were still employed as sanitation workers for 518 00:30:24,760 --> 00:30:29,360 Speaker 1: the City of Memphis. There are, as as obvious, a 519 00:30:29,360 --> 00:30:32,240 Speaker 1: lot of folks involved with this still alive. There's also 520 00:30:33,120 --> 00:30:36,640 Speaker 1: a lot of video footage. There is a documentary that 521 00:30:36,760 --> 00:30:39,600 Speaker 1: I watched as part of the research for this, which 522 00:30:39,640 --> 00:30:42,680 Speaker 1: is called At the River I Stand. Um. The Route 523 00:30:43,080 --> 00:30:47,320 Speaker 1: is doing a video series about the strike, really focused 524 00:30:47,320 --> 00:30:50,120 Speaker 1: on the workers themselves. UM. A lot of those videos. 525 00:30:50,160 --> 00:30:52,200 Speaker 1: I don't think any of them are actually out yet 526 00:30:52,280 --> 00:30:54,480 Speaker 1: as of when we are recording this podcast, but they're 527 00:30:54,480 --> 00:30:56,880 Speaker 1: going to start coming out over the coming weeks, so 528 00:30:56,960 --> 00:31:00,200 Speaker 1: that I'm sure will be very interesting to watch. We 529 00:31:00,200 --> 00:31:02,520 Speaker 1: should note that a lot of the conditions that we're 530 00:31:02,560 --> 00:31:06,000 Speaker 1: being protested during the strikes still exist. There are still 531 00:31:06,080 --> 00:31:09,160 Speaker 1: jobs where you can work full time and still qualify 532 00:31:09,280 --> 00:31:11,320 Speaker 1: for things like snap which is what food stamps are 533 00:31:11,320 --> 00:31:14,280 Speaker 1: called now, So, as is so often the case with 534 00:31:14,320 --> 00:31:17,480 Speaker 1: things that we talked about on the show, UH, conditions 535 00:31:17,520 --> 00:31:27,880 Speaker 1: that were being protested in still exists in the country today. 536 00:31:28,280 --> 00:31:31,120 Speaker 1: Thanks so much for joining us on this Saturday. Since 537 00:31:31,160 --> 00:31:33,200 Speaker 1: this episode is out of the archive, if you heard 538 00:31:33,240 --> 00:31:35,240 Speaker 1: an email address or a Facebook U r L or 539 00:31:35,320 --> 00:31:37,920 Speaker 1: something similar over the course of the show that could 540 00:31:38,000 --> 00:31:42,440 Speaker 1: be obsolete now. Our current email address is History Podcast 541 00:31:42,640 --> 00:31:46,240 Speaker 1: at i heart radio dot com. Our old health Stuff 542 00:31:46,240 --> 00:31:49,400 Speaker 1: works email address no longer works, and you can find 543 00:31:49,440 --> 00:31:52,640 Speaker 1: us all over social media at missed in History and 544 00:31:52,720 --> 00:31:56,520 Speaker 1: you can subscribe to our show on Apple podcasts, Google podcasts, 545 00:31:56,600 --> 00:31:59,200 Speaker 1: the I heart Radio app, and wherever else you listen 546 00:31:59,200 --> 00:32:04,960 Speaker 1: to podcasts. M Stuff You Missed in History Class is 547 00:32:04,960 --> 00:32:08,160 Speaker 1: a production of I heart Radio. For more podcasts from 548 00:32:08,160 --> 00:32:11,520 Speaker 1: I heart Radio, visit the iHeart Radio app, Apple podcasts, 549 00:32:11,640 --> 00:32:17,840 Speaker 1: or wherever you listen to your favorite shows. H