CIVIL RIGHTS I Am a Man sign from the march led by Martin

Sale 2675 - Lot 78

Price Realized: $ 11,250

?Final Price Realized includes Buyer’s Premium added to Hammer Price

Estimate: $ 15,000 - $ 25,000

(CIVIL RIGHTS.) "I Am a Man" sign, from the march led by Martin Luther King in support of striking Memphis sanitation workers. Poster, 21¼ x 13¾ inches; soiled and worn with numerous creases and 6 short cello tape stains, crude mounting hole in top margin, "Black Power" written in red pen on verso. [Memphis, TN, 28 March 1968]

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An artifact from a crucial moment in the civil rights movement, the labor movement, and American history writ large.

The incident which sparked this strike was the death of two Memphis sanitation workers in a faulty trash compactor on 1 February 1968. Eleven days later, the sanitation workers of Local 1733 of the American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees went on strike to protest unsafe working conditions and demand recognition of their union. On 28 March, Martin Luther King led a march in support of the strikers. Many of the marchers carried printed signs reading "I Am A Man." After a day of arrests, smashed storefronts, tear gas, and the shooting of one marcher by police, the city looked like a war zone. The next day's Associated Press newspaper reported: "Beale Street, the home of the blues, turned into a battlefield. The statue of W.C. Handy, trumpet in hand, stood in the city park bearing his name gazing over mountains of mutilated signs bearing such messages as 'I Am A Man.'"

Dr. King returned to Memphis and delivered his "I have been to the mountaintop" speech on 3 April. He was assassinated the next day. Another march was held in his honor on 8 April, in which signs reading "Honor King, End Racism": "Union Justice Now!" and "I Am A Man" were carried. A Builder Levy photograph from that day shows some young men who had punched a hole in their signs so they could be worn hanging from a shirt button, much like in the example seen here.

The strike ended on 16 April with recognition of Local 1733 by the city of Memphis.

Two versions of the "I Am A Man" sign from the 1968 Memphis marches have been identified: a version with thicker letters laid out on two lines, and the present version on three lines with more white space. Press photos suggest that the two-line version was more prevalent on 28 March, and that this three-line version was carried by many marchers on April 8. However, our consignor's memory is very clear: this present example was salvaged shortly after the 28 March, so both versions must have been distributed on that date.

Provenance: as stated in a dampstained 2001 note signed by the consignor accompanying this lot, "This poster was found by me on about March 30, 1968 in a trash can in about the 100 block of N. Main St., Memphis, Tennessee. A march in support of striking sanitation workers had been held in Memphis on Thursday, March 28, 1968. The march had been led by Martin Luther King, Jr. On the reverse of the poster is scrawled a 'black power' slogan. This was on the poster when I found it. I was a junior in H.S. at the time."