In the fifth episode of the I AM Story podcast, current labor leaders discuss how the lessons of the Memphis Sanitation Workers’ Strike are as relevant today as they were 55 years ago. Whether it’s building resolve in the face of setbacks, un

Stand Up, Don't Sit Down

May 9th, 2023 31m 37s

Episode 4 of the I AM STORY podcast looks at the impact the strike had on the lives of the people involved and the challenges workers have faced in the years since.

We Will Not Be Turned Around

Apr 18th, 2023 1h 3m

Seven weeks after the sanitation strike began, garbage was piling up and the city was feeling the pressure. The labor action was expanding into a mass community mobilization – with churches, student activists, and civil rights organizations and

I Am A Man

Apr 11th, 2023 41m 22s

In the wake of the deaths of Echol Cole and Robert Walker, 1,300 Memphis sanitation workers went on strike. The men were demanding safer working conditions and basic respect for the services they provided. But Mayor Henry Loeb dug in, refusing

The Breaking Point

Apr 4th, 2023 42m 16s

In 1968, Memphis sanitation workers faced dangerous and degrading conditions on the job. The mayor showed the men no respect, paying them poverty wages and refusing to recognize their union. During a driving rainstorm on February 1, Robert Walk

Trailer

PREVIEW: The strike that shook the nation

Mar 28th, 2023 2m 9s

In 1968, Memphis sanitation workers went on strike – for dignity, for respect, for recognition of their basic humanity. Courageously, they declared: I AM A MAN. The strike would draw together the labor movement and the civil rights movement in

Trailer

INTRODUCING THE I AM STORY PODCAST

Mar 3rd, 2023 2m 40s

In 1968, two Memphis sanitation workers, Robert Walker and Echol Cole, were crushed to death in the back of their truck, a horrific accident that was the result of shocking negligence by city leaders. The workers had raised a red flag that tr

Trailer

SNEAK PEEK: I AM STORY

Feb 1st, 2023 1m 4s

In 1968, sanitation workers in Memphis took a stand against degrading and deadly working conditions. They declared a strike that would lead to a movement that would shake the nation. The I AM STORY podcast tells the story of the sanitation w

Rate