The Sanitation Strike, Women’s Voting Rights, and The People vs. Hall

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Labor History
Green Section: #10 (The Sanitation Strike)
On February 11, 1968, disgruntled black sanitation workers in Memphis downed their tools to protest against gross inequality in their workplaces. The strike embodied the economic inequality and social injustice that black employees had to grapple with in the United States. For instance, the then mayor of Memphis city, Henry Loeb, adamantly refused to pay overtime even after coercing black workers to work late-night shifts (Stanford University par. 3). Their wages were extremely meager that hundreds of them had to rely on food stamps to feed their dependants. Further, when the city council voted to recognize the workers’ union, the mayor overturned the decision claiming that he exclusively retained the powers to legitimize the union.
To a considerable extent, the strike was triggered by the deaths of two black garbage collectors, Echol Cole and Robert Walker. The two lost their lives after a malfunctioning truck crushed them. Consequently, the workers' anger escalated to unprecedented proportions following the city’s pedestrian response to the deaths of the two men. In essence, the cold reaction of the city represented a prolonged pattern of abuse and neglect black workers were subject to (Stanford University par. 3). So intense was their anger that they set the strike in motion on their own without involving the union that organized them.
The sanitation strike may have happened more than five decades ago, but it still provides critical insights concerning workers, especially from marginalized groups. Even though inequality was extremely rife back then, there is still a sprinkling of the same today. Bowdler and Harris posit that discrimination is the principal cause of racial inequities in the United States today (par. 7). This explains the widening of the racial wealth gap in the recent past.
Blue Section: #6 (Women’s Voting Rights)
In 1913, Woodrow Wilson became the 28th president of the United States at the age of 57. He had conducted his campaigns on the platform of New Freedom that prioritized individualism and state rights (The White House par. 6). Upon ascending to the presidency, Wilson undertook to portray America as a beacon of democracy and initiated several legislations to this end. He, for instance, introduced laws to prohibit child labor and restrict railroad workers to an eight-hour day. However, things on the other side of the coin told an entirely different story, which significantly undermined and crippled the progress of democracy. For example, the nation continued to deprive women of their right to vote.
When President Wilson took over the leadership of the United States in 1913, the women’s suffrage movement was at its pinnacle despite spirited opposition from lawmakers. According to historians, the President initially lent lukewarm support to the movement. However, he later underwent an ethical metamorphosis, which prompted hi...