Hi, this is Dave Isay founder of StoryCore.

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Nothing would be more tragic than to stop at this point in Memphis.

We gotta see it through.

When we have our march, you need to be there.

It means leaving work. If it means leaving school, be there.

Be concerned about your brother. You may not be on strike.

But either we go up together or we go down together.

When you just heard was a piece of the last speech given by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

It was April 3rd, 1968, and the country was at a tipping point.

He would be assassinated the very next day.

That was a really devastating time for our country.

And it still gets to me when I share it even though it's over 50 years ago.

That's Clara Jean Esther. She was 20 years old when Dr. King gave that speech.

She was among the thousands who showed up in Memphis, Tennessee for the sanitation strike and found themselves in the middle of history.

It's the StoryCore podcast from NPR. I'm your host, Camila Cushani.

First, we're gonna hear from two men who worked for the Memphis Sanitation Department during the 1960s.

Taylor Rogers and Elmore Nickelberry.

They came to StoryCore separately. Mr. Rogers in 2005 and Mr. Nickelberry in 2007.

But they shared very similar memories about what led to the strike in 1968.

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