Civil rights activists from historic strike pay visit to Hub City
JACKSON, Tenn. — February is Black History Month, and Jackson State Community College kicked off its festivities with a reception for two participants in one of Martin Luther King Jr.’s last events.
The Black Student Association hosted the reception and welcomed Baxter Leach and Alvin Turner, workers and participated in the 1968 Memphis Sanitation Workers Strike.
The two were among 1,300 who went on strike, campaigning against neglect and abuse of the city’s black employees.
Perry Burrows, president of “Friends of the Library”said it is a wonderful way to learn from those who went before us.
“I think that it is so incredible that we’ve got the opportunity because most of history goes past us before we even understand what it is,” Burrows said.
Dozens of people came out to the McWherter Center at Jackson State to honor the two men.
