165 / 326
231
●
(CIVIL RIGHTS—KING, MARTIN LUTHER JR.) MEMPHIS SANITA-
TION WORKERS.
Honor King End Racism!
Cardboard stock placard, 22
1
/
2
14
inches, framed.
Memphis, TN: AFSCME, 1968
[8,000/12,000]
On February 12, 1968, the Sanitation Workers of Memphis Tennessee walked out on strike for
higher pay and safer working conditions. The iconic image of their united front carrying white placards
printed in black and reading I AM A MAN was recorded by black photographer Ernest Withers. The
strike went on through the month of March and at the beginning of April, with no end in sight,
Martin Luther King traveled to Memphis to join and support their cause. On April 4th, while stay-
ing at The Lorraine Motel in Memphis, James Earl Ray shot and killed him. King was scheduled to
speak before a huge rally just four days later. Instead, it was led by his widow, Coretta. The workers
now carried white placards, printed in black which read “HONOR KING, END RACISM.”