Final Project, History 2100, Spring 2017, William Paterson University

1. THE MOVEMENT TOWARD EQUALITY
A RETROSPECTIVE OF THE SANITATION STRIKES OF 1968
Presented by Raul Gutierrez

2. The Radical 60’s
The 1960’s was indeed a time of radical change and an integral step forward toward
equality for all. With the radical 60’s, came a movement where organization and strikes
among the public sector experienced a ground shaking increase, reminiscent of the
industrial unions of the 30’s. Credited with leading this movement and being responsible
for inspiring a domino effect among other professions in the public sector were sanitation
workers. From forty to four hundred, the number of demonstrations per year rose ten-fold.
These strikes, however, were not met without resistance. During this time, public sector
organization was legally outlawed and workers who did were met susceptible to the risk of
demotion, suspension, and even replacement.
The sanitation strikes were considered to be the first real steps toward economic equality
among all people, especially the black community. Treading over racial tensions as well,
workers of the 1968 Memphis Sanitation Strike broke ground, making a significant impact,
not only through the perspective of labor rights, but civil rights.
INTRODUCTION

4. Being that a majority of sanitation workers were African American, circumstances cannot be
thoroughly explained without the consideration of race. Although the 1964 Civil Rights Act made
great strides toward the desegregation of education and public areas, there still existed great
disparity in regards to wages, jobs, and conditions.
When describing the black population of Memphis, mostly all were affected by the mechanization
of cotton and part of the urban migration from rural areas to cities. This population was
susceptible to the faulty system at hand mostly in turn because of their lack of education,
traditionalized segregation mentality, and lack of alternative options. This system sent them down
to the bottom of the labor force with regulations in place to restrict their mobility.
CIRCUMSTANCES
Plantation mentality was a term often coined by impoverished formerly rural African Americans to refer
to acts and principles of racism that offered remembrance to familiar white supremacist ideologies

5. The harsh conditions that led to the strikes include low wages, dangerous work conditions and
unrecognition of organization efforts.
In regards to wages, workers were paid $0.94 to $1.15 and hour. Compensation never rose more
than 5 cents above minimum wage. These wages were not enough to support families that men
working these jobs needed to, let alone themselves. Additionally there was a great lack of benefits.
Contrary to their white counterparts, black workers were not given paid time off or sick leave.
Responsible for financing and supplying their own uniforms and housing, it extremely difficult to
make a living, even on welfare. It was reported that black families made one third of the average
wages for white family households.
Conditions of the work itself was horrible. The work of sanitation was filthy and was described that
sun up to sun down one was to work arduous, physically demanding tasks while having maggots
and spillage run down all over you. They were not against hard work. Most of them were farm
hands and were used to the heavy lifting. However, with the addition of low wages and lack of
recognition, workers felt dehumanized.
CONDITIONS

7. A LEADER
While the successes of the Civil Rights Act and the Voting Rights Act were strong
ones, Martin Luther King Jr. knew that his focus had to shift toward the tougher
issues of civil rights. He knew that the true fight for genuine equality was the fight
for economic equality. He pointed to the segregation and slavery to be the causes
of vast gap in wealth.
In 1968, he recognized the hardships felt in Memphis and came to support the
strikes. He was truly the heart and leading soul of this movement. The opposing
side were ready to the Memphis strikes were confident in victory prior to the arrival
of Martin Luther King Jr.
The overall success and impact could not have been reached without the leadership
role of Martin Luther King. King challenged black Americans, not only in poverty,
but the middle class as well to support change. He provided a voice for the many
unheard and to his last days he worked for the people.
“What good is it to have the right to sit at a lunch counter if you don’t have enough mone to
buy a hamburger and a cup of coffee? “

9. THE OPPOSITION
Graduating from Brown University and eventually taking seat as mayor, Hengry Loeb
was the great source of resistance for the Memphis strikes. He was a strong advocate
for anti-communism and supported ideals of pro-segregation. With origins in low
wage, he also had a strong position against the organization of sanitation workers.
From the absolute beginning of the strike, Loeb regarded these attempts as illegal
activities and refused to consider negotiation. Mayor Loeb’s focus on the legality of the
matter really put into question the support behind this cause. After being voted
against by the entirety of the black community, Loeb won the re-election. This led to
great discouragement and a sense of failure in the new voting powers they had gained.
The notion they felt was , “the system failed us” .

11. THE EVENTS
Two events ultimately led to the culmination of sanitary workers to begin organizing
and declaring a strike. The first included a common occurrence whereon January 31
1968 black workers were sent home without pay due to a short rain storm while white
drivers and supervisors were able to make the day’s salary. The second event included
two men on the following day being crushed to death by a malfunctioning compactor
of a truck that was held way longer than it was supposed to.
Following these two events, sanitation workers met and decided to strike on February
12.

