On April 3, 1968, Dr. Martin Luther King delivered what would be his last speech in Memphis, Tennessee, before his tragic death on April 4. Standing in front of an upset and frustrated group of Black sanitation workers on strike at Mason Temple, King delivered an inspiring speech, hoping to uplift them as they fought for better working conditions following the deaths of Echol Cole and Robert Walker, two Black Memphis-based sanitation workers, who died while on the job, according to the Constitution Center and APM Reports.
Before the speech, the beloved civil rights leader led strikers in a protest march down Beale Street to spread their message of equality loud and far.
The deaths of Echol Cole And Robert Walker led to a break through.
The journey started on a rainy Feb. 1 in 1968, when Cole, Walker, and several other sanitation workers were enduring harsh weather conditions as they made their way back to the city dump after completing their route in a predominantly white East Memphis neighborhood. What began as a routine day took a tragic turn. At around 4:20 p.m., as Cole and Walker’s crew started the 15-minute drive back to their base, disaster struck. As the least senior members of the five-man crew, Cole and Walker had no space inside the truck’s cab, where the driver and two other workers sat. Instead, they rode in the back of the truck, standing inside the grimy garbage compactor to stay dry.
Tragically, while they were inside, an electrical wire shorted out, causing the machine’s compactor to activate. The emergency button to stop the machine was on the outside of the truck, far out of their reach. Before they could escape, the steel compactor pulled them inside, headfirst, and within moments, they were fatally crushed.
Appalled by the heartbreaking deaths of Cole and Walker, Dr. King shifted his focus from planning the Poor People’s Campaign, which sought to unite poor and marginalized communities across the nation, to advocating for the sanitation workers in Memphis. He became a vocal ally for the workers, who had been failed by the City of Memphis and its then mayor, Henry Loeb.
Black sanitation workers in Memphis faced harsh working conditions and low wages.
Black sanitation workers had long complained about unsafe working conditions and poverty wages. According to MLK50, these complaints had been made at least three times—during 1963, 1964, and 1966—each time facing retaliation from their supervisors when they attempted to unionize or threatened to strike.
Many Black sanitation workers qualified for food stamps due to their low wages, yet essential benefits like pensions and health insurance were not offered to them. Historian Emily Yellin, writing for AMP Reports, detailed the appalling working conditions they faced. For years, workers carried garbage from backyards to their trucks using round steel tubs, which often leaked and dripped onto them. Throughout their routes, they were plagued by maggots, rats, and other pests. Sadly, in the case of Cole and Walker, neither man could afford the city’s life insurance policy, and because they were classified as hourly employees, their families were denied workers’ compensation after their deaths.
“The men had no insurance and no pension,” Yellin penned. “The city gave their families hack pay, one month’s salary, and $500 toward burial expenses. But that was not a legal requirement, only what then Mayor Henry Loeb saw as a ‘moral obligation.’”
Dr. King supported the Memphis Sanitation Strike.
On Feb. 12, 1968, fed up with the conditions, nearly 1,200 of the city’s 1,300 Public Works laborers went on strike, marking the first day of the protest, which coincided with Abraham Lincoln’s birthday. Only 34 of the city’s 180 garbage trucks were operational that day. The union’s demands included pay raises, overtime pay, union recognition, union dues checkoff, improved grievance procedures, and better job safety, Yellin noted.
Dr. King traveled to Memphis first, on March 18, to support the strikers during a rally held outside Mason Temple. At the time, he told the determined workers, “You are reminding, not only Memphis, but you are reminding the nation that it is a crime for people to live in this rich nation and receive starvation wages. And I need not remind you that this is our plight as a people all over America.”
The freedom fighter visited again, on March 28, this time leading their march down Beale Street. Many young people, including students who had left their high schools, participated in the march. However, about 20 minutes into the procession down Beale Street, tensions escalated, and some of the younger marchers began breaking storefront windows leading to tension with local police. Authorities deployed tear gas onto the group, beating them with nightsticks, leading to over 60 injuries and one death.
Months later, on April 3, Dr. King gave his final speech, famously known as “The Mountaintop” speech in front of over 1,500 strikers, filling them with hope that things would change. Erringly, King recounted how he survived a 1958 assassination attempt by a “demented” woman during a New York book signing.
“The question is, ‘If I do not stop to help the sanitation workers, what will happen to them?’ That’s the question,” he told the crowd with conviction. “Let us rise up tonight with a greater readiness. Let us stand with a greater determination. And let us move on in these powerful days, these days of challenge to make America what it ought to be. We have an opportunity to make America a better nation. And I want to thank God, once more, for allowing me to be here with you.”
He famously added, “I don’t know what will happen now; we’ve got some difficult days ahead. But it really doesn’t matter with me now, because I’ve been to the mountaintop. And I don’t mind. Like anybody, I would like to live a long life–longevity has its place. But I’m not concerned about that now. I just want to do God’s will. And He’s allowed me to go up to the mountain. And I’ve looked over and 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. And so I’m happy tonight; I’m not worried about anything; I’m not fearing any man. Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord.”
King did not live to witness the fulfillment of the sanitation workers’ dreams of equality. He was tragically assassinated the next day, on April 4, 1968; however, his work proved powerful. Twelve days later, on April 16, the city and the union representing the striking workers reached an agreement. In a 12-1 vote, the City Council adopted a memorandum of understanding that officially recognized the union and they approved checkoff dues and increased wages.
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