- Coretta Scott King
Steven Calco, research archivist at Cornell University Libraryâs renowned Kheel Center at the Industrial Labor Relations School, recently highlighted Dr. Martin Luther King, Jrâs critical role championing the labor movement as part of his campaign for racial and social injustice. (See Steven Calco: All Labor Has Dignityâ Ithaca Times, Feb. 20, 2021). Less than one year after Dr. Kingâs tragic assassination on April 4, 1968, in Memphis, Tennessee, his wife Coretta Scott King rallied support for striking hospital workers, some recently fired from their low-paid and backbreaking jobs in hospitals in Charleston, South Carolina.Â
Coretta Scott King described why hospital workers should unionize, as they perform some of the hardest, most difficult work. âOne thing that hospital workers, Black, white or brown, have in common all over the country is that they are poor, they are terribly exploited, and they need a union more than anybody else. That is why Iâm with you. And you can count on me to stay with you in your fight for justice, for human rights and for dignity.âÂ