13. THE EVENTS (CONT’D)
Approximately the whole sanitation workforce walked out and struck. For the entire duration of the strike,
sanitation workers marched every day.
Following the beginning of the strike, Loeb gave the workers of an ultimatum of coming back to work by
February 15 or be at risk of replacement. He showed no hesitation in replacing 111 workers. Luckily, by
word of mouth, most of the black community in Memphis supported the movement and struggle to
replace workers was augmented.
As workers demanded recognition as an organized union and demanded better treatment, Mayor Loeb
refused to budge. Even after Kennedy’s executive order to acknowledge public sector efforts at
organizing, he completely disregarded.
Sadly there were a few occurrences where demonstrations transformed into riots and loots which
absolutely did not help the cause. These riots were met with brutality and abuse from police forces. This
eventually led to one account where police shot an unarmed teenager which the police defended with
false claims. The FBI made comments, “ Violence occurs about everywhere Dr. King goes”

15. “I AM A MAN”
Serving as a key slogan in the 1968 Memphis Sanitation strikes, the phrase, “I am a man”,
accurately depicted the sentiment of the African American struggle in regards to the civil rights
movement. The meaning that this phrase represented could be broken into two sections:
freedom and equality.
This slogan combatted what came to be coined as “ plantation mentality “. The term was used to
describe the “perpetuation and mutability” of racist ideals. The phrase was the strikers’ way of
expressing that he was not property and that they would not stand for being reduced to a
servant.
The equality portion expressed the significance of being part of humanity and the rights that
came under that notion. “I AM A MAN” was the sanitation strikers’ way of stating that they are
not young boys. They were men and they expected to be treated accordingly. It went back to the
main goal of the strike. They just wanted decent pay and decent conditions.
Although, the slogan can be critiqued as gender discriminatory, African American Women also
took to this slogan. “I AM A MAN” represented freedom for the community in its entirety; men
and women. Subsequent to the sanitation strikes, many women hospital workers struck under the

17. ASSASSINATION OF KING
Upon returning from D.C. , on April 3 1968, Martin Luther King was assassinated by
James Earl Ray. The tragic loss of Dr. King ultimately led to a large amount of riots and
protest across the country and , in this case, the loss of footing of the resistance to the
Memphis strikes.
With increased support, pressure grew and eventually Loeb’s stronghold had fallen and
on April 16, 1968, he signed an agreement that would give workers their jobs back and
legally give them union recognition.
Martin Luther King often regarded himself as a Moses figure for black Americans.
Although his death cut his agenda short, it is clear to see that he truly made a
difference.
Moses was a biblical figure from the Old Testament that led the slaves out of Egypt and toward the promised la

19. STRIKES OF ST. PETERSBURG
It is important to note that the 1968 Memphis Sanitation were one of the many sanitation strikes.
Of these, the strikes at St. Petersburg was specifically notable.
In 1966, over 300 workers left their job on the grounds for desire of higher pay. To avoid a major
racial confrontation, the vice mayor, Dow Jones pushed for a compromise that would benefit
both sides. In exchange for letting go of desires to be recognized, employees would receive their
jobs back with more benefits.
In 1968, there was a follow up strike, this time on grounds for solely for union recognition. These
efforts however, were met with large amounts of firing. With over 200 workers fired, these strikes
were met with large amounts of negative publicity and consequently bloody confrontations.
At the end of these efforts, the replacements for these fired workers were delegitimatized and
the movement a standard of the same nature.

21. LEAVING A LEGACY
Although many point toward Martin Luther King’s tragic death as the reason why the
sanitation strikes were successful, the movement as a whole would not have been what it was
without the strong efforts of people who wanted better for themselves.
Although things aren’t perfect yet, fruits of their labor are present and very much visible. The
sanitation strikes of 1968 are still regarded to this day one of the key turning points of civil
rights and labor reform.
As mentioned before, things aren’t perfect. There is still a great disparity between the rich and
the poor and there are still elements of the system still in place that limits mobility. We, as a
collective, should actively participate in changing the world around us and be brave in
pursuing equality.

23. BIBLIOGRAPHY
1. Honey, Michael W. W. “The Issue of Poverty The Memphis Sanitation
Workers’ Strike & The Poor People’s Campaign”, W.W. Norton, New York, 2007
2. McCartin, Joseph A. “Labor: Studies in Working Class History of the Americas:
"Fire the Hell out of Them": Sanitation Workers' Struggles and the
Normalization of the Striker Replacement Strategy in the 1970s, Labor: Studies
In Working Class History Of The Americas 2, no. 3 (Fall2005 2005): 67-
92. America: History & Life, EBSCOhost
3. Sokol, Jason. "DYNAMICS OF LEADERSHIP AND THE MEMPHIS SANITATION
STRIKE OF 1968." Tennessee Historical Quarterly 60, no. 4 2001, : 258-
283. America: History & Life
4. Honey, Michael. "Labor and Civil Rights Movements at the Crossroads:
Martin Luther King, Black Workers, and the Memphis Sanitation Strike." West
Tennessee Historical Society Papers 57, 2003,18-34.