The Memphis Sanitation Workers

Strike Movement
The Memphis Sanitation strike of 1968 was one of the greatest events in human history. This strike was
led by black sanitation workers who were tired of human exploitation, economic oppression, and racism. Its
history existed long before the 1960’s too. During the 1930’s, black workers and others (in groups like the
CIO or the Congress of Industrial Organizations) fought for equality and labor rights. Their efforts were
stymied by the efforts of white racists and business reactionary forces who wanted no recognition of a
public union. Also, black people throughout America (not just in Memphis) suffered racism and even
murder by bigots. Many people, who traveled into Memphis, came from the Deep South like Mississippi.
Memphis is known for resources based on the river, music, various industries, and other diverse displays of
beautiful culture. Memphis back then was also known for the evil of Jim Crow apartheid. This strike was
the last campaign of the late Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. The victory of the strike unfortunately came after
his assassination in April 4, 1968. Yet, we remember his legacy and we will always remember the men
and the women who stood up for workers’ rights. The civil rights movement wasn’t just made up of black
people. There were many white people, Hispanic people, Asian people, etc. who fought in favor of equality
and justice for black people too. Likewise, black people have always had a leadership position in our black
liberation movement too. I want to make that point clear. During the strike, the stubborn, reactionary
Mayor Henry Loeb fought against the strike until the end. He or Loeb was adamantly opposed to giving
sanitation workers public union representation or recognition.
There were so many names that were involved in this struggle for economic justice. Some of the major
people involved in the strike are T.O. Jones, Ed Gillis, Bill Lucy, James Lawson, Cornelia Crenshaw, Jesse
Epps, Tarlease Matthews (she was a civil rights activist in Memphis. She later changed her name to Adjua
Naantaanbuu and founded Memphis Kwanzaa International. She passed away in 2008), Rev. P. L. Rowe,
Jerry Wurf (AFSCME’s international President), P.J. Chiampa (or AFSMCE), and others. The young Invaders
group (who were influenced by the Black Power movement. It had people like Charles Cabbage and Coby
Smith) had ideological conflicts with more of the older civil rights groups (the older civil rights groups
wanted to use nonviolence as a method to resist oppression while the Invaders wanted to use also self-
defense to fight back against tyranny basically). Although, by April 1968, the diverse factions of the strike
movement would come together.

We have to know other people involved in this struggle like Rev. James Lawson, John Burl Smith (who co-
founded the Invaders in 1967), Andrew Young, Michael Cody (he is a white attorney who fought to get rid
of the temporary injunction blocking the future April march in Memphis, Tennessee), Dorothy F. Cotton
(she was a leader in the Southern Christian Leadership Conference back then and an executive staff
member of the SCLC), Rev. Samuel Billy Kyles (he was a leader of COME), Rev. Jesse Jackson (he worked in
Chicago and ran Operation Breadbasket), Ernest Withers (he was a civil rights photographer. He has been
accused of being an FBI informant recently. Withers’ family has strongly denied these charges), Rev. Ralph
Abernathy, Charles Cabbage, U.S. Marshall Cato Ellis (he delivered the injunction to Dr. King in April 3,
1968), Bernard Lee (he was an aide to Dr. King), and so many other people.
Jim Crow oppression in Memphis

Memphis from the 1940’s to the 1960’s grew massively in population. Yet, Jim Crow apartheid was
still in the city. After Reconstruction, white racists oppressed black people continuously. Black workers
were restricted heavily from joining skilled labor. Sanitation workers had very low pay. Black workers
were immediately fired for the most minor of reasons. The Mayor of Memphis Henry Loeb was a
reactionary and he worked in public works projects. He wanted to maintain the status quo of having
black sanitation workers to receive low wages, getting cheap equipment, and a refusal for the
establishment of a public union to represent the black sanitation workers. Loeb ran for mayor as early
as 1959. Back then, he was an open segregationist. By the early 1960’s, desegregation did exist in many
areas of Memphis, but the right for economic rights remained nonexistent. Black people in Memphis
struggled to have decent jobs with living wages and great working conditions. Black women also were
discriminated by race and gender. Many sanitation workers back then had to collect garbage with their
hands. Many white supervisors would call black sanitation workers derogatory names and racial slurs.
The sanitation workers worked long hours without overtime pay. They had no paid vacations, no
grievance procedure, and no sick leave. According to Professor Honey, black sanitation workers were
just paid between 94 cents and $1.14 per hour (and during the following years, hourly wages were
never more than 5 center per hour above the minimum wage for laborers). These men worked every
day and they were mistreated by a racist system. In 1960, Thomas Oliver or T.O. Jones tried to
organize a local union. He worked with O.Z. Evers, who was a neighborhood civic activist. Evers signed
up sanitation workers as members of Teamsters Local 984. In Memphis, TN during the 1960’s, the
sanitation workers were in involved in two strikes.

The commissioner of Public Workers rejected Evers’ and Jones’ request. In fact, the Public Works
Department fired Jones and 32 other workers since they organized the request. In 1965, William Ingram
was the new mayor of Memphis. He relied heavily on the African American vote in order for him to be
mayor. Yet, Ingram was more moderate and was not standing up against the white racists who wanted
the status quo. Sisson or the Public Works Commissioner fired union officers including T. O. Jones
because of their fight for economic justice. Ingram reinstated token concessions like pay scales,
heaters in some of the old trucks, etc. Yet, Sisson refused to recognize a public employee union. The
first strike proposal was in August 1966 when Jones and other union organizers threatened to strike.
The government threatened Jones with an injunction (or restrictions of free speech rights and the right
to protest) and Jones ended his plans for his strike. That would change in 1968. On January 1, 1968,
Henry Loeb was sworn in as mayor of Memphis once again. On Sunday, January 31, rain come about in
the city.

