In February 1968, the sanitation workers of Memphis, sparked by the death of Echol Cole and Robert Walker, went on strike to demand improved working conditions and pay.

The deaths of Cole and Walker highlighted the multiple perils of the job: in addition to incredibly low wages, the families of the deceased did not receive compensation.

Thus, the sanitation workers of Memphis banded together to demand better pay, rights, regulations, and compensation for their departed co-workers. Throughout that three-month process, media closely followed by documenting with articles and, more importantly, photographs.

Tom Barber’s photo entitled "Street scene during the Sanitation Strike" stands in contrast to the more familiar photos of men on strike, demonstrations turning into chaos, and pain and rage in the face of adversity...

Taken just about a month after the beginning of the strike, the wide view of a nearly empty neighborhood shows an alternative perspective from the passionate battle for rights that is more often documented.

The scene is quiet, desolate, and mundane, which differs substantially from the intense energy of photos with a shared title and subject matter. Among the quietness is an overall feeling of something missing – the sanitation workers.

The setting of a neighborhood points to the more domestic, personal effects the strike had on Memphians. While the men were present in the media spotlight and political world, they were at the same time absent from their homes and jobs. Although the strike was necessary, revolutionary, and monumentally beneficial in regards to community and the future, it strained the intimate lives of the workers and their families, as well as their communities.

Among the quiet scene are two young boys walking across the road and a woman walking in the opposite direction in the distance. What is peculiar about the boys is that they are making direct eye contact with the camera; there is a sort of knowing in their faces.

Although their facial expressions are unclear, they appear to be out of place in this setting. They are not playing outside in their neighborhood but going somewhere. They are walking through the piles of trash to an unknown destination, though it can be assumed they are going somewhere that is hopefully not covered in trash.

I think these boys are images of hope and perseverance. The fight for civil rights, and more specifically the rights of sanitation workers in Memphis, was and is dirty and difficult. As the young boys move through the garbage filled streets towards something unknown but presumably better, we imagine the community going through the hard times with the end goal of something brighter both for current generations and generations to come. 

The photo may be nearly vacant of people, but it is full of signs that point towards the action of the strike. The image of trash covering the streets provokes the audience to ask, "What happened here?" It is a reminder of the lives lost, the dangers of the job, and the unjust payment and treatment of the workers...

There is so much unknown about the area and the three people in the photo. Are the two boys going to join their families at the strike? Is the woman in the suit going as well? Or is she going to work to support her family so that her husband can be out working for the rights of the sanitation workers?

In everyday life, sanitation workers of all varieties are often overlooked by the common people. They accomplish hard work that most take for granted. Seeing the photo with the streets littered with trash, it shows what life is like without some of the hard working, respectable people that are too often forgotten about. They are essential yet ignored.

I think in a similar way this is a photo that could go ignored. Without action or large signs to attract a person’s attention, the audience must actively seek out relevance in it. They must want to find importance in the photo like people do with sanitation workers in real life. The importance is always there; however, it just takes a little effort by the people to recognize it.

I believe the same goes for the black community in Memphis. Like the sanitation workers, who are dominantly men of color, racial minorities are overlooked, ignored, or looked down upon by others. Oppression usually revolves around identity, whether that be race, religion, or class.

For the Memphis sanitation workers, their intersectionality made their lives that much more disregarded, which is an act of violence against that community. The photo seems to be a message from that community to the dominant society: that even though they are pushed down and forgotten, they are essential; and without them, this city would not survive.

Katherine Chappell is a senior English major at the University of Memphis.


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