On February 1, 1968, two Black garbage workers, Echol Cole and Robert Walker, were killed when they were sucked into a faulty garbage packer. The deaths were a spark: by February 12, 930 out of 1,100 sanitation workers went out on strike, along with most of the street repair crews. Only thirty-eight of approximately two hundred trucks could be put on the streets to collect the five million pounds of garbage the city produced each day. For four years, AFSCME-the American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees-had been attempting to build its local 1733 among the mostly Black sanitation workers, led by T.O. Jones. Jones, a garbage man since 1959, was fired for leading a walkout of workers in 1963. He formed the Independent Workers Association in 1964, which later merged with AFSCME. Jones served as the local's president.

The national office of AFSCME, under the leadership of Jerry Wurf, saw the importance of the Memphis struggle and sent in a number of its top organizers. They included P.C. Ciampa, field services director, and Bill Lucy, a native of Memphis who would go on to become president of the Coalition of Black Trade Unionists and the national AFSCME treasurer.

Urban rebellions had swept across the U.S. in 1967 and a new mood was evident throughout the nation. There were 164 disorders, with more than one hundred in July alone, the most serious occurring in Detroit and Newark. The National Commission on Civil Disorders was appointed by President Johnson and, given its conservative membership drawn from the power structure, brought back a report on March 1, 1968, with startling conclusions: "Our nation is moving toward two societies, one Black, one white-separate and unequal."

Based on his observations in the rural community of Marks in Quitman County, Mississippi, Dr. King had already made his controversial decision to shift tactics by focusing on poverty and class issues in addition to issues of racial discrimination. He was organizing a Poor People's Campaign and thought that Memphis represented a key battle in this regard. He came to Memphis on March 18 and addressed an enthusiastic rally at Mason Temple. He was invited back to lead a second march on City Hall.

The Memphis Sanitation Workers Strike was important in U.S. history because it represented the powerful dynamics of race and class and the possibility of an effective coalition between organized labor and the Civil Rights Movement. Many different organizations supported the strike. There was Community on the Move for Equality, or COME, the Black community movement which was formed to support the strike, with Rev. James Lawson as chairman. There was the NAACP, historically the key force in civil rights efforts in Memphis. And there were new organizations, including the Black Organizing Project (BOP), a group of young militants also know as "The Invaders." Local ministers and union locals from around the U.S. were also supportive. Tension had been growing among these local organizations about how best to wage the struggle.

Dr. King flew into Memphis to lead another march on March 28. Growing frustration and anger at the city's slow response to the strike and the actions of police at a previous march led to violence on this march. A sixteen-year-old boy, Larry Payne, was killed. This would also be Dr. King's last march. On April 4, 1968, Dr. King was assassinated.

Ronald W. Bailey
Northeastern University

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