Post on 22-May-2015
Dr. Martin Luther King and the 1968 Memphis
sanitation workers’ strikeHow is social and political
change dependent on strength of character and
circumstance?
What do you know about civil rights movements?
The Memphis sanitation workers’ strike
Feb. 11, 1968 - 1300 mostly black sanitation workers went on strike over wages and poor working conditions
Most of the black community was highly sympathetic to strike, participated in boycotts, marches and meetings
Martin Luther King came twice to Memphis to lead marches and give speeches, the last one on April 3, the day before he was killed
Strike ended April 12, eight days after death of King
Five important events in US Civil Rights history
1896 Plessy v. Ferguson allows “separate but equal”
1948 Truman orders U.S. Military desegregated 1957 Arkansas Governor uses National Guard
to block nine black students from attending Little Rock High School
1964 Murder of three civil rights workers in Mississippi
2003 Supreme Court upholds University of Michigan Law School's admissions policy
Voices: “We wanted to be treated as men”
Listen to retired sanitation workers Elmore Nickleberry and Taylor Rogers as they recall the reasons for the strike.
Why King went to Memphis
King saw economic issues as linked to the civil rights struggle
The sanitation workers were fighting for increased wages, better working conditions and respect from the city, which refused to acknowledge their right to organize
“Memphis 1968” (3/15)
3 facts about civil rights in the United States
2 questions you have1 paragraph: “Is there still injustice
in the US today?”
The 14th Amendment
Sec. 1. All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside. No State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.
Homework for Friday
HW: “What would you like to change?” 1 page; due Friday
Public speaking skills
purposepaceemotionvolumeposture / gestureeye contactconfidence