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The guys who held the “I Am A Man” signs talk about what went on during King’s last days. Here’s Democracy Now’s intro about where King was politically in 1967.

After passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965, King began challenging the nation’s fundamental priorities. By 1967 he had come out against the war and for the poor giving major addresses opposing the Vietnam war and organizing a major Poor People’s march to take place in Washington D.C.

In March of 1968, King came to Memphis to support striking African-American sanitation workers who were demanding better working conditions and facing massive resistance from white city officials. Days before he died he was to lead a march in Memphis – he was assassinated.

Some of the organizers of the Memphis strike were black power advocates so it’s interesting that King was actively engaging them .. something I hadn’t heard before today. Here’s Charles Cabbage of the black power group The Invaders on his meeting in Memphis with King.

CHARLES CABBAGE: .. I’m proud to say that, you know, we actually had some very good meetings, and we got a chance to deal with some things that had not been openly discussed by SCLC leadership with members of the outside community, meaning those people who were not necessarily involved with the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, because at that particular time very few people had contact with Dr. King. Reverend Lawson was one of those people, which gave him such an outstanding role, you understand, in putting this together, bringing Dr. King here, trying to pull off the demonstrations, as they were.

So, you know, the conversation that we had, at first it was difficult, because we had to feel each other out. And this was an awkward situation. Here was a man whose entire soul was wrapped into the nonviolent movement. And here are a group of about 2,000 strong, at that time, and here are a group of young men that nobody really knew anything about, because we were not seeking publicity, you know, none of that. You know, we were busy trying to do some of the things that we felt was necessary to bring the black community up to where it should be. So it was almost like a built-in collision, you understand, from the onset, but we managed to get around that. And when it ended, you know, we all left on a cordial note.

And then Taylor Rogers remembers the Mountaintop speech…

AMY GOODMAN: You were at the speech at the Mason Temple. What was that like?

TAYLOR ROGERS: Well, it was — I really can’t explain it. It was just something else, you know. The place was full, wall-to-wall with people, storming and raining outside. You could tell by the sound of his voice and the way that he was speaking and the look on his — the expression on his face, that he knew something was going to happen. He didn’t know when or where. He didn’t know whether it was going to be in Memphis or on the way to Washington. But I could feel that, from the way he talked, he felt like something was going to happen, because he said, you know, “I’m not fearing any man. Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord.” You know, and he went on, and people was crying and everything, and that was, you know, just a great speech.

Democracy Now is a news show on public radio and public access TV. To find out how to watch or listen to Democracy Now where you live go to this link. You can also stream audio and video over the Internet at this link.
– MAB