“Something is happening in our world. The masses of people are rising up. And wherever they are assembled today, whether they are in Johannesburg, South Africa; Nairobi, Kenya; Accra, Ghana; New York City; Atlanta, Georgia; Jackson, Mississippi; or Memphis, Tennessee — the cry is always the same: “We want to be free.”
Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. (4/3/1968)
On February 1, 1968 two men, Echol Cole and Robert Walker, Memphis City sanitation workers, died as a result of being crushed in a garbage truck while working. As discussed in the film “1,300 Men: Memphis Strike ‘68,” created by and featured on “The Root,” website, this horrific tragedy served as the catalyst to a 65-day strike by the Black sanitation workers of Memphis who were tired of being subject to unsafe and unhealthy working conditions and substandard wages. In this film, one of the men describes the buckets that they had to use to cart the garbage from the cans to the truck, which they had to do on the top of their head. The buckets weren’t even in good condition and often times some of the garbage would seep through and drip down. Another said they would smell so bad that they weren’t even allowed to ride the bus home. On top of that the white supervisors would behave very harshly towards them and act like they were enslaved — which the job felt like to a lot of them. Finally, they decided that “enough was enough,” so they started protesting and marching and making demands for humane treatment. They wore signs around their necks that said, “I AM A MAN!”
When some people use the argument that more recent immigrants will do the work that other “Americans” won’t, I reject that as a denial of history and just painfully ignorant. Black people and many other people of color did and still do “that” work, the hard service-oriented work. They just demanded to be treated with dignity while providing the services we all benefit from.
These men were advocating for justice and their efforts caught the attention of Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. who was already turning towards a focus on economic justice to coincide with his radical vision of full political participation and rights for Black people. He understood that economic security is at the heart of people participating fully in a democratic society and that this is especially challenging when workers are dependent on jobs controlled by people in positions of power who make decisions that only benefit the elite. In this film, the Memphis City Attorney Frank Gianotti tells the striking men, “We won’t discuss your demands until you go back to work. Immediately! I mean now!” He forgot how dependent his city was on these striking sanitation workers; just like people in Montgomery, Alabama forgot how dependent many white households were on the Black women domestics that stopped catching those buses. It was a futile effort to put them in their place. It’s a typical response that still occurs today, I see it often.
“And that’s all this whole thing is about. We aren’t engaged in any negative protest and in any negative arguments with anybody. We are saying that we are determined to be men. We are determined to be people. We are saying — We are saying that we are God’s children. And that we are God’s children, we don’t have to live like we are forced to live.”
(King 4/3/1968)
And so, Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. went to Memphis to add all the weight and power of his eloquent and unmatched voice to the efforts of these striking sanitation workers, but unfortunately he was assassinated on April 4, 1968 and did not have the opportunity to see them fully through. One of the Memphis sanitation workers remarked, “He died for us.” His courageous wife, Coretta Scott King, picked up right where he left off, and that is often an untold part of this story. Through all that she suffered, she stood in the gap just like he knew she would, that’s why he chose her.
“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!”
(“I’ve Been to the Mountaintop” speech, delivered the day before Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated.)
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Dr. Terri Jett is an Associate Professor of Political Science and Special Assistant to the Provost for Diversity and Inclusivity at Butler University.
