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Going Down Jericho Road: The Memphis Strike, Martin Luther King's Last Campaign Illustrated Edition

by Michael K. Honey (Author)
4.8 4.8 out of 5 stars 44 ratings
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The definitive history of the epic struggle for economic justice that became Martin Luther King Jr.'s last crusade.

Memphis in 1968 was ruled by a paternalistic "plantation mentality" embodied in its good-old-boy mayor, Henry Loeb. Wretched conditions, abusive white supervisors, poor education, and low wages locked most black workers into poverty. Then two sanitation workers were chewed up like garbage in the back of a faulty truck, igniting a public employee strike that brought to a boil long-simmering issues of racial injustice.

With novelistic drama and rich scholarly detail, Michael Honey brings to life the magnetic characters who clashed on the Memphis battlefield: stalwart black workers; fiery black ministers; volatile, young, black-power advocates; idealistic organizers and tough-talking unionists; the first black members of the Memphis city council; the white upper crust who sought to prevent change or conflagration; and, finally, the magisterial Martin Luther King Jr., undertaking a Poor People's Campaign at the crossroads of his life, vilified as a subversive, hounded by the FBI, and seeing in the working poor of Memphis his hopes for a better America. 16 pages of illustrations
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  1. ISBN-10
    0393330532
  2. ISBN-13
    978-0393330533
  3. Edition
    Illustrated
  4. Publisher
    W. W. Norton & Company
  5. Publication date
    January 17, 2008
  6. Language
    English
  7. Dimensions
    5.5 x 1.3 x 8.2 inches
  8. Print length
    640 pages
  9. See all details
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Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Michael K. Honey, a former Southern civil rights and civil liberties organizer, is Haley Professor of Humanities at the University of Washington Tacoma, where he teaches labor, ethnic, and gender studies and American history. He is a Guggenheim Fellow and has won numerous research fellowships and book awards for his books on labor, race relations, and civil rights history, including the Robert F. Kennedy Book Award for Going Down Jericho Road. He lives in Tacoma with his wife, Pat Krueger.

Product details

  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ W. W. Norton & Company; Illustrated edition (January 17, 2008)
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Paperback ‏ : ‎ 640 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0393330532
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0393330533
  • Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 1.14 pounds
  • Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 5.5 x 1.3 x 8.2 inches
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.8 4.8 out of 5 stars 44 ratings

About the author

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Michael K. Honey

Michael K. Honey

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Michael K. Honey, a former Southern civil rights and civil liberties organizer, is professor of labor ethnic and gender studies and American history, and the Haley Professor of Humanities, at the University of Washington-Tacoma. The author of three books on labor and civil rights history, including Going Down Jericho Road: The Memphis Strike, Martin Luther King's Last Campaign, he lives in Tacoma.

Customer reviews

4.8 out of 5 stars
4.8 out of 5
44 global ratings

Customers say

Customers find the book amazingly readable and intelligently written. They also appreciate the detailed account.

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5 customers mention "Readability"5 positive0 negative

Customers find the book amazingly readable and accessible. They also say the author is a splendid writer with an accessible style.

"...It helps that it is intelligently and sensitively written from as balanced and objective a perspective as possible." Read more

"...Honey is a splendid writer, with a style that I find more accessible than Taylor Branch's...." Read more

"This is an amazingly readable, detailed, account of the Sanitation Worker's strike in Memphis in 1968...." Read more

"...It is great to read a book in which you personally knew all the people written about and recall all the events...." Read more

3 customers mention "Intellectual merit"3 positive0 negative

Customers find the book intelligently and sensitively written. They also appreciate Prof. Honey's excellent job of bringing together the facts surrounding the 1968 sanitation.

"...It helps that it is intelligently and sensitively written from as balanced and objective a perspective as possible." Read more

"This is an amazingly readable, detailed, account of the Sanitation Worker's strike in Memphis in 1968...." Read more

"Prof. Honey does an excellent job of bringing together the facts surrounding the 1968 sanitation workers strike in Memphis, TN and its intersection..." Read more

Top reviews from the United States

Julian Bene
5.0 out of 5 stars Beautiful evocation of the struggle of black workers
Reviewed in the United States on July 29, 2010
Verified Purchase
This vibrant account of MLK's last weeks before the assassination - and of the conditions of black workers in Memphis that drew him to the city - overcomes the cliches that have inevitably encrusted our view of the civil rights struggle. It reminds us what the fight was about and shows us how the actors behaved on all sides. The south in the 1960s was still a bastion of nakedly racist white power, exploiting black laborers unmercifully to keep the white middle class comfortable, with the media, cops, FBI and courts all stomping on the underdog. The book is a great case study of unionizing, of protest organizing and, for that matter, of strike-breaking and of undermining a progressive movement. It is enriched by a ton of detail culled from archival accounts, including FBI files.

One message that comes out from this detailed look is King's generosity and morality: his dedication to lift up blacks and others who were much less well off than he and his educated class. Regardless of threats from white supremacists, dirty tricks by Hoover's FBI, disunity among black movement leaders and trade unions, and his own doubts about what approaches to the Poor People's Campaign could be effective, King stuck with the sanitation workers. The rare altruism described in this book is an inspiration. It's a shame for our entire society that he had no true successors - and that the obstacles to progress towards a decent and just society are so darned hard to surmount.

Anyone looking to understand the late stages of the civil rights movement, the history of Memphis, the South in the 1960s, or the turmoil that Martin Luther King had to deal with will appreciate this book. It helps that it is intelligently and sensitively written from as balanced and objective a perspective as possible.
8 people found this helpful
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Olde Hounde
5.0 out of 5 stars A Measure of the Men
Reviewed in the United States on January 5, 2007
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This might be the finest book written on Martin Luther King: it certainly is the best one that I have read about him. Honey is a splendid writer, with a style that I find more accessible than Taylor Branch's. No doubt that Branch has written the seminal history of King and his times, but his writing can become tedious due to too much detail and meandering sentences.

Honey is an award-winning historian who has written two previous excellent books that demonstrate his skill as an oral historian. The outstanding feature of this book is the numerous interviews he conducted with important figures, which keep the book always absorbing.

King receives much attention, but Honey shows that the Memphis strike was led by local workers and union officials who were fighting to escape the living hell of dangerous working conditions (the strike grew out of the deaths of two sanitation workers who were mangled in a malfunctioning garbage truck when they sought shelter from a rainstorm).

In addition to the stories about the local workers and organizers, King is portrayed as an important influence who was struggling with internal fighting among black civil rights groups, includng the NAACP, the Urban League, SCLC, and SNCC, the FBI, Lyndon Johnson, who was angered by King's anti-war proclamations, and most whites who thought King was moving too fast. Any reader who questions King's leadership and selflessness, needs to read this book to have those views dispelled.

Ultimately, the Memphis strike paved the way for labor improvements throughout the South.

This superb book should be considered for all major book prizes. For King scholars, it is essential and for all other informed readers, it is an excellent narrative of King and his times.
27 people found this helpful
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Michael G. Cassidy
5.0 out of 5 stars This is an amazingly readable, detailed, account of ...
Reviewed in the United States on December 3, 2015
Verified Purchase
This is an amazingly readable, detailed, account of the Sanitation Worker's strike in Memphis in 1968. I was a college student in Memphis in 1968 and participated in the March 28th movement march and the memorial march following MLK's assassination. However, Michael Honey's account provided background and detail's of which I was embarrassingly totally unaware.
It will soon be fifty years since the events described here occurred; however, the