The Strike begins

On the day of February 1, 1968, 2 African American sanitation workers were killed by an incident in a city
truck. Both black men wanted to find shelter from the rain. Black workers were forced to work in the rain,
even in harsh conditions. They were in the truck, the machine malfunctioned, and they were killed by the
truck (being crushed to death). Their names are Echol Cole and Robert Walker. Enough was Enough.
Sanitation workers and public employees would strike on February 12, 1968 (as a meeting in the Memphis
Labor Temple). Leaders of this movement include T.O. Jones, Maxine Smith, P. J. Ciampa, James Lawson, Bill
Lucy (who was an AFSCME organizer), etc. Loeb would try to replace the workers and he wouldn’t budge
during the vast majority of the strike. During the marches of strikes, many of the protesters would met in a
church, plan strategies, and march through the city’s downtown area constantly. The strike lasted for over
2 months.
 About 800 strikers took their message to the streets for the first time Feb. 13 marching more than three
miles to City Hall from the United Rubber Workers of America union hall on Firestone. The group was
so large it had to assemble in The Auditorium, a downtown concert hall, before it could be addressed by
the mayor and union leaders.
The Memphis Sanitation Strike started on February 12, 1968. Only 38 of the 180 trucks moved during the
beginning of the strike. Mayor Loeb made the premise that the strike is illegal since he wanted to reject any
recognition of any public union in the city. He talked to people, but Loeb refused to budge. An International
Union official, who flown in from Washington, came to meet with the mayor. He called for union
recognition, dues checkoff, and negotiation to resolve the workers’ grievances. The Mayor said that he’ll
send in new workers or scabs unless the strikers return to their jobs. There were people who protested in
front of Loeb’s house. They were 7 black people and 4 white people. They were young people, made up of
males and females, and they were sponsored by the NAACP. The NAACP wanted to escalate the strike in a
more militant nonviolent direction. Some of the labor union members wanted to solely focus on economic
issues while the black strikers and other black activists wanted the strike to be both about economic issues
and racial justice. Many sanitation strikers would lose their jobs and income. So, church organizations and
other political groups would provide the strikers with money and food. Activist Cornelia Crenshaw would
provide the strikers with food too. Taylor Blair, T. O. Jones, Cornelia Crenshaw, Reverend Bell, City Council
member J. O. Patterson Jr., and others were in a rally to discuss plans for the future. Clayborn Temple
(which was a church) was a key staging ground for the protesters and the other activists who wanted the
Memphis Sanitation workers to form a union.

One of the strongest leaders in this movement was Rev. James Lawson. Like Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.,
Reverend Lawson was a pacifist and he believed in nonviolent resistance. The Memphis NAACP endorsed
the strike. AFSCME International Jerry Wurf arrived on February 18 on Sunday to support the strike
movement. The Ministerial Association arranged a meeting between the Mayor and union leaders
moderated by the Memphis Rabbi James Wax. Wurf accused Rabbi James Wax of being too moderate
towards the Mayor in terms of negotiations. The NAACP and others stage an all-night vigil and picketed at
city hall. On February 20, 1968, the union and the NAACP call for a citywide boycott of downtown
merchants. Tensions would rise as the strikers (including the city Council subcommittee headed by
Councilman Fred Davis) urged that the city recognize the union.
Struggle and Police Brutality in Memphis
On February 23, 1968, the Council refused to recognize the union. Strikers on that day marched on Main
Street. The strikers are brutally assaulted unjustly by the police on that day. The cops pushed the protesters
first. Later, one car ran over the foot of Gladys Carpenter, who was a black woman and a protester. Other
protesters were struck with mace for no reason. A 60 year old black man was brutally assaulted by the
police. The protesters were nonviolent, but the police had shotguns, rifles, and billy clubs to assault people.
A black photographer Whittier Sengstacke Jr. photographed this movement too. He said that Ciampa was
hit by mace and sanitation workers carried him away. Gillis was assaulted. Black protesters were hit with
mace at random by the police, which hurt people's eyes and skin. On Saturday on February 24, Black
leaders and ministers form a city wide organization to support the strike and the boycott. This organization
was called COME or the Community on the Move for Equality. COME was an organization which were
made up of many activist organizations. Carl Montgomery and other strikers used the “I AM A MAN”
placard on themselves to march in Memphis. The city gets a court injunction to try to stop union from
staging demonstrations or picketing on February 24, which was draconian and against the First
Amendment. The ministers call on their congregation to boycott and march in the streets. The Mayor still
refused to back down. The Union filed suit in federal court over the evil injunction on February 29.

On March 1, the Mayor met with black ministers and the windows of his home were broken. He blamed the
strikers, which is ludicrous. A federal judge rejected the union’s suit. The community of Memphis on March
3 showed support for the strikers by rising money and there is an eight hour gospel singing marathon at
Mason Temple (which raised money for the strikers). The mayor opposed State Senator Frank White
proposing bill to create state mediation board to resolve the impasse. On March 5, ministers announced
the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. will come to Memphis as 116 strikers and supporters are arrested
for sitting in at city hall. Seven union leaders are given 10 day sentences and fines for contempt of court on
March 6. Strikers on that day stage a mock funeral at city hall lamenting the death of freedom in Memphis.
Many young people supported the strike like students from Hamilton High School.

The City Council voted against the dues checkoff proposal on the next day. There are trash fires in South
Memphis. The supporters of the strikers were blamed for fires. Most of the Memphis newspapers
supported Mayor Loeb. Loeb's supporters and most newspapers during that time demonize the strikers in
classist, racist terms. During all of this time, the MPD (or the Memphis Police Department), the FBI, and the
Military Intelligence services would illegally monitor the activists, the strikers, union leaders, and Dr. Martin
Luther King Jr. Even Memphis police leader Frank Holloman of Memphis had extensive ties to the FBI. The
youth including students would skip high school to participate in the march in March 11, led by black
ministers. 2 students were arrested. There is also the existence of the Invaders. Many founders of the
Invaders were Charles Cabbage, Richard Cabbage, John Burl Smith, John Henry Ferguson, Milton Mack, and
other young people. The Invaders promoted Black Power and wanted to end white racism. They viewed the
ministers as too moderate and out of touch with the youth. The Invaders had suspicions about Dr. King in
the beginning, because of his promotion of nonviolence, but later they allied with him as a bridge between
the ministers and the youth activists. National NAACP leader Roy Wilkins and Bayard Rustin in March would
speak to strikers. The scabs only operate 90 garbage trucks by mid-March. During this time, Dr. Martin
Luther King Jr. was working on his Poor People's Campaign. This campaign was uniting people across
colors in order to force the government to do something about the massive poverty situation in America.
This campaign wanted economic justice for poor people in America. The goals of this agenda included
billions of dollars to be spent to allow the federal government to make a commitment to full employment,
to establish guaranteed annual incomes for Americans, funding for affordable, quality housing, etc.

