Political Quotes

“1968 was a tumultuous year. Violent protests erupted in cities across the country. Both Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., and then-Senator and Presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy were assassinated, and American soldiers were fighting in the Vietnam war. In Memphis, TN, African-American sanitation workers had faced years of hazardous working conditions and discrimination in pay and benefits. Their strike would become a historic event in the civil rights movement. In January 1968, the workers began negotiating with Memphis Mayor Henry Loeb and the Memphis City Council to improve pay and working conditions. On February 1, 1968, two sanitation workers, Echol Cole and Robert Walker, sought shelter from the pouring rain and were crushed to death in their garbage truck when the compactor on the truck malfunctioned. Their deaths galvanized the 1,300 African-American sanitation workers who decided to begin their strike to protest working conditions on February 12, 1968. The workers demanded recognition of their union, increased pay, and safer working conditions. Mayor Loeb and the city council responded by threatening to replace the striking workers unless they returned to work. Throughout February and early March, negotiations continued, and on March 28, 1968, Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., and Rev. James Lawson led a march from the Clayborn Temple that ended with rioting, arrests, and the death of 16-year-old Larry Payne.…”