Martin Luther King spoke repeatedly before unions and called for a labor–civil rights alliance. His support for striking workers at the Scripto factory in Atlanta helped them to win their strike in 1964. (Reuther Archives)
By 1966, T. O. Jones (second from left) had organized Memphis AFSCME Local 1733, and workers threatened to strike. (Reuther Archives)
On February 1, 1968, two workers died because of outmoded equipment on a truck much like this one. (Mississippi Valley Collection)
Sanitation workers struck on February 12, and marched to City Hall the next day. (Barney Sellers, Mississippi Valley Collection)
Police officers guarded sanitation workers who stayed on the job during the strike. (James R. Reid, Mississippi Valley Collection)
Mayor Henry Loeb, a former laundry owner and public works commissioner, ordered them back to work. (Barney Sellers, Commercial Appeal)
T. O. Jones (foreground) and other AFSCME staff, including William Lucy (the third man behind Jones facing the camera), negotiated fruitlessly with Loeb. (Tom Barber, Mississippi Valley Collection)
On February 22, protestors took over City Council chambers; Tarlese Matthews and Rev. P. L. Rowe led the singing. (Robert Williams, Commercial Appeal)
AFSCME’s international president, Jerry Wurf, organized a march after the city council abruptly shut protestors out of city hall. (Vernon Matthews, Commercial Appeal)
Police attacked with mace, a chemical designed for use in war, outraging civil rights and labor supporters. (Commercial Appeal)
Reverend James Lawson (holding sign), shown here with young people and white AFSCME organizer Peter J. Ciampa, led the strike strategy committee. (William Leaptrott, Mississippi Valley Collection)
Black women played a crucial role in mass meetings and picketing to enforce a boycott of downtown shopping. (Mississippi Valley Collection)
On March 5, 150 to 500 AFL-CIO members rallied and picketed, providing crucial interracial support. (Mississippi Valley Collection)
That day, police arrested 117 protestors, who walked to jail surrounded by singing and chanting black students. (James R. Reid, Mississippi Valley Collection)
Youthful community organizers Charles Cabbage (speaking) and Coby Smith (right), shown here when fired from the anti-poverty program in 1967, criticized the Movement as not being militant enough. (Mississippi Valley Collection)
Anger grew against strikebreakers, as picketers tried to shame them not to work on March 8. (Tom Barber, Mississippi Valley Collection)
Reverend Zeke Bell (center, sitting) is shown here speaking to Reverend James Starks (standing). Picketers blocked garbage trucks until forced to move. (Mississippi Valley Collection)
On March 14, Memphis State University students supporting the strikers confronted Mayor Loeb. (Fred Payne, Mississippi Valley Collection)
Rev. S. B. “Billy” Kyles took donations in a garbage can at Mason Temple on March 14, when Bayard Rustin and Roy Wilkins spoke. (Jack E. Cantrell, Mississippi Valley Collection)
Rightists and segregationists regularly depicted King as a Communist supporter. (John Birch Society Postcard, in author’s possession)
King is shown here meditating before a March 17 speech near Detroit, where “Breakthrough” members denounced him as a traitor for opposing the Vietnam Way. (Tony Spina, Reuther Archives)
King is shown here on March 18, conferring with Jerry Wurf at a packed rally at Mason Temple. Behind them are AFSCME’s P. J. Ciampa and strike supporter Cornelia Crenshaw. (Copyright © Richard L. Copley, Reuther Archives)
King’s call for a general strike of black workers and students set off pandemonium at Mason Temple. (Ken Ross, Mississippi Valley Collection)
On March 28, community supporters nearly crushed King, Ralph Abernathy, and Henry Starks (both to King’s left), as Bernard Lee tried to clear a path to march. (Sam Mellhorn, Mississippi Valley Collection)
Police blocked the way, as riots broke out behind King and James Lawson removed him from the march. (Mississippi Valley Collection)
Martial law descended upon Memphis, yet workers continued their protest under National Guard occupation. (Reuther Archives)
Police attacked looters and marchers indiscriminately. Police killed Larry Payne (standing, right) that afternoon. (Jack Thornell, Associated Press Wide World Photos)
The wounded huddled at Clayborn Temple or streamed into John Gaston Hospital. (Barney Sellers, Commercial Appeal)
On April 3, a marshal served King and his staff (left to right, Ralph Abernathy, Andrew Young, James Orange, and Bernard Lee) a federal injunction banning them from leading a national march in Memphis. (Barney Sellers, Commercial Appeal)
Jesse Jackson spoke to King before his April 3 “Mountaintop” speech, in which King urged people to follow the example of the Good Samaritan on the Jericho Road. (Reuther Archives)
Mayor Loeb, a shotgun under his desk, is shown here on April 5, greeting clergy who demanded a strike settlement. (Robert Williams, Commercial Appeal)
On April 8, Coretta Scott King, with her children Dexter, Martin III, and Yolanda, led marchers through the streets of Memphis. (Sam Mellhorn, Commercial Appeal)
Thousands honored King and what he stood for, and in succeeding years workers continued to march in Memphis on April 4. (Mississippi Valley Collection)