This is Jerry Wurf or the President of AFSCME Union talking with Dr. King. Jerry Wurf was a big part
of the Memphis Sanitation Workers Strike and an adviser to Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
As Michael K. Honey's "Going Down Jericho Road: The Memphis Strike, Martin Luther King's Last Campaign"
has accurately stated:
"...They had spent their lives in the civil rights movement and the Black church. Now, King called on them to
organize a new multiracial constituency around class issues among Mexican-Americans, Indians, and poor
whites as well as African Americans. SCLC did not have the resources and organizing structure to make it
happen. Almost alone, King had to convince not only the civil rights community and a broader public, but
also his own reluctant staff members, that they could organize the poor..."

‘‘This is a highly significant event,’’ King told delegates at an early planning meeting, describing the
campaign as ‘‘the beginning of a new co-operation, understanding, and a determination by poor people of
all colors and backgrounds to assert and win their right to a decent life and respect for their culture and
dignity’’ (SCLC, 15 March 1968). Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. wanted Congress to pass an Economic Bill of
Rights, so the poor can have true freedom and justice.

The arrival of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and Challenges

Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. arrived in Memphis, TN on March 18. He wanted Memphis to be successful
before he implements fully the Poor Peoples Campaign. He sends his SCLC team with him (which includes
people like Ralph Abernathy, Orange, Jesse Jackson, Bevel, etc.). In a rally, Dr. King speaks to about 17,000
Memphians in Mason Temple. He spoke about economic justice and he called for a citywide march on
March 22, 1968.
A snowstorm in Memphis blocked Dr. King’s return. The march comes in March 28, 1968. It fails since some
people were violent and broke windows. The police overreacted. The police killed a 16 year teenager
named Larry Payne. They or the cops used tear gas. They assaulted people. On that date of March 28, 1968,
Memphis NAACP president Jesse H. Turner received rough treatment from police as he tried to restore
calm and convince marchers to return to nearby Clayborn Temple AME Church after a march led by Dr.
Martin Luther King Jr., on behalf of striking sanitation workers, which ended in violence. Jesse H. Turner
said: "I was going to help police get things orderly. Someone shot me with Mace. Lord, what a mess." The
police ran people to churches and assaulted people near a church and used tear gas near a church. 280
people are arrested and about 60 people are injured.

There was a curfew and National Guardsmen moved in at Memphis after the March 28 march. Dr. King and
the 14 labor leaders were dismayed, but they carried on. On March 29, 300 sanitation workers and
ministers marched peacefully and silently from Clayborn Temple to City Hall. They were escorted by five
armored personnel carriers, five jeeps, three military trucks and dozens of Guardsmen with bayonets fixed.
These men carry the signs entitled, “I AM A MAN” which one strong motto of the Memphis sanitation strike
movement in general. President Lyndon Johnson and AFL-CIO President George Meany offered assistance
in resolving the dispute, but Loeb turned them down. March 31, 1968 was when Dr. Martin Luther King in
the National Cathedral (in Washington, D.C.) called for peace, an end to the Vietnam War, and economic
justice. On April 1, the curfew is lifted. The funeral of Larry Payne happened on April 2, 1968. Hundreds of
human beings attend his funeral. The National Guard was soon withdrawn from Memphis. The Invaders
during that day refused to promote nonviolence in the upcoming march in Memphis. Dr. King calmed other
SCLC members who are angry at the Invaders (since they or the Invaders were accused by many SCLC
members of acting as agent provocateurs whom some of the Invaders vehemently denied). Now, we do
know that Marrell McCullough (who was once an Army MP) was an undercover Memphis police agent back
then. He was a mole. He joined the CIA in 1974, so Marrell is a traitor. Marrell McCullough infiltrated the
Invaders group. We know about COINTELPRO, which was an FBI program, which was formed to harm the
anti-war, civil rights, labor, and other progressive movements. Many FBI agents were in Memphis to
illegally monitor the movement too. Members of the 111th Military Intelligence Group of the U.S. Army
Military Intelligence monitored Dr. King illegally (and they had an office in the downtown Memphis federal
building).

Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. wanted to ally the civil rights movement with the labor and anti-war
movements. Unification of all of these progressive movements and using an action plan of the Poor
Peoples Campaign was a direct threat to the establishment (who wanted war, austerity, imperialism, and
the status quo).
The last 2 days while Dr. Martin Luther King was on this Earth were certainly filled with courage and
inspiration. Dr. King arrived in the Memphis airport in 10:33 am. on April 3, 1968. He came to Memphis
late, because of a bomb threat in Atlanta. 7 minutes later, Dr. King held a brief press conference to many
reporters inside of Gate 17. Asked if he will obey an expected injunction banning a march through
Downtown Memphis, King says, “I’ll have to cross that bridge when we come to it.’’ Six police officers, all in
plainclothes, looked on. Dr. King then goes into the front seat of the Memphis activist Tarlease Matthews’
Buick Electra. In the back seat are his advisers Ralph Abernathy Andrew Young, and Bernard Lee. Trailing
them in a Lincoln Continental is Dorothy Cotton of the SCLC. Dr. King arrives in the Lorraine Hotel at 11:20
am. on April 3, 1968. He and Abernathy check into Room 306, which opens to the motel’s second floor
balcony. Dorothy Cotton is next door in Room 307. Young is downstairs in Room 209. From 11:20 am. to
Noon, police cruisers arrive at the Lorraine to form a ring of security around the motel. In 12:05 am., Dr.
King’s entourage departs for Centenary United Methodist Church in South Memphis.
The picture to the left showed many leaders of the SCLC or the Southern Christian Leadership Council.
The image to the right shows Maxine Smith, who was one of the activists involved in the heroic 1968
Memphis sanitation strike.
Dr. King rides again with Sister Tarlease Matthews in her Buick Electra. Plainclothes police follow them. Dr.
King and others go to the Centenary Methodist church to discuss strategies about the upcoming march with
Rev. James Lawson. Dr. King is driven back to Lorraine by 2:25 pm. Dr. King then eats lunch with the
Invaders about hoping to convince them to do nonviolence in the upcoming march. It would be on 2:48 pm.
that the U.S. Marshall will serve Dr. King the restraining order of injunction (this injunction desires Dr. King
to stop marching in a future march in Memphis). Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. decides to go forward despite
the injunction. By 3 pm., he meets with a group of lawyers (secured by the American Civil Liberties Union)
in the Lorraine, who are trying to get rid of the injunction. The lawyers’ names are Lucius Burch, Michael
Cody, Charlie Newman and Walter Bailey. He tells the lawyers “my entire future depends” on the success of
a peaceful march in Memphis. Dr. King’s staff continues to talk with the Invaders. When Charles Cabbage
asks for money from Dr. King’s group for a liberation school and other programs, Dr. King offers to help get
funding. At night time, Dr. King is resting while Ralph Abernathy arrives at the Mason Temple to speak to
strikers after 8pm. on April 3.
Dr. King's Assassination and the Strike Continues

The night of April 3 was stormy in Memphis. Ralph Abernathy had to call Dr. King from the Lorraine Hotel to
come to the Mason Temple. The crowd of people in the Mason Temple church wants Dr. King to come and
speak to them. Dr. Martin Luther King awakes from his rest and travels into the Mason Temple to deliver
his great speech by 9 p.m.. On April 3, 1968, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. would say his final public speech,
which would be the historic “I Have Been to the Mountaintop” speech in Mason Temple. Dr. Martin Luther
King Jr. gave one of his greatest speeches in his life. He talked about history, economic justice, and the
struggle in Memphis. His last prophetic words in the speech were the following:

"...Now about injunctions: We have an injunction and we're going into court tomorrow morning to fight
this illegal, unconstitutional injunction. All we say to America is, "Be true to what you said on paper." If
I lived in China or even Russia, or any totalitarian country, maybe I could understand some of these
illegal injunctions. Maybe I could understand the denial of certain basic First Amendment privileges,
because they hadn't committed themselves to that over there. But somewhere I read of the freedom of
assembly. Somewhere I read of the freedom of speech. Somewhere I read of the freedom of press.
Somewhere I read that the greatness of America is the right to protest for right. And so just as I say, we
aren't going to let dogs or water hoses turn us around, we aren't going to let any injunction turn
us around. We are going on...Well, I don't know what will happen now. We've got some difficult days
ahead. But it really 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 so 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!!”
After the speech, the crowd in the church cheered in applause. Members of the church are in jubilation.
Many people cried in Mason Temple including preachers. Dorothy Crook praised the speech and she would
be a president of Local 1733. After the speech, Dr. King celebrated and ate food in Reverend Ben Hook's
house. During the early morning, Dr. King met with A.D. King (or Dr. King's brother), Ralph Abernathy,
Kentucky State Senator Georgia Davis, and SCLC administrative aide Lucy Ward to talk about future plans in
the Lorraine Hotel. After a brief SCLC strategy meeting on 8 am. in April 4, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. went to
bed.

On Midnight of April 4, 1 968, Dr. King’s brother A.D. William King arrived at the Lorraine Hotel with Georgia
Davis Powers (or the newly elected state senator from Louisville, Kentucky back then) and her friend
Lucretia Ward. The trio drove from Florida where they’d been vacationing. At 1:00 am., Dr. King, Abernathy,
and Bernard Lee returned to the Lorraine. The door to Room 207 is open. Lucretia Ward spots Dr. King and
asks him to come over and Dr. King spends much of the early hours of April 4th talking to his brother A.D.,
Davis, and Ward. By 4 am., Georgia Davis goes to Room 201. She hears Dr. King’s footsteps behind her. He
follows her down on the walkway under the balcony. The two spend an hour together from 4 a.m. to 5 am.
According to her, he opens his arms and tells her, “Senator, our time together is so short.” By 5 am, Dr.
King goes up to Room 306, which is the room that he shares with Abernathy. During 9:30 am, there is the
hearing on the injunction in federal court. The morning of April 4th, 1968 is dominated by testimony from
Police and Fire Director Frank Holloman and others asking Brown to forbid a second march. Southern
Christian Leadership Conference aide Dorothy Cotton suddenly leaves on an Eastern Airlines jet returning
to Atlanta on 11:40 am. Dorothy Cotton and Dr. King had a disagreement before she comes into Atlanta,
Georgia. She had waited up for him the night before after he asked her to prepare a snack tray. “He never
came back,’’ she said later. “I don’t know where he went.’’ Annoyed, she tells King she is catching a flight
back to Atlanta. Though King implores her to “get a later plane,” she leaves with her bags. She leaves for
Atlanta. The police monitored King from a peephole in the fire station across the street receive a telephone
threat on 12:25 pm. A woman tells Officer Ed Redditt (who was monitoring Dr. King too): “You’re doing
your own black people wrong and we are going to do you wrong.’’ On 1 pm. King and Abernathy had lunch
in the Lorraine diner and they ate a platter piled high with steaming catfish. Rev. James Lawson takes the
stand in federal court on 1:05 pm. Lawson called Dr. King the “the primary prophet in the United States”
and “the major voice of hope,” he tells Brown that although King was at the front a March 28 protest march
through Downtown, he wasn’t involved in its planning or organization. Andrew Young testified in court too,
so the injunction can be lifted. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. talked with his Brother A.D. King, Davis, and Ward
in the early afternoon.

