“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.”