“I Am A Man”: Sanitation workers’ strike, Memphis, Tennessee
In February 1968, African American sanitation workers in Memphis, Tennessee, went on strike to protest racial discrimination and unsafe working conditions, often facing violent opposition from Memphis police. African American freelance photographer Ernest C. Withers, who documented racial segregation and the civil rights movement in the American South during the 1950s and 60s, captured this view of striking workers assembled outside Clayborn Temple and carrying protest signs like this one as an expression of dignity. These signs would later emerge as an iconic symbol and unifying theme of the civil rights movement and beyond.
: I am a man / photographs by Ernest C. Withers, Photographs and Prints Division,…
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Items in Fortitude
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“I Am A Man”: Sanitation workers’ strike, Memphis, Tennessee
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Photograph from Benedict J. Fernandez’s Countdown to Eternity portfolio
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“Honor King: End Racism!” placard
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