12 days after that, frustrated by the city’s reply to the incident and constant neglect of its African American employees, 1300 African American employees working in the Memphis Department of Public Works participated in a work strike. This strike was first lead by the garbage collecting union organiser T.O Jones, and supported by Jerry Wurf (Who was the president of the nation’s largest union of public employees). On 11 February over 700 men attended a union meeting and unanimously decided to strike and requested a pay increase from the mayor (Loeb) but he rejected the request and only he had the authority to do so. The following day, non-violent campaigners were marching to the city hall and the police were ordered to show resistance so they used tear gas against the campaigners. The African American Memphis community were outraged and used this to create momentum in their next campaign. A meeting in a church basement took place on February the 24th. Approximately 150 ministers created a group called the ‘Formed Community on the Move for Equality’ (COME). They used non-violent strategies to fill up the jails in the city of Memphis to attract a lot of
12 days after that, frustrated by the city’s reply to the incident and constant neglect of its African American employees, 1300 African American employees working in the Memphis Department of Public Works participated in a work strike. This strike was first lead by the garbage collecting union organiser T.O Jones, and supported by Jerry Wurf (Who was the president of the nation’s largest union of public employees). On 11 February over 700 men attended a union meeting and unanimously decided to strike and requested a pay increase from the mayor (Loeb) but he rejected the request and only he had the authority to do so. The following day, non-violent campaigners were marching to the city hall and the police were ordered to show resistance so they used tear gas against the campaigners. The African American Memphis community were outraged and used this to create momentum in their next campaign. A meeting in a church basement took place on February the 24th. Approximately 150 ministers created a group called the ‘Formed Community on the Move for Equality’ (COME). They used non-violent strategies to fill up the jails in the city of Memphis to attract a lot of