By 3:00 pm., in a meeting in Room 306, King and his aides grapple over the Invaders. Hosea Williams tells
King he wants to put Invaders leader Cabbage on the SCLC payroll. King bristles and said to Hosea: “Hosea,
no one should be on our payroll that accepts violence as a means of social change.” Detective Redditt is
pulled from his surveillance post at the firehouse. Police brass removed Redditt after determining there is a
plot to kill or harm him. Andrew Young returned to the Lorraine (on 4:30 pm.) where, in Room 201, he
briefed King, Abernathy and others. Playfully, King and Young engage in a pillow fight. On 5:50 pm., John B.
Smith, Charles Cabbage, Milton Mack and about eight other members of the Invaders carry their bags
downstairs and leave the Lorraine after they’re told that the SCLC will no longer pay for their rooms. Some
climb into a light blue Mustang driven by Cabbage. Afterwards, Dr. King and his aides prepare for dinner.
Rev. Kyles emerges from Room 312 and knocks on King’s door on 5:51 pm, saying they need to hurry if they
are to eat at his house and make a rally later in the evening. King and Abernathy tease Kyles about another
dinner they had at a preacher’s house that featured a meatless hambone. King steps onto the balcony
outside Room 306. Standing at the handrail, he chats with associates below in the courtyard at 5:55 pm.

Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. also told Jesse Jackson that he wanted the song "Precious Lord" to be song by Ben
Branch at the night's rally. Abernathy was in the room 306 to prepare for dinner. Later, Dr. King saw
Orange, Bevel, and Young wrestling in a playing fashion in the parking lot. Dr. King joked with Orange since
Orange was a tall, big man. At just after 6:00 pm. (or at 6:01 p.m.) on April 4, 1968, Dr. Martin Luther King
Jr. was shot by a bullet. The fast moving, strong bullet went to his jaw and he fell to the ground. The bullet
came from a rifle. Abernathy, Kyles, Jackson, and others ran to his aide. Dr. King was sent to the hospital
where he passed away.
The Uprisings and Rebellions of April 1968
News spread of his death and the April rebellions occurred in over 100 cities nationwide. Many of the
strikers cried. These rebellions lasted throughout early April of 1968. It was the greatest wave of social
unrest in the United States of America since the Civil War. Some of the largest rebellions took place in
Washington, D.C. Baltimore, Chicago, Detroit, Wilmington (in Delaware), Louisville, and Kansas City. Many
people were hurt, angry, and disillusioned because a black man, who stood up for nonviolence and
opposed the evil, unjust Vietnam War, was brutally murdered unjustly. The bullet may have come from a
person, but the system of white racism contributed to the murder of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. directly.
People were tired of oppression. There were no massive rebellions in Boston (which was the city where
James Brown was performing a concert when Dr. King passed away), Indianapolis, and Los Angeles. The
rebellion happened in Washington D.C. in a great fashion. As word of King's murder in Memphis spread on
the evening of Thursday, April 4, crowds began to gather at 14th and U. Kwame Ture led members of the
Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) to stores in the neighborhood demanding that they
close out of respect. Although polite at first, some in the crowd started to break windows. There was
damage to buildings in D.C. was widespread by 11 pm. in April 4th. During the next day, more buildings we
set on fire, and there were crowds of as many as 20,000 people, who overwhelmed the District's 3,100-
member police force.
Then, President Lyndon B. Johnson dispatched some 13,600 federal troops, including 1,750 federalized D.C.
National Guard troops, to assist them (in Washington, D.C.). Marines mounted machine guns on the steps
of the Capitol and Army troops from the 3rd Infantry guarded the White House. At one point, on April 5,
rebellions in D.C. reached within two blocks of the White House before people retreated. The occupation of
Washington, D.C. was the largest of any American city since the Civil War. Smoke from burning buildings
can be seen from the White House. Mayor Walter Washington imposed a curfew and banned the sale of
alcohol and guns in the city. By the time the city was considered pacified on Sunday, April 8, some 1,200
buildings had been burned, including over 900 stores. Damages reached $27 million.
There was a massive rebellion in Chicago too. On April 5, 1968 there was damage in the West side and in
the South Side. There were over 30 fires in one day. On April 6, Mayor Richard J. Daley (who was of the
Democratic party machine) imposed a curfew on anyone under the age of 21, closed the streets to
automobile traffic, and halted the sale of guns or ammunition. Approximately 10,500 police were sent in,
and by April 6, more than 6,700 Illinois National Guard troops arrived in Chicago. President Lyndon B.
Johnson also sent in 5,000 troops of the 1st Armored Division into the city. The General in charge declared
that no one was allowed to have gatherings in the "riot" areas, and he authorized the use of tear gas.
Mayor Richard J. Daley gave police the authority "to shoot to kill any arsonist or anyone with a Molotov
cocktail in his hand ... and ... to shoot to maim or cripple anyone looting any stores in our city." By the time
"order" was restored on April 7, 1968 in Chicago, 11 people had died, 138 had been injured, and 2,150 had
been arrested. Over 200 buildings were damaged in the disturbance with damage costs running up to $10
million. The South Side in Chicago had escaped the major chaos mainly because the two large street gangs,
the Blackstone Rangers and the East Side Disciples, cooperated to control some neighborhoods. Many gang
members did not participate in the rebellion, due in part to King's direct involvement with these groups in
1966.
Baltimore had a large rebellion in 1968. On Saturday, April 6, the Governor of Maryland, Spiro T. Agnew,
called out thousands of National Guard troops and 500 Maryland State Police to quell the disturbance.
When it was determined that the state forces could not control the riot, Agnew requested Federal troops
from President Lyndon B. Johnson. By Sunday evening, 5000 paratroopers, combat engineers, and
artillerymen from the XVIII Airborne Corps in Fort Bragg, North Carolina, specially trained in tactics,
including sniper school, were on the streets of Baltimore with fixed bayonets, and equipped with chemical
(CS) disperser backpacks. Two days later, they were joined by a Light Infantry Brigade from Fort Benning,
Georgia. With all the police and troops on the streets, the situation began to calm down. In several
instances, these disturbances were rapidly quelled through the use of bayonets and chemical dispersers by
the XVIII Airborne units. That unit arrested more than 3,000 detainees, who were turned over to the
Baltimore Police. A general curfew was set at 6 p.m. in the city limits and martial law was enforced. As
rioting continued, African American plainclothes police officers and community leaders were sent to the
worst areas to prevent further violence. By the time the riot was over, 6 people were dead, 700 injured,
4,500 arrested and over 1,000 fires set. More than a thousand businesses had been looted or burned, many
of which never reopened. Total property damage was estimated at $13.5 million (1968$). Agnew blamed
black civil rights leaders for the rebellion, which is ludicrous. Agnew promoted race-baiting rhetoric and he
was Nixon's Vice President. Karma came to Agnew when he resigned because of corruption.
On April 9, 1968, the Kansas City Police people deployed tear gas against student protesters who were
peacefully protesting outside of City Hall. This caused the rebellion in Kansas City. 5 people died and at least
20 were admitted to hospitals. The Wilmington rebellion caused the National Guard to occupy Wilmington
for 9 ½ months. During the rebellion, which occurred on April 9–10, 1968, the mayor asked for a small
number of National Guardsmen to help restore order. Democratic Governor Charles L. Terry (a southern-
style Democrat) sent in the entire state National Guard and refused to remove them after the rioting was
brought under control. Republican Russell W. Peterson defeated Governor Terry, and upon his inauguration
in January 1969, Governor Peterson ended the National Guard’s occupation in Wilmington This occupation
caused more racial tensions.
The Kerner Commission (which was released in February 29, 1968) accurately gave the reasons on why 60's
rebellions transpired in the first place. The document of the Kerner Commission was 426 pages. Dr. Martin
Luther King Jr. pronounced the report a "physician's warning of approaching death, with a prescription for
life." One quote from the report says the following: "...Segregation and poverty have created in the racial
ghetto a destructive environment totally unknown to most white Americans. What white Americans have
never fully understood but what the Negro can never forget — is that white society is deeply implicated in
the ghetto. White institutions created it, white institutions maintain it, and white society condones it..."
As one source from Sister Keenaga-Yamahtta Taylor accurately states:
“…In fact, it was the widespread and continuous nature of the riots that turned them from episodic
outbreaks of discontent into a force that transformed U.S. politics. The issues that defined the urban
crisis--poor housing, police brutality, poor schools and unemployment, among others--went from being
politically peripheral to what President Lyndon Johnson termed "the nation's most urgent task."

