Joe Calhoun had not fully grasped the depths of civic activism when he first joined the fight for labor justice during the Memphis sanitation strike of 1968.
According to Arkansas Advocate, when a call went out for youth volunteers to assist in the strike, Calhoun was counted among those high school and college students that would soon become a part of the triumphant journey to equity for Black workers – now recognized as the “I Am A Man” Memphis Sanitation Workers’ Strike.
“The whole civil rights thing was new to me, and I just thought that what was going on was wrong,” Calhoun told Arkansas Advocate in January. “So when a call went out for high school and college students to help with the strike, I saw an opportunity.”
Despite the prior establishment of numerous labor reform organizations, worker’s conditions, especially that of Black laborers, were still inequitable in the 1960s – punctuated by low wages, unsafe equipment and lack of government support from officials like former Memphis Mayor Henry Loeb.
In addition to denying basic worker’s rights, Loeb refused to acknowledge the union chapter chartered by the American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees (AFSCME) in 1964.
When two Memphis trash collectors – Echol Cole and Robert Walker – were crushed to death by a malfunctioning garbage truck on Feb. 1, 1968, a new revolution for justice sparked across the city.
Eleven days later, 1,300 Black men from the Memphis Department of Public Works went on strike, demanding change in a pattern of neglect and abuse of Black employees.
“We felt like we would have to let the city know that because we were sanitation workers, we were human beings,” said strike participant James Douglas in an AFSCME documentary.
With support from the NAACP and AFSCME’s longtime president Jerry Wurf, the weeks-long battle for dignity and respect commenced among a coalition of sanitation workers, religious leaders and civil rights activists.
From this point on, the Memphis Sanitation Workers’ Strike of 1968 proved to be a testament to the power of unity and resilience in social justice reform.
‘I Am a Man’: A Rallying Cry for Social Justice
William Lucy returned to his hometown of Memphis at the age of 34, enticed with a plan to support striking sanitation workers and increase recognition for the movement.
Along with the help of a local pastor, Lucy decided that the movement needed a powerful slogan.
“We came up with the sign that simply said, in four words, ‘I Am a Man,’” Lucy said in a 2021 interview. “It was the shortest phrase that we could get that would instill in them a sense of pride, not just for what they had done, but what they were doing to try to change the system.”
It was evident that the I Am a Man Sanitation Strike went beyond workers’ rights – it was a rallying cry for social justice and civil liberties on all fronts.
As daily protests ensued, more civic leaders joined the fight, including the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., who first appeared in Memphis on March 18 to address a crowd of about 25,000 — the largest indoor gathering of the civil rights period.
Soon the strike started to gain national recognition and eventually became a part of the larger Civil Rights Movement, further aligning with the foundational values of a nonviolent campaign for equal rights and justice.
“We built into our planning the escalation principle in order to help momentum build: mass meetings every night, daily marches of the workers and clergy, and then sit-ins at the City Hall, which resulted, at least one time, in major arrests of many of us,” said the Rev. James Lawson, a longtime ally of King and civil activism.
At the King-led march to City Hall on March 28, 1968, violence erupted as some youth used the demonstration to avenge their grievances with looting and uproar. The once peaceful protest turned into a chaotic scene met with tear gas and mace, dozens of injuries, and the fatal shooting of 16-year-old Larry Payne by a police officer.
The following day, more than 200 strikers continued their daily march for humanity, carrying the infamous “I Am a Man” signs that Calhoun and other youth volunteers spent weeks assembling in a church attic.
“The signs that we were carrying said ‘I Am a Man,’ and we were going to demand to have the same dignity and the same courtesy any other citizen of Memphis had,” Douglas said.
King’s Final Battle Cry, Legacy of 1968 Strike
King’s final return to Memphis on April 3, and the delivery of his renowned “I’ve Been to the Mountaintop” speech to a crowd of sanitation workers, would be his last.
“I’ve seen the promised land. I may not get there with you. But I want you to know tonight that we, as a people, will get to the promised land,” King told listeners.
One day later, the civil rights leader was assassinated on the balcony of Lorraine Motel.
As ministers pressured the city to concede to the union’s demands, justice leaders continued King’s mission for equality. On April 8, a few days after her husband’s murder, Coretta Scott King led a silent march through Memphis with an estimated 42,000 people in attendance, demanding the mayor give into the union’s requests.
Negotiators finally reached a deal on April 16, granting the City Council to recognize the union and guaranteeing a better wage for Black workers.
Today, Calhoun, 75, remains inspired by his role in the I Am a Man sanitation strike. The historian continues to champion racial justice, including participating in a Memphis Black Lives Matter protest after George Floyd was slain by police in Minneapolis, Minnesota in 2020.
There, Calhoun held a sign that read: “I marched in ‘68. Marching in 2020.”
As the fight for a just society continues, Calhoun told Arkansas Advocate he’s updated the sign, committed to the ongoing mission of changing the world one slogan at a time.
“I changed 2020 to 2021, then 2022, and now I’m changing it to 2025.”
