The History Within The Walls
In 1949, the 13th Episcopal District of the African Methodist Episcopal (A.M.E.) Church purchased Second Presbyterian Church and renamed it Clayborn Temple. Since the ownership by the African Methodist Episcopal Church, Clayborn Temple has stood as an important structure within the African-American community and a focal point of national civil rights activities.
Clayborn Temple is vividly remembered by the Civil Rights activist of the 50s and 60s as a place that they and the community found comfort, strength, support, and a hope for new beginnings and change. Clayborn Temple stood as the site of numerous civil rights demonstrations, including the principal march staging area and headquarters for the Sanitation Strike of 1968 that brought the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. to Memphis, Tennessee.
Sanitation Strikers In Front of Clayborn Temple
The Sanitation Strikes of 1968 have been historically depicted over time as a turning point in the Civil Rights movement. Those hard working men and their supporters were not just striking and marching for pay raises, overtime pay, union recognition, open check-off of union dues, and improved safety conditions; but it was their unofficial demand for the human dignity they deserved.
Sanitation Strikers holding "I AM A MAN" signs
Those sanitation workers marched with power, as they held their I AM A MAN signs in their hands demanding that the country see and respect them for who they were – “Men.” Men, who stood together in unity and left a job that did not respect them. Men, who had families and no additional income to support them. Men, who marched and took a stance not just for their own rights, but for the rights of laborers and African-Americans throughout the nation. For sixty-five days these Men marched for the nation.
March 28, 1968 - Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. leads the Sanitation Strike's March
Out of the dedicated sixty-five days that the Sanitation Strikes lasted, the one march that is most widely remembered by the nation is the March 28, 1968 march. On that day, 15,000 people gathered at Clayborn Temple to be led by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. What was intended to be a peaceful march ended abruptly in violence with 280 arrests, approximately 60 injured, and the shooting death of sixteen-year old, Larry Payne.
This march stood as a pivotal moment in Dr. King’s life. It remains as the only march that Dr. King had ever led where the marchers were responsible for triggering violence. The violence that ensued was a highly distressing factor to Dr. King and in an attempt to regain his reputation and to organize a peaceful march for the Sanitation Strikers, Dr. King rallied to lead another march from Clayborn Temple on April 3, 1968.
Upon Dr. King’s arrival back in Memphis, he was met with injunctions from the city against the march. April 3, 1968 was instead spent with Dr. King’s representatives holding press conferences at Clayborn Temple, while other representatives tried to get the injunction removed. The peaceful march that Dr. King desired to lead in support of Memphis’s sanitation workers never came about. One day later on April 4, 1968, Dr. King was killed just blocks form Clayborn Temple.
April 8, 1968 – Mrs. King leads the Sanitation Strike march
Just as she did in life, Coretta Scott King continued to lead the nation in support of her husband. Understanding how much the plight of the sanitation strikers was to Dr. King, Mrs. King returned to Memphis on April 8, 1968 to lead the peaceful Sanitation Strike march that Dr. King had desired to lead. On that day, Mrs. King, with her children, and leaders throughout the world led a peaceful and solemn march of over 19,000 people from Clayborn Temple to City Hall. The next day, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was laid to rest in Atlanta.
April 16, 1968 – Announcement of sanitation agreement
at Clayborn Temple
In wake of the tragedy of Dr. King’s death, the sanitation negotiations began and on Tuesday, April 16, 1968 at Clayborn Temple, the striker’s received the triumphant announcement that an agreement was reached. From the events of the Sanitation Strikes of 1968, the AFSCME Local 1733 Union was formed in Memphis, TN and the hearts of so many were filled with a satisfaction of accomplishment and self.
Even after the sanitation strikes, Clayborn Temple remained a community focal point for the African-American community. Clayborn has served as a community shelter; a halfway house for parolees and drug addicts; as well as, monumentally housing the first black owned Kindergarten in the City of Memphis. Clayborn Temple is also were the campaign for the first African-American Mayor of Memphis began. The history within its walls continues in its vastness.
Through the years, the building has suffered vandalism, damage, and neglect. The area surrounding Clayborn Temple has diminished from a prominent neighborhood of wealthy Memphians to a poverty stricken area in need. Through it all, Clayborn Temple continues to be vividly remembered by many. Tours both nationally and locally stop by to just get a glance of the history that is embodied in Clayborn.
Clayborn Temple remains as a historical landmark that personifies a legacy, a symbol, and a future.
Sanitation Strikers Holding Signs
The legacy is one of strength and courage.
The strength and courage of notable civil rights leaders and those numerous civil rights’ foot soldiers that directed the way of a nation.
Clayborn stands as a symbol to the testimony of unwavering determination of those leaders and foot soldiers to not only change the lives within a single community, but to change individual lives throughout the world.
Clayborn Temple’s future is one grounded on the premise of protecting and bringing the history of a struggle to the nation by maintaining and sustaining the history of a people.