At the River I Stand, a film detailing the strike of Memphis sanitation workers in 1968 will be screened at Douglass-Truth Branch in the Gayton Family Meeting Room on May 16, 2013 at 6:30 PM.
King went to Memphis to support and advise the strike, and there he lost his life.
The film simply depicts the events leading to the strike and to King’s assassination, and King’s role in balancing a desire for immediate action with the long-term and patient work that ultimately triumphed. He knew, as did civil rights workers throughout the South, that there could be no question of meaningful civil rights until there was relief of the institutionalized poverty of the sanitation workers.
The loss of King did not deter the workers, who gained support and courage to carry on their movement from his presence, and even more, from his martyrdom.
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