Memphis, perched favorably beside the Mississippi River, enjoyed bright prospects as an important distribution center for the mid-South. Ample resources, low taxes, and cheap labor spelled business growth and prosperity. In 1968, that bright future belonged primarily to the white population who controlled the city economically and politically. African American citizens were largely segregated in the southern part of the city, held most of the unskilled and semi-skilled jobs, and suffered more poverty, malnutrition, school dropouts, and infant deaths. Thus far, the city had weathered the turbulent years of the civil rights movement without serious confrontation. No one - black or white - wanted the kind of violence that shook Birmingham or Chicago, but in 1968 racial tension simmered just below the surface - one spark would make it explode.

After Chicago, Martin Luther King, Jr., continued his work against poverty and looked for some way to make the nation and government take notice of this problem that persisted in a nation of wealth. That approach, Dr. King announced, would be a massive march by the poor to Washington in April 1968. Participants in the Poor People's Campaign would stay in the nation's capital "until America responds." Memphis, however, offered Dr. King the chance to highlight the importance of this upcoming campaign against poverty.

On a rainy January 30th, the city sent all of its African American sanitation workers home with partial pay but paid white workers the full amount. The next day prior to being sent home for inclement weather, two African American men were crushed to death inside a garbage truck while trying to escape a heavy rain. In response, the local African American union called for a walkout that resulted in 1,300 sanitation workers walking off the job. Mayor Loeb called the strike illegal, saying he would not recognize the union, or address their issues if they did not return to work.

Daily marches on City Hall followed, as well as mass meetings, boycotts, picketing, and petitions. Dr. King and the SCLC were called in to maintain community morale and also to help bring national attention to the striker's cause. Dr. King and his movement colleagues perceived that the cause of these laborers - a quest for dignity and fair wages - underscored the necessity of the planned Poor People's Campaign.

A planned peaceful demonstration on March 28 turned into a riot. Stunned, King vowed that he would not give up. He promised to return and hold a peaceful march in support of the workers. King planned a march for April 8th and flew into Memphis on April 3rd where he checked into the Lorraine Motel. That night he delivered his "Mountaintop" speech at Mason Temple during a tremendous thunderstorm. This would be King's last speech. He was assassinated the next day standing on the balcony of the Lorraine.

Read More About:
Henry Loeb
Echol Cole
Robert Walker
Maxine Smith
Rev. Samuel "Billy" Kyles
T.O. Fuller
A.W. Willis