Restrictions to Access

No restrictions. Open for research.

Restrictions to Use

No usage restrictions.

Copyright Notice

Copyright is retained by the authors of items in these papers, or their descendants, as stipulated by United States copyright law.

Preferred Citation

[Identification of item], in the Memphis (Tenn.) Sanitation Workers Strike Placards #05748, Southern Historical Collection, The Wilson Library, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Acquisitions Information

Received from Susan Hastings Keesee in July 2017 (Acc. 103120).

Sensitive Materials Statement

Manuscript collections and archival records may contain materials with sensitive or confidential information that is protected under federal or state right to privacy laws and regulations, the North Carolina Public Records Act (N.C.G.S. § 132 1 et seq.), and Article 7 of the North Carolina State Personnel Act (Privacy of State Employee Personnel Records, N.C.G.S. § 126-22 et seq.). Researchers are advised that the disclosure of certain information pertaining to identifiable living individuals represented in this collection without the consent of those individuals may have legal ramifications (e.g., a cause of action under common law for invasion of privacy may arise if facts concerning an individual's private life are published that would be deemed highly offensive to a reasonable person) for which the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill assumes no responsibility.

Processed by: Nancy Kaiser and Lydia Neuroth, August 2017

Encoded by: Nancy Kaiser, August 2017

The following terms from Library of Congress Subject Headings suggest topics, persons, geography, etc. interspersed through the entire collection; the terms do not usually represent discrete and easily identifiable portions of the collection--such as folders or items.

Clicking on a subject heading below will take you into the University Library's online catalog.

• King, Martin Luther, Jr., 1929-1968.
• Labor movement--Tennessee--Memphis--History--20th century.
• Memphis (Tenn.)--Race relations--History--20th century.
• Sanitation Workers Strike, Memphis, Tenn., 1968.

The Memphis, Tenn., Sanitation Workers Strike began 13 February 1968 when the city of Memphis failed to adequately address black sanitation workers' frustration with a longstanding history of unsafe working conditions and low wages. The strike went on for weeks and was supported by the American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees (AFSCME), the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), a group of 150 Memphis ministers who formed Community on the Move for Equality (COME), and local high school and college students. Martin Luther King Jr. spoke to strikers on 18 March 1968, 28 March 1968, and again on 3 April 1968. King's assassination on 4 April 1968 spurred federal negotiators to intervene to bring the strike to an end. On 16 April 1968, Memphis City Council recognized the union and guaranteed better wages.

The father of the donor of this collection was a member of the AFSCME and acquired these placards either by attending the strike or through a union member.

Placards from the 1968 Sanitation Workers Strike in Memphis, Tenn., which Martin Luther King attended and spoke at before his assassination in April 1968.

• Oversize papers (OPF-05748/1)