Thus, the urban rebellions of the 1960s arguably constituted the most important political events of the
decade. Over the course of the 1960s, public spending on housing and other urban issues went from
$600 million at the beginning of the decade to more than $3 billion by the decade's end--and the
federal government created the Department of Housing and Urban Development… Rebellions, of
course, don't go on forever. They eventually run into the power of the state, and the rebels become
fatigued once the adrenaline of feeling politically alive subsides. To bring about the substantial changes
needed to really transform the lives of workers and the poor, something more is needed: strategies,
politics and organization…” (Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor’s “Urban rebellions and social change” from
August 12, 2011).
The aftermath of the 1968 rebellions was huge. The rebellions influenced by passage of the Civil Rights Act
of 1968 in April 11, 1968 (Title VIII advanced the Fair Housing Act, which advances equal housing
opportunities regardless of race, creed, or national origin). It also increased white flight and it represented
the end of one era of the black freedom struggle and the beginning of a new chapter of the black American
experience. Soon, Richard Nixon (a reactionary Republican), who exploited the rebellions under the guise of
“law and order,” won the 1968 Presidency. He would be inaugurated in 1969. Nixon (who was responsible
just like the FBI for the crushing of the Black Panther Party) promoted “black capitalism” not as a
revolutionary policy, but as a means to try to pacify the black community under the guise of the “illusion of
inclusion.” In The Black Power Mixtape, Panther leader Bobby Seale explains in an interview: "We look at
this program as a very international-type program. It's for any human being who wants to
survive...Socialism is the order of the day, and not Nixon's Black capitalism. That's out." That is why we
must confront not only racism, but class oppression. After 1968, we still have a long way to go.
We have legitimately fought for civil rights and voting rights, but economic inequality has grown since 1968
(because of many reasons like the neoliberal policies, the War on Drugs, austerity actions against legitimate
social programs, deindustrialization, inflation, the system of mass incarceration, the Great recession of the
21st century, and other reasons). There has been the growth of the black middle class and the black rich
since 1968, but the black poor is still suffering a great deal in urban and rural communities of America. We
know how many Wall Street banks have exploited the poor with payday loans and other evil actions. In
many cities, big businesses collaborated with city leaders in gentrifying communities, allowing the police to
occupy communities, privatizing resources, and advancing other forms of neoliberal policies, which can
never cause massive solutions to problems. Another legacy of the 1968 rebellions is that it continued the
focus on police misconduct, economic inequality, racism, and other injustices for decades to come. No one
can be truly liberated in this society unless the problems of economic injustice and racial injustice are fully
addressed. Even today, we are still fighting for the same goal (which is freedom, justice, and equality for
all people) that the late, courageous Brother Dr. Martin Luther King, the great Sister Ella Baker, the
persistent, strong Sister Fannie Lou Hamer, the internationally minded and strong Brother Malcolm X, etc.
were fighting for.
Coretta Scott King was told of the news by Jesse Jackson when she was shopping with Yolanda. The King
family and friends cried in the Atlanta airport. Coretta Scott King has shown amazing strength and courage.
She used her power to inspire the Memphis sanitation workers to carry onward with the strike. Dr. Martin
Luther King Jr.'s widow, Coretta Scott King, and three of the couple's four children - Yolanda King (left),
Martin Luther King III and Dexter King - led a march through downtown Memphis Monday, April 8, 1968.
The march, originally planned to refocus attention on the sanitation strike, became a memorial to the late
Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
 Sister Dorothy Cotton (who was so involved in helping humanity in education, civil rights, and other
legitimate causes) is the person to the far left. She fought for justice then and now. The Brother to the far
right with tears in this eyes is Brother T. O. Jones, who was a stalwart leader of the movement in
Memphis.

