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Hear the "Striking Voices" of 1968

Darius B. WIlliams

Hear the “striking voices” of the 1968 sanitation workers and their families – voices of Civil Rights activists who shaped Memphis and the world, now at the Benjamin L. Hooks Library.

The “Striking Voices” photo and video exhibition is showing in the Goodwyn Gallery of the Benjamin L. Hooks Central Library (3030 Poplar Ave., first floor) through April 29th. The “living” exhibit – presented by Striking Voices and hosted in partnership with Memphis Public Libraries and the Memphis Library Foundation –showcases never-before-seen interviews and recent images of the 1968 Memphis sanitation strikers, their wives and children.

Over the past three years, journalist Emily Yellin and the Striking Voices crew have conducted a series of in-depth video interviews with the 1968 sanitation strikers. “So often, the sanitation strikers are seen as a chapter in another story — the life of Dr. King, the Civil Rights Movement, the labor movement or Memphis history. The goal of Striking Voices is to flip that script and treat those events and people as chapters in the lives of the strikers and their families,” Yellin said.

After each interview, photographer Darius B. Williams created dynamic portraits of everyone who talked on video. Richard Copley, Striking Voices director of photography, also included original photos he took from the 1968 Sanitation Strike.

“We aim to celebrate the work, honor the men and their families, and give credit to everyone who supported the Striking Voices project – all of whom are Memphians.”

There will be a discussion and screening of all the interviews on April 22nd at 7 pm, at the library.

For more information about the Striking Voices Exhibit, visit www.strikingvoices.com or call 901-415-2873.

I began piano lessons at age 6, trumpet at age 9, and began teaching myself the guitar at 10. My electronics knowledge comes from my father, who had the RCA television and stereo shop in my hometown of Pocahontas, Arkansas for nearly 20 years. My dad is still fixing televisions at age 79.