Memphis Police Mace Sanitation Strike Marchers Including Women and Children

Memphis police deployed Mace against a peaceful march of striking sanitation workers and their supporters on February 23, spraying women and ministers. The action galvanized the community. It was in this context that Martin Luther King Jr. came to Memphis, where he was assassinated on April 4. The strike had begun after two Black workers, Echol Cole and Robert Walker, were crushed to death in a garbage truck.