King, it was not forwarded to the director. The document was carbon copied to Holloman, but if there was a reply from Mrs. **WD:** The letter is located in the papers of Fire and Police Director Frank Holloman. **AC:** Do we know if Coretta Scott King responded to this letter? I assume the copy you have in the archives is from the city’s collection? However, he was so impressed with the spirit of the Memphis movement he committed to leading a march, because he realized Memphis was the Poor People’s Campaign in microcosm. King to give a speech and then move on with the planning of the Poor People’s Campaign (which was carried out in the wake of his assassination). King came to lend his support to the sanitation strikers, not to negotiate on their behalf, so he and Mayor Loeb never met. What happened then? Did Loeb meet with him? Mayor Loeb was, as you said, intransigent on every issue, so sanitation workers went on strike, and King was asked to come to Memphis and lend his support. The city had a long history of discrimination against black workers - they had little job security, struggled with safety, and didn’t receive equal pay and benefits - and opposed their union. At the same time, 22 black sewer workers were sent home without pay, while their white counterparts were compensated. The weather triggered a trash truck’s compactor mechanism, crushing Echol Cole and Robert Walker, two black sanitation workers. On February 1, 1968, a rainstorm pounded the city and set off two very different incidents. **AC:** Let’s back up and explain why Martin Luther King Jr. It’s taken a long time for us to come to grips with the fact that Memphis created the conditions leading to Dr. At the same time, an inferiority complex seeped into the city’s bones and is only now dissipating. King’s murder would be blamed for every civic failure. **WD:** That unfortunately was a very common view. Did most white Memphians feel as though they were victims of the assassination, too? ![]() Now, the mayor was a racist who had described court-ordered integration as “anarchy,” and Tennessee was, until the end of the Civil War, a slave state. Loeb goes on to imply that the assassination was probably inevitable. He seems to be saying that Memphis was the real victim in the assassination of MLK, a sentiment I’ve definitely heard in Memphis. **AC:** Mayor Henry Loeb is at the top of my list of worst Memphians, and that quote always turns my stomach. Hamilton’s words were certainly more kindly than those of Mayor Henry Loeb, who stated, “We wish the incident had happened elsewhere - if it had to happen.” On the one hand, Hamilton’s letter seems effusive and heartfelt, but it no doubt was also designed to quell any additional criticism over the billing error. Memphis citizens and their leaders were shaken by the condemnations leveled at them and did not want to contribute to that environment. Is Hamilton asking her to keep the mistake quiet in the last sentence? **AC:** When she got a bill, standard policy or not, it must’ve been a bitter insult, but to the City of Memphis, it had the potential to be a national embarrassment at a time when they already looked pretty terrible. Joseph’s Hospital, where he was treated for his wounds and unfortunately died from them. King was shot, he was transported by ambulance to St. Hamilton is referring to a document generated when a citizen was transported to the hospital by a city ambulance. **Wayne Dowdy:** It was a pleasure working with you, and I appreciate you letting me share with you our collection. Hamilton, the Memphis Fire Department Chief, referring to? I was focused on the 1890s, but you got my sensibilities early on and would often tempt me with other archival treasures, including this letter, which I’ve thought about a lot over the last few years. **Alexis Coe:** Wayne, we met a few years ago in your archive, where I was researching what would become my first book, Alice+Freda Forever. King, with the press documenting her every move, demonstrated that the civil-rights movement was bigger than any one person.* The letter illuminates an overlooked moment in history, when Mrs. Hooks Central Library in Memphis, Tennessee, about a letter the Memphis Fire Department chief sent Coretta Scott King following the assassination of her husband, Martin Luther King Jr. ![]() *For the inaugural post, Alexis spoke with Wayne Dowdy, manager of the history department in the Benjamin L. ![]() *In this new column, Alexis Coe, Lenny’s historian at large, will conduct Q&As with specialists in archives across the country, focusing on one primary source.*
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |