{"id":4195,"date":"2022-01-17T08:00:13","date_gmt":"2022-01-17T13:00:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.pef.org\/?p=4195"},"modified":"2022-01-14T16:11:11","modified_gmt":"2022-01-14T21:11:11","slug":"martin-luther-king-jr-day","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.pef.org\/articles\/holidays-remembrances\/martin-luther-king-jr-day\/","title":{"rendered":"MLK fought for workers\u2019 rights, bridging the labor movement with the civil rights movement"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"
King gave his most famous speech, “I Have a Dream”, before the Lincoln Memorial during the 1963 March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom. Image source: Wikipedia<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. is remembered as a leader in the fight for civil rights \u2013 but when he was killed in Memphis, Tenn., on April 4, 1968, King was actually in the city to support a union strike.<\/p>\n

King was in Memphis to support African American garbage workers, who, carrying signs blazoned with \u201cI Am A Man,\u201d were on strike to protest unsafe conditions, abusive white supervisors, and low wages.<\/p>\n

His support of labor may have been largely overshadowed by his civil rights activism, but it was no less significant. In 1961, King attended the AFL-CIO\u2019s annual convention, helping to bridge civil rights for African Americans with the labor movement.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe labor movement did not diminish the strength of the nation but enlarged it. By raising the living standards of millions, labor miraculously created a market for industry and lifted the whole nation to undreamed of levels of production. Those who today attack labor forget these simple truths, but history remembers them,\u201d he said at the convention<\/a>.<\/p>\n

And the support went both ways. When King was jailed in Birmingham for participating in civil disobedience, Walter Reuther, the leader of the United Auto Workers (UAW) union, bailed him out and several major unions donated money to civil rights groups, supported sit-ins and freedom rides, and helped organize the 1963 March on Washington, famous for King\u2019s \u201cI Have a Dream\u201d speech.<\/p>\n

Addressing the Illinois AFL-CIO in 1965, King said<\/a>: \u201cThe two most dynamic movements that reshaped the nation during the past three decades are the labor and civil rights movements. Our combined strength is potentially enormous.\u201d<\/p>\n

Looking back on his life and legacy on January 17, 2022, PEF President Wayne Spence spoke to local news media about King\u2019s connection to the labor movement.<\/p>\n

\u201cDr. Martin Luther King\u2019s core values \u2013 equality and justice for all \u2013 are still what govern the labor movement to this day,\u201d Spence said. \u201cWe are always fighting for equal treatment in accordance with our collective bargaining agreements. We fight every day for justice on behalf of the workers we represent, who have rights and protections in their contract that are all too often ignored by management.\u201d<\/p>\n

Spence said King knew there was strength in numbers.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe greater our collective voice, the more people in power will hear us and the greater impact we can have.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. is remembered as a leader in the fight for civil rights \u2013 but when he was killed in Memphis, Tenn., on April 4, 1968, King…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":4196,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[491,6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4195","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-holidays-remembrances","category-news"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nMLK fought for workers\u2019 rights, bridging the labor movement with the civil rights movement - PEF<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.pef.org\/articles\/holidays-remembrances\/martin-luther-king-jr-day\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"MLK fought for workers\u2019 rights, bridging the labor movement with the civil rights movement\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. is remembered as a leader in the fight for civil rights \u2013 but when he was killed in Memphis, Tenn., on April 4, 1968, King...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.pef.org\/articles\/holidays-remembrances\/martin-luther-king-jr-day\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"PEF\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2022-01-17T13:00:13+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.pef.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/MLK-Post.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"640\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"428\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"ccanham\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"ccanham\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.pef.org\/articles\/holidays-remembrances\/martin-luther-king-jr-day\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.pef.org\/articles\/holidays-remembrances\/martin-luther-king-jr-day\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"ccanham\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.pef.org\/#\/schema\/person\/0677b03b1fcdadfe00f4e905b97b90e4\"},\"headline\":\"MLK fought for workers\u2019 rights, bridging the labor movement with the civil rights movement\",\"datePublished\":\"2022-01-17T13:00:13+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.pef.org\/articles\/holidays-remembrances\/martin-luther-king-jr-day\/\"},\"wordCount\":431,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.pef.org\/articles\/holidays-remembrances\/martin-luther-king-jr-day\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.pef.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/MLK-Post.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"Holidays\/Remembrances\",\"News\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.pef.org\/articles\/holidays-remembrances\/martin-luther-king-jr-day\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.pef.org\/articles\/holidays-remembrances\/martin-luther-king-jr-day\/\",\"name\":\"MLK fought for workers\u2019 rights, bridging the labor movement with the civil rights movement - 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