- Collection:
- 1968 Sanitation Workers Strike
- Title:
- Police on deserted Beale Street, Memphis, 1968
- Creator:
- Memphis press scimitar
- Date of Original:
- 1968-03-28
- Subject:
- Sanitation Workers Strike, Memphis, Tenn., 1968
Strikes and lockouts--Tennessee--Memphis
Sanitation workers--Tennessee--Memphis
Civil rights movements--Tennessee--Memphis
Civil rights--African Americans--Tennessee--Memphis
Civil rights--Tennessee--Memphis
Civil rights demonstrations--Tennessee--Memphis
Memphis (Tenn.)--Race relations
Race relations
Race discrimination--Tennessee--Memphis
Strikes and lockouts--Sanitation--Tennessee--Memphis
Strikes and lockouts--Refuse collectors--Tennessee--Memphis
Police--Tennessee--Memphis
Soldiers--Tennessee--Memphis
Central business districts--Tennessee--Memphis - Location:
- United States, Tennessee, Shelby County, Memphis, 35.14953, -90.04898
- Medium:
- black-and-white photographs
- Type:
- StillImage
- Format:
- image/jpeg
- Description:
- Black-and-white photograph from March 28, 1968 taken by the Memphis Press-Scimitar newspaper in Memphis, Tennessee. The photograph shows two white Memphis policemen standing in the middle of the street. Several National Guardsmen stand at intervals along the sidewalk in front of businesses, and paper debris line the gutters. Memphis police and national guardsmen on duty on Beale Street looking west near Hernando Street, 1968.
The Memphis Sanitation Workers' strike began on February 11, 1968, following years of dangerous working conditions, discrimination, and the work-related deaths of two African American sanitation workers. Led by local clergy, community members engaged in boycotts, mass meetings, marches, and other civil disobedience in support of the strike. Demonstrations turned deadly March 28 when a march led by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. is interrupted by breaking windows. Police moved into the area with mace, tear gas, and gunfire. A sixteen-year-old African American young man was shot and killed; that evening, the city authorized 7 pm curfews and called in 4000 members of the National Guard. The strike ended April 12, 1968.
The Civil Rights Digital Library received support from a National Leadership Grant for Libraries awarded to the University of Georgia by the Institute of Museum and Library Services for the aggregation and enhancement of partner metadata. - Local Identifier:
- sc.0475.90012_06.050
- Metadata URL:
- https://digitalcommons.memphis.edu/speccoll-swstrike/138/
- Original Collection:
- 1968 Sanitation Workers Strike, PS 90012, University of Memphis Libraries Special Collections, Memphis, Tennessee
- Contributing Institution:
- University of Memphis. Libraries. Special Collections Department
- Rights:
-
