February–April 1968
Labor / civil rights organizingBook sources
Memphis sanitation workers strike for dignity and union recognition
Memphis, Tennessee; Black sanitation workers
Black sanitation workers struck after the deaths of Echol Cole and Robert Walker, demanding safer conditions, better pay and union recognition. Martin Luther King Jr. joined the campaign before his assassination on April 4. The April settlement recognized the union and provided wage increases.
Dates preserve the source’s precision. This entry is part of a selected historical record; its qualifications and sources are retained below.
Context / qualification
The strike began February 12 and ended April 16. The settlement was a concrete gain, not the end of disputes over implementation or racial inequality in municipal work.
Sources
- Howard Zinn, A People’s History of the United States, chapter 17, pp. 462–463; supplied print pages, edition/year unidentified
- Stanford King Institute: Memphis Sanitation Workers’ Strike ↗