What happened before April 4th 1968
Everyone knows that on April 4th, 1968 Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated in Memphis, Tennessee at the Lorraine Motel. King was in Memphis supporting the local sanitation workers to improve their working conditions. The sanitation strike officially started on February 12th. The 1,300 sanitation workers wanted the city to recognize their union as an official union. While this was gaining momentum, it was becoming a major civil rights issue across the nation because 90% of the sanitation workers were African American. One of Dr. King’s associates Reverend James M. Lawson JR. who was a local minister released this statement, “This is a significant turn in the civil rights movement and a new chapter in labor history. Never before has a union been backed by a whole community like this.” On March 29th, King promised the people of Memphis that he would “mount a ‘massive’ civil rights demonstration in Memphis soon to show that protests can be conducted without violence.” Unfortunately, on March 28th a 16 year old African American teenager was killed during the protest that King was leading. This took the attention away from the 6,000 people marching to support the sanitation strike. After things had settled King had promised the people of Memphis that he would return in April as part of his “Poor People’s Campaign.” King had plans to take the campaign to Washington D.C. on April 22nd 1968. On April 3rd 1968, the day before he died, King gave a speech to sanitation workers eagerly waiting to hear what he had to say. The speech he gave is known as “I’ve Been to the Mountaintop.”
Work Cited
RUGABERSPECIAL, WALTER. “DR. KING TO MARCH IN MEMPHIS AGAIN; Aims to Show That Protest There Can Be Nonviolent.” The New York Times, 30 Mar. 1968, www.nytimes.com/1968/03/30/archives/dr-king-to-march-in-memphis-again-aims-to-show-that-protest-there.html.
RUGABERSPECIAL, WALTER. “A NEGRO IS KILLED IN MEMPHIS MARCH; Violence Erupts on Route of Protest Led by Dr. King — 50 Persons Injured.” The New York Times, 30 Mar. 1968, www.nytimes.com/1968/03/30/archives/dr-king-to-march-in-memphis-again-aims-to-show-that-protest-there.html.
Stewart , Nikita. “‘I’Ve Been to the Mountaintop,’ Dr. King’s Last Sermon Annotated.” The New York Times, www.nytimes.com/interactive/2018/04/02/us/king-mlk-last-sermon-annotated.html.
Photograph
Whittemore, Katharine. “Seven Books About . . . The MLK Legacy — The Boston Globe.” BostonGlobe.com, 18 Jan. 2014, www.bostonglobe.com/arts/books/2014/01/18/seven-books-about-the-mlk-legacy/iwplDqC0s8Ox9IozqcQdqI/story.html.
