Organising Webinar Part 2 – Roger McKenzie in conversation with Bill Lucy. US Civil Rights and union Leader

We are very lucky to have a second Webinar with William Lucy. Civil Rights and Trade Union Activist.

William Lucy has stood alongside the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr in the civil rights struggles. He led the 1968 sanitation workers strike in Memphis. Where pickets and marches were met with police batons and beatings. The strike’s logo was “I am a Man”, a sentiment that struck a deep chord within Memphis’s African American community. After 2 months, the sanitation department refused to budge. Strikers morale began to wane. Dr Martin Luther King Jr became involved at this time. Dr King assured the striking workers that the right to unionise was a civil right and it was also the only way to escape the racism they had suffered. On the morning of April the 4th,1968 Dr King was preparing to lead a strikers march when he was assassinated, international outcry over Dr Kings murder brought an intense spotlight on Memphis and the city had no choice but to settle the strike. Mr Lucy was part of the negotiations that led to the recognition of the sanitation workers union.