All Labor Has Dignity

An unprecedented and timely collection of Dr. Kingrs"s speeches on labor rights and economic justice People forget that Dr. King was every bit as committed to economic justice as he was to ending racial segregation. As we struggle with massive unemployment, a staggering racial wealth gap, and the near collapse of our financial system, Kingrs"s prophetic writings and speeches underscore Kingrs"s relevance for today. Hitting all the civil rights movement highlights-Montgomery, Selma, Memphis, Albany, and Birmingham-award-winning historian Michael Honey traces Kingrs"s economic dream, from lectures to unions in the 1960s to addresses during his Poor Peoplers"s Campaign, culminating with his momentous "Mountaintop" speech, delivered in support of striking black sanitation workers in Memphis. Gathered in one volume for the first time, the majority of these speeches will be new to most readers. They help us imagine King anew: as a human rights leader whose commitment to economic justice was a crucial part of his civil rights agenda.

Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. (1929-1968), Nobel Peace Prize laureate and architect of the nonviolent civil rights movement, was among the twentieth century's most influential figures. One of the greatest orators in U.S. history, King is the author of several books, including Stride Toward Freedom: The Montgomery Story, The Trumpet of Conscience, Why We Can't Wait, and Where Do We Go from Here: Chaos or Community? His speeches, sermons, and writings are inspirational and timeless. King was assassinated in Memphis, Tennessee, on April 4, 1968.

Michael K. Honey, a former Southern civil rights and civil liberties organizer, is professor of labor ethnic and gender studies and American history, and the Haley Professor of Humanities, at the University of Washington-Tacoma. The author of three books on labor and civil rights history, including Going Down Jericho Road: The Memphis Strike, Martin Luther King's Last Campaign, he lives in Tacoma.

Introduction	p. xiii
Editor's Note	p. xxxvii
Forging a Civil Rights-Labor Alliance in the Shadow of the Cold War
"A look to the future"	p. 3
Twenty-fifth Anniversary of the Highlander Folk School, Monteagle, Tennessee, September 2, 1957
"It is a dark day indeed when men cannot work to implement the ideal of brotherhood without being labeled communist."	p. 19
Statement of Martin Luther King and the Southern Christian Leadership Conference in defense of the United Packinghouse Workers Union of America, Atlanta, Georgia, June 11, 1959
"We, the Negro people and labor... inevitably will sow the seeds of liberalism."	p. 23
Twenty-fifth Anniversary Dinner, United Automobile Workers Union, Cobo Hall, Detroit, Michigan, April 27, 1961
If the Negro Wins, Labor Wins	p. 31
AFL-CIO Fourth Constitutional Convention, Americana Hotel, Miami Beach, Florida, December 11, 1961
"I am in one of those houses of labor to which I come not to criticize, but to praise."	p. 47
Thirteenth Convention, United Packinghouse Workers Union of America, Minneapolis, Minnesota, May 21, 1962
"There are three major social evils...the evil of war, the evil of economic injustice, and the evil of racial injustice."	p. 55
District 65 Convention, Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union (RWDSU), Laurels Country Club, Monticello, New York, September 8, 1962
Industry knows only two types of workers who in years past, were brought frequently to their jobs in chains."	p. 65
Twenty-fifth Anniversary Dinner, National Maritime Union, Americana Hotel, New York City, October 13, 1962
"Now is the time to make real the promises of democracy."
Detroit March for Civil Rights, Cobo Hall, Detroit, Michigan, June 23, 1963
"The unresolved race question"	p. 87
Thirtieth Anniversary of District 65, RWDSU, Madison Square Garden, New York City, October 23, 1963
Standing at the Crossroads: Race, Labor, War, and Poverty
"The explosion in Watts reminded us all that the northern ghettos are the prisons of forgotten men."	p. 103
District 65, RWDSU, New York City, September 18, 1965
"Labor cannot stand still long or it will slip backward."	p. 111
Illinois State Convention AFL-CIO, Springfield, Illinois, October 7, 1965
Civil Rights at the Crossroads	p. 121
Shop Stewards of Local 815, Teamsters, and the Allied Trades Council, Americana Hotel, New York City, May 2, 1967
Domestic Impact of the War in Vietnam	p. 137
National Labor Leadership Assembly for Peace, Chicago, Illinois, November 11, 1967
Down Jericho Road: The Poor People's Campaign and Memphis Strike
"The other America"	p. 153
Local 1199 Salute to Freedom, Hunter College, New York City, March 10, 1968
"All labor has dignity."	p. 167
American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME) mass meeting, Memphis Sanitation Strike, Bishop Charles Mason Temple, Church of God in Christ, Memphis, Tennessee, March 18, 1968
To the Mountaintop: "Let us develop a kind of dangerous unselfishness."	p. 179
AFSCME mass meeting, Memphis Sanitation Strike, Bishop Charles Mason Temple, Church of God in Christ, Memphis, Tennessee, April 3, 1968
Epilogue: King and Labor	p. 197
Appendix: A Note on the Speeches	p. 201
Acknowledgments	p. 207
Index	p. 209
Table of Contents provided by Ingram. All Rights Reserved.

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"All Labor Has Dignity"

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