“What was Martin Luther King, Jr. doing in Memphis on April 4, 1968?”

By: Kyle Sondgeroth

June 2010 Memphis Experiential Learning Trip

 

Abstract:

            Early in the evening on April 4, 1968, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. stepped out onto the balcony of the Lorraine Motel in Memphis, TN. Seconds later, a gunshot rang out leaving Dr. King dead and a nation mourning the loss of a key Civil Rights Movement leader. What, however, was Dr. King doing in Memphis that day? This lesson plan is aimed to allow students the opportunity to examine the backdrop of Dr. King’s visit to Memphis. Most students can tell you that King was assassinated in Memphis, but understanding his reasoning for being there is equally important when discussing the events of that April evening.

            The fact is that Dr. King was in Memphis as part of his “Poor People’s Campaign.” He was fighting for better housing, wages, workplace safety and schools for the underprivileged. In the case of his visit to Memphis, he was championing 1,300 African-American sanitation workers that worked for the city of Memphis. Dr. King was in Memphis to literally do the “dirty work.” He was there to help garbage men get equal footing on the job.

            This lesson plan contains three components: First, students will examine two primary sources: the text of King’s “Mountaintop” speech, delivered in Memphis April 3, 1968 and a newspaper article from February of that same year in the Memphis Commercial Appeal entitled “Loeb Issues Order to Stop Garbage Strike.” Mayor Henry Loeb served as Memphis’ mayor during the sanitation workers’ strike of 1968. His views and ideas in this article are clearly in direct opposition to those of Dr. King’s. The second component of this lesson plan is to have students complete a T-chart whereby they outline the contrasting views of the sanitation workers’ strike pleas by Dr. King and Mayor Loeb. Third, students will then complete their own student version of a Workers’ Bill of Rights, basing it loosely upon their “jobs” as students in the classroom.

 

Essential Question:

            The biggest essential question is to understand the enduring struggle for Civil Rights that African-Americans have faced in this country since Reconstruction. The Memphis Sanitation Workers’ Strike of 1968 is a small microcosm of this larger struggle. Students will certainly understand why Dr. King felt compelled to be in Memphis at that time. They will gain insight into the plight of those sanitation workers by looking at the unsafe working conditions, unbalanced work-shifts, and unequal pay for African-American workers. By examining this specific example of the struggle for Civil Rights, students will be able to surely place these issues into a more modern context. The fight for safe working conditions, overtime pay, and racially equal pay are still struggles that endure today. This will once again encourage students to realize that the struggle for Civil Rights in this country is far from over and Dr. King’s work begs to continue.

 

Assessments:

            Students will be given two opportunities for assessment during this lesson plan. The first opportunity comes in the form of a simple T-chart with Dr. King’s name on one side and Mayor Loeb’s name on the other side. Upon reading Mayor Loeb’s reaction to the strike in the Memphis Commercial Appeal students will quickly understand that Loeb has no sympathy for the striking African-Americans. Loeb states in the article: “Today, Memphis is faced with an illegal work stoppage in the Sanitation Department. If the men do not return to work, we will have no choice but to employ others to protect the public health.” (Memphis Commercial Appeal, February 13, 1968) Students will easily see that Loeb is more concerned about getting the garbage off the streets for his white constituents than he is about bettering the lives of his 1,300 African-American sanitation workers.

            In his “Mountaintop” speech the night before he is assassinated, Dr. King eloquently describes why he is glad to be living in 1960’s America. Despite its tumultuous racial problems, King states: “But I know, somehow, that only when it is dark enough, can you see the stars. And I see God working in this period of the twentieth century in a way that men, in some strange way, are responding — something is happening in our world.” (Dr. Martin Luther King, Speech at Mason Temple; Memphis, TN, April 3, 1968). Students will contrast the two differing viewpoints on the T-Chart and be able to decipher where each man stands in terms of the strike.

            The final assessment piece of this project is to allow the students to treat their tasks in school as a “job.” They would then be charged with coming up with a student version of a “Workers’ Bill of Rights.” This Bill of Rights would focus on the very things that Dr. King and the sanitation workers were demanding: a safe work environment (chairs, desks, electrical outlets, etc should be safe in school), fair overtime wages (if one student does extra credit homework and the other does not, should they be given the same credit?) and fair pay (in this case, grades would be considered payment). Again, all of the issues that Dr. King was fighting for in Memphis in 1968 still have a very salient message for students in 2010.

 

Primary Sources:

            The first primary sources used in this lesson plan are the text of Dr. King’s “Mountaintop” speech, which was originally given at Mason Temple in Memphis, TN on April 3, 1968. The other primary source is a newspaper article in the February 13, 1968 Memphis Commercial Appeal titled “Loeb Issues Order to Stop Garbage Strike: Mayor Warns City to Hire New Sanitation Men If Walkout Continues.” Both of these sources are easily readable for students and offer great insight into the two differing opinions surrounding the 1968 sanitation workers’ strike in Memphis.

 

Resources/Materials

·         Copy of the “Mountaintop” speech first given by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. at Mason Temple; Memphis, TN; April 3, 1968. Accessible at http://www.mlkonline.net/ or http://afscme.org/

·          Copy of February 13, 1968 Memphis Commercial Appeal article entitled “Loeb Issues Order to Stop Garbage Strike: Mayor Warns City to Hire New Sanitation Men If Walkout Continues.” Accessible at http://www.commercialappeal.com/news/1968/feb/13/loeb-issues-order-stop-garbage-strike/.

·          T-Chart with Dr. King’s name on one side and Mayor Loeb’s name on the other side.

·         Paper to construct a students’ version of a “Workers’ Bill of Rights.”