Sociology of Religion: Worksheet--"At the River I Stand"

1. Describe the events in Memphis that led to the 1968 sanitation workers strike? Was the strike more basically a racial issue, an economic issue, or both--and why?

2. How did the mayor, the city council and the police respond to the strike? Why were they so unwilling to bargain with the strikers or to make concessions of any kind?

3. Who provided the local leadership in the strike?

4. How did Martin Luther King and his Southern Leadership Conference get involved? How did it also start to be a religious issue?

5. What happened with the first march led by King, and how does his commit to nonviolence help us understand why he decided to come back for another try? What similarities do you see between Martin Luther King and Gandhi?

Sociology of Religion: Groups--"At the River I Stand"

Be sure to also read King's "I've Been to the Mountaintip" speech before doing this exercise with your group. .
1. How does King make the connection between his Christianity and his involvement in a sanitation workers strike in Memphis?
2. How does he connect this strike with the much longer struggle of African-Americans for civil rights?
3. In what ways do the religious leaders who got involved in this strike fit Weber's model of charismatic leadership?
4. Why do you think the sanitation workers of Memphis ultimately won their strike? Do you think the religious dimension made it harder for city government to continue what I'd certainly call the mistreatment of their sanitation workers?
5. More generally, if you have time, what might make deeply religious social movement activists a force to be reckoned with, not just in this campaign in Memphis or even more broadly in the civil rights movement, but in all kinds of movements for social and political change?