Workers Need Equality
Dr. King achieved many victories for equality, but he did not want to stop his work until the whole country treated everyone equally. The next stop in Dr. King’s civil rights campaign was Memphis, Tennessee.
In Memphis, the black sanitation workers were treated badly. The workers were underpaid and couldn’t even afford to feed their families. They also had to work long, tiring hours late into the night without any extra pay. Workers had to drive old trucks that badly needed to be fixed or replaced. One day, two garbage collectors were driving an old broken-down garbage truck, and they were crushed to death. The sanitation workers decided to form a union and go on strike. They wanted the city to pay them fair wages and guarantee safe working conditions.
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The Workers Strike
The workers wanted to protest like Dr. King. They decided to go on strike and refuse to work until their demands were heard. They held sit-ins and spoke to the City Council of Memphis, but the city refused to give them better working conditions. Dr. King arrived in Memphis and told the workers and their supporters to stick together. Soon, all of the black workers in the whole city decided to go on strike just like the sanitation workers.
Dr. King wanted to help the sanitation workers, so he planned to lead a big protest march. He did not get to the protest until it had already started, and when he got there, the city was in chaos. Instead of the peaceful crowd of nonviolent protesters he had expected, Dr. King found a huge angry mob. Violence broke out. Some people broke windows and looted shops. The leaders tried to bring the protesters into a church safely away from the city, but the crowd was out of control.
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A Tragedy in Memphis
Dr. King nearly decided not to go back to Memphis. But, he knew that his work wasn’t done, so he returned to Memphis for a meeting with the sanitation workers. He gave a speech about life and death, and even said that it felt like his own life was at an end. He said: “I’ve seen the Promised Land. I may not get there with you. But I want you to know tonight that we, as a people, will get to the Promised Land.” Sadly, Dr. King was right. The next night, Dr. King was standing on the balcony of the Lorraine Motel, and a sniper shot him to death.
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The Country Mourns
The news of Dr. King’s death caused sadness and grief all over the country. The sanitation workers remained on strike and marched through Memphis in honor of Dr. King and continued to make demands for equal rights. The city and the workers finally negotiated a deal, but it took months before the city finally kept its word and improved working conditions for the black workers.
