Mar 31, 2016 - Sale 2408

Sale 2408 - Lot 231

Price Realized: $ 25,000
?Final Price Realized includes Buyer’s Premium added to Hammer Price
Estimate: $ 8,000 - $ 12,000
(CIVIL RIGHTS--KING, MARTIN LUTHER JR.) MEMPHIS SANITATION WORKERS. Honor King End Racism! Cardboard stock placard, 21-1/2 14 inches, framed. Memphis, TN, 1968

Additional Details

On February 12, 1968, the Sanitation Workers of Memphis Tennessee walked out on strike for higher pay and safer working conditions. The iconic image of their united front carrying white placards printed in black and reading I AM A MAN was recorded by black photographer Ernest Withers. The strike went on through the month of March and at the beginning of April, with no end in sight, Martin Luther King traveled to Memphis to join and support their cause. On April 4th, while staying at The Lorraine Motel in Memphis, James Earl Ray shot and killed him. King was scheduled to speak before a huge rally just four days later. Instead, it was led by his widow, Coretta. The workers now carried white placards, printed in black which read "HONOR KING, END RACISM."