The Memphis sanitation strikers win

From the beginning the federal government believed that the lone assassin James Earl Ray murdered Dr.
King. It is important to note that a landmark court case in America found that the United States
government was responsible for the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. in 1999. President Lyndon
Johnson instructed Undersecretary of Labor James Reynolds to mediate the strike settlement on April 5,
1968. Reynolds met with Mayor Loeb and meetings came about. Mrs. Coretta Scott King and dozens of
national figures (on Monday, April 8, 1968) lead a peaceful memorial march throughout downtown
Memphis in tribute to Dr. King and in support of the strike. Funeral services were held for Dr. Martin
Luther King Jr. in Atlanta at April 9, 1968. During the next day, Reynolds continues with the meetings with
city and union officials, most without publicity. By Tuesday on April 16, 1968, AFSCME leaders announced
that an agreement has been reached. The strikers vote to accept it. The strike is finally over. People
celebrate and many cried including T. O. Jones (who was one great leader of the Memphis sanitation strike
from the beginning). Memphis sanitation workers have fought and won a great battle in the overall struggle
for racial and economic justice.

There were many changes that happened as a product of the victory of the Memphis sanitation workers’
strike. The Poor Peoples Campaign of May 1968 started off strong with Coretta Scott King and the then
new SCLC leader Ralph Abernathy leading thousands of people from across the country to Washington, D.C.
Yet, it was disorganized and it lacked heavy support from the federal government. Sincere people sacrificed
their time to express their voices on the legitimate issue of economic justice. These human beings wanted a
living wage, the end to poverty, and a truly democratic society. The “Resurrection City” encampment was
soon disembarked by June of 1968. Its failure didn’t mean that nothing positive came about from it. Many
programs that helped the poor and other human beings existed as a result of the Poor Peoples Campaign. It
should be noted that Sister Marian Wright Edelman inspired Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. to advance the
Poor Peoples Campaign originally. June 6, 1968 was the date when Robert F. Kennedy was unfortunately
assassinated at the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles, California. During the summer of 1968, the sanitation
workers almost striked again, because the Loeb’s administration refusal at first to implement its
“Memorandum of Agreement.” Workers from the John Gaston Hospital did strike. The strike happened for
49 days during the fall of 1968. These workers wanted a memo of understanding. They were supported by
COME.

The year after Dr. King’s assassination, people rallied in Memphis to commemorate his life and to fight for
justice. Many people carried picket signs reading: “Honor King: End Racism” and “I Am a Man.” They rallied
downtown and speakers included Coretta Scott King and then Senator Edward Kennedy. Dr. Martin Luther
King Jr. advocated labor rights and peace, but the corporate establishment constantly wants to portray Dr.
King in the limited space of a few issues.

These are protesters on Main Street on November 12, 1969. The protests were centering primarily on
demands of the Memphis NAACP branch that blacks should have representation on the Memphis Board
of Education and a strike at St. Joseph Hospital by the AFSCME (AFL-CIO). (Robert Williams / The
Commercial Appeal).
The New Era of Memphis
During the fall of 1969, workers created a strike from St. Joseph Hospital for recognition, and dues checkoff.
They also wanted the school board and other supervisory positions to be opened up to black people.
Thousands of people demonstrated in Memphis. Many people ended up in jail like Reverends Lawson,
Jackson, Abernathy, Blackburn, Bell, and Bevel along with Milton Guthrie, and other human beings. They
failed to make the strike successful, but the school board did open up to more black people like Maxine
Smith. Maxine Smith graduated from Booker T. Washington High School at the age of 15. Four years later, she
graduated from Spelman College in Atlanta. She earned her masters’ degree from Middlebury College, in
Vermont. The Invaders participated in more disagreements with COME and the SCLC over funds. Police
brutality continued in Memphis. A mob of cops in October of 1971 beat the 16 year old black youth named
Elton Hayes to death. Even the city suspended 23 officers over this incident of cruel, police brutality.
 The Memphis sanitation strike Information on Memphis, Tennessee
An Important Part of the Civil Rights Movement Today

Mayor of Memphis: Jim Strickland (D)

Total Area: 324 sq. miles
Population (2010): 646,889

Flag
Parties to the event
• Sanitation workers • City of Memphis Seal
• American Nicknames: The Blues City and the
Federation of State Birthplace of Rock and
County and Roll
Municipal
Employees County: Shelby
(AFSCME)
• COME (Community
on the Move for
Equality)
• SCLC
• NAACP
Lead people in the situation
• T.O. Jones • Mayor Henry Loeb
• Dr. Martin Luther of Memphis
King Jr.
• Sanitation workers
The Brother’s name is Modibo Kadalie. He was one leader of the 1977 Atlanta strike. He told
his story in Decatur, Georgia on October 6, 2013 (in an interview with Robert Sabatino and
Andrew Zonneveld).

The Atlanta Strike

The struggle for justice continues. The 1977 Atlanta strike hasn’t been discussed much in America. Now, it
is time to show the story. First, the 1970 strike in Atlanta must be explained first. In 1970, sanitation
workers in Atlanta fought for union recognition, higher wages, and change in the unequal social relations
between city management and rank and file employees. Their demands were very similar to the striking
sanitation workers in Memphis two years ago. The mayor of Atlanta was Sam Massell (who fired workers
and used prisoners from city jails for garbage removal). AFSCME Local 1644 represented the striking
workers. Maynard Jackson back then was vice mayor and he was a lawyer with the National Labor Relations
Board. He publicly criticized Massell’s reactionary actions involving the strike and said that the wages of the
workers in Atlanta was a “disgrace before God.” The striking workers won the 1970 strike movement in
Atlanta, which was a great thing.

