Notes

Introduction -- Editor's note -- Part 1: -- Forging A Civil Rights-Labor Alliance In The Shadow Of The Cold War: -- Look to the future -- It is a dark day indeed when men cannot work to implement the ideal of brotherhood without being labeled communist -- We, the Negro people and labor-inevitably will sow the seeds of liberalism -- If the Negro wins, labor wins -- I am in one of those houses of labor to which I come not to criticize, but to praise -- There are three major social evils-the evil of war, the evil of economic injustice, and the evil of racial injustice -- Industry knows only two types of workers who, in years past, were brought frequently to their jobs in chains -- Now is the time to make real the promises of democracy -- Unresolved race question -- Part 2: -- Standing At The Crossroads: Race, Labor, War, And Poverty: -- Explosion in Watts reminded us all that the northern ghettos are the prisons of forgotten men -- Labor cannot stand still long or it will slip backward -- Civil rights at the crossroads -- Domestic impact of the war in Vietnam -- Part 3: -- Down Jericho Road: The Poor People's Campaign And Memphis Strike: -- Other America -- All labor has dignity -- To the mountaintop: let us develop a kind of dangerous unselfishness -- Epilogue: King and labor -- Appendix: Note on the speeches -- Acknowledgments -- Index CD: The unresolved race question, District 65 Thirtieth-Anniversary Convention, Madison Square Garden, New York City, October 23, 1963 -- All labor has dignity, Mason Temple Mass Meeting, Memphis, Tennessee., March 18, 1968 Overview: An unprecedented and timely collection of Dr. King's speeches on labor rights and economic justice. People forget that Dr. King was every bit as committed to economic justice as he was to ending racial segregation. He fought throughout his life to connect the labor and civil rights movements, envisioning them as twin pillars for social reform. As we struggle with massive unemployment, a staggering racial wealth gap, and the near collapse of a financial system that puts profits before people, King's prophetic writings and speeches underscore his relevance for today. They help us imagine King anew: as a human rights leader whose commitment to unions and an end to poverty was a crucial part of his civil rights agenda. Covering all the civil rights movement highlights-Montgomery, Albany, Birmingham, Selma, Chicago, and Memphis-award-winning historian Michael K. Honey introduces and traces King's dream of economic equality. Gathered in one volume for the first time, the majority of these speeches will be new to most readers. The collection begins with King's lectures to unions in the 1960s and includes his addresses during his Poor People's Campaign, culminating with his momentous "Mountaintop" speech, delivered in support of striking black sanitation workers in Memphis. Unprecedented and timely, "All Labor Has Dignity" will more fully restore our understanding of King's lasting vision of economic justice, bringing his demand for equality right into the present In this unprecedented and timely collection of Dr. King's speeches on labor rights and economic justice, award-winning historian Honey traces King's economic dream, from lectures to unions in the 1960s to his momentous Mountaintop speech, delivered in support of striking black sanitation workers in Memphis