1968. Memphis, Tennessee. The heart of the Jim Crow South. African American sanitation workers were called "boy." They faced poverty wages and degrading, unsafe work conditions. The city refused to recognize their union, or even their humanity.
After two sanitation workers - Echol Cole and Robert Walker- were crushed to death on the job, their AFSCME brothers stood together to demand dignity and respect. They marched in the streets carrying signs with four powerful words: "I AM A MAN."