Original upload date: Sun, 17 Feb 2008 00:00:00 GMT
Archive date: Mon, 06 Dec 2021 15:07:55 GMT
In 1968, 1,300 sanitation workers persuaded the union that the time was right to wage a battle with the city of Memphis, Memphis Police Department (Frank Holloman), and Mayor Henry Loeb.
Men still e
...
mployed with the city talk about how it was 40 years ago, retelling the story of the history they lived.
Citing years of poor treatment, discrimination, dangerous working conditions, black sanitation workers walked off the job in protest. The sanitation workers also wanted to join the American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees (AFSCME).
The slogan "I Am A Man" emerged as a unifying civil rights theme from this event.
The strike was declared illegal. The protesters were met with tear gas and worse.
Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was at the front of the march.
The workers remember understanding the importance of the strike, even as they lived it.
