The Faces of Black America. Beautiful!

[Omaha Steve]

128. Several men fighting for better pay and benefits

http://www.afscme.org/union/history/mlk



Photo Credit: Richard L. Copley

On April 3, 1968, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. traveled to Memphis to support AFSCME sanitation workers. That evening, he delivered his famous “I’ve Been to the Mountaintop” speech to a packed room of supporters. The next day, he was assassinated.

Read the full “Mountaintop” speech: http://www.afscme.org/union/history/mlk/ive-been-to-the-mountaintop-by-dr-martin-luther-king-jr

Uploaded by afscme on May 4, 2011

The 1,300 sanitation workers who participated in the historic 1968 strike in Memphis, Tennessee -- members of AFSCME Local 1733 -- were enshrined into the U.S. Department of Labor's "Labor Hall of Fame" on April 29, 2011. Eight of the original strikers attended the induction ceremony before a full house in the Grand Hall of the Department of Labor in Washington, D.C. and connected their struggle to modern-day battles that continue to be waged against today's labor movement.

Inductees included Local 1733 members Ben Jones, Baxter Leach, Herbert Parson, Cleophus Smith, Alvin Turner, Ozell Ueal, Russell Walton, and Joe Warren.