HISTORY REVISITED: MEMPHIS SANITATION WORKERS 1968
Location: Ames Courtroom, Austin Hall, Harvard Law School 1515 Massachusetts Ave, Cambridge 02138
We are proud to co-sponsor this year's Jerry Wurf Memorial Forum speaker: William Lucy, former Secretary-Treasurer of AFSCME and founding President of the Coalition of Black Trade Unionists (CBTU).
A long-time labor leader who already was working for AFSCME's national organization in 1968, Lucy traveled to Memphis to lend his support to the striking sanitation workers, whose efforts -- captured in their now-famous slogan "I am a man" -- were attracting national attention. There, he worked alongside Martin Luther King, Jr., who spoke in Memphis on April 3, 1968 and was assassinated on the following day. Despite the assassination, Lucy asked the workers to continue their strike and participated in the negotiations that led to the success and recognition of the sanitation workers' union.
Sponsored by the Harvard Trade Union Program
Labor and Worklife Program, Harvard Law School
Charles Hamilton Houston Institute for Race and Justice, Harvard Law School
Joint Center for Housing Studies
No RSVP required. Free and open to the public. Event website
Note New Venue: Ames Courtroom, Austin Hall, Harvard Law School
1515 Massachusetts Ave, Cambridge 02138 (map)