Now, Maynard Jackson was elected mayor in 1973. He was the first black mayor of Atlanta. Yet, by March
of 1977, Maynard’s action would be a “disgrace before God.” The 1977 strike came about when municipal
sanitation workers (mostly black workers who were paid very low wages) just wanted living wages and
better conditions as workers. Maynard Jackson refused to support the strike. In fact, he hired scab to
replace the strikers. The 1977 strikes happened in 2 separate waves. The first one happened in the four
weeks in January and February. Sanitation workers wildcatted when they were told to report to work in
cold weather condition. The city and union had agreed that employees did not have to work if the
temperature was below 25 degrees, which it was on the 18th and 19th of January. City bosses ignored this
agreement and docked employee pay. Already upset their demands for higher wages were falling on deaf
ears, many sanitation workers walked off the job for a week in February when city officials refused to
reinstate pay. Even the majority of AFSCME stayed in the job from the Local 1644.

Token concessions came involving the first strike. The second strike came in March 28 (the AFSCME Local
1644 wanted the city to have a 50 cent per hour wage increases to a salary averaging $7,000 annually).
Jackson refused to support the strikers as he was up for reelection and he worked with the white business
elites and the middle class in order for him to be re-elected. Ads in the New York Times and the Atlanta
Constitutions criticized Jackson since the city budgets showed multi-million dollar surpluses that could
cover the wage increases for the sanitation workers. The strikers wanted self-determination and economic
justice. Yet, Maynard collaborated with mainstream establishment black leaders and white corporate heads
to prevent the 1977 Atlanta strike from being successful. The second strike continued. Unfortunately, there
was massive community support against the strikers. The old white business and civic elite and the black
ruling elite (many of whom were from the civil rights establishment) worked together in stopping the
second strike. To his credit, Rev. James Lawson (a community leader in the 1968 Memphis sanitation
strike), compared Jackson to Henry Loeb and supported the Atlanta strikers. Rev. James Lawson to this
very day has fought for the rights of black people, the poor, and immigrants. The Coalition of Black Trade
Unionist (CBTU) also supported the sanitation workers in Atlanta, chastising Jackson for using “Black
workers as political pawns in his efforts to please a middle class black political constituency and satisfy the
black establishment.” On April 12th, 1977, garbage workers dumped garbage on the steps of city hall. Many
protesters were arrested. Community support in favor of the workers existed, but in small numbers. In mid-
April, the morale among the strikers was faltering. The city’s major newspapers the Atlanta Constitution
and the black-owned Atlanta Daily World both publicly supported Jackson’s firing of workers. There were
many people in Atlanta who supported the courageous strikers also. The strike folded on April 16th, 1977.

The upper class (who wanted the status quo and they have great privilege via the capitalist system) ended
the strike, but the fight for economic justice continues. There was the organizing of the rail and bus
operators for Atlanta’s public transit system (MARTA) in 2005. They sought better pay and benefits, and
more control of workplace conditions. Their demands were blocked at every turn by MARTA’s board.
MARTA workers were forced to accept an unfavorable contracted handed down by a judge (many health
benefits and workplace control were sacrificed for a very modest raise). The labor movement took a blow,
but in the future, the labor movement would be revitalized by the 21st century (with the fight for 15
movement, with the protests nationwide about workers’ rights, etc.). So, we want black people and all
people to be free and have justice. This is why it is importance to have solidarity with the working class and
challenge the agenda of the establishment (so, real justice can exist). We will always respect Brothers and
Sisters standing up for the truth.

Since the 1960’s, we see center-right neoliberal politics replaced much of the progressive revolutionary
politics in America. Now, we see shifts away from the Social Gospel of help for the workers and the poor
into a more individualistic, materialistic “gospel” embraced by followers of the Prosperity Gospel. We see
many people more concerned with wealth, popularity, and prestige (as shown in Instagram pictures and
pomp including circumstance) than for the welfare for fellow human beings irrespective of their wealth or
class.
Our Modern Times
There has been the growth of the right wing backlash (or the counterrevolution) as predicted by Dr. Martin
Luther King Jr. This backlash is about reactionary forces cutting back many of the civil rights, labor rights,
and other human rights gains of the past decades. For example, collective bargaining has been restricted in
many states. Voter ID laws (which suppress access to voting rights) is found in the South, the Midwest, etc.
Ronald Reagan was the reactionary agent of negative change. Like Nixon, he supported the actions of the
Southern Strategy as a political tactic to gain political power. He was governor of California in 1966. He
was slick to play on people’s unwarranted fears (especially when he spoke his 1980 speech in Philadelphia,
MS, which is a town famous for the murder of three civil rights workers in 1964). In Mississippi, Reagan
spoke in favor of states’ rights when states’ rights have been used as code for Jim Crow apartheid. Human
rights will always be superior to states’ rights. Later, he was elected President by 1980. I was alive when
Reagan was President, so I know what it was like during that time period. He fired nearly 12,000 air traffic
controllers who went on strike in August 1981, which outraged millions of human beings. There were
massive cuts to federal funding to vital social programs. Also, there were progressive forces who stood up
against Reaganomics heroically.

A study released by the Economic Policy Institute on Labor Day, 1992, confirmed the details of
Reaganomics’ dismal aftermath. “Poverty rates were high by historic standards,” said the report, and
“those in poverty in 1989 were significantly poorer than the poor in 1979.” A 1991 congressional report
disclosed that hunger had grown by 50% since the mid-1980s, to include some 30 million people. The share
of US income received during 1980-1988 by the 5% highest-income households grew from 16.5% to 18.3%
while the second poorest 20%'s share of U.S. income received during the same time period fell from 10.2%
to 9.6%. Today in 2015, we have one reactionary, racist, xenophobic, narcissistic and misogynistic
Republican Presidential candidate (who believes in the myth that Iran is soon to develop a nuclear weapon)
publicly advocating the elimination of parts of the 14th Amendment that deals with birthright citizenship
and wants to heavily restrict immigrants’ rights.

Like always, Black Love is Beautiful and the truth is wonderful. The struggle for liberation is not over, but
this important story of the 1968 Memphis Sanitation Strike must be told. In that sense, people can know
that economic justice is not only important, but it's a necessity in our world.
By Timothy

Black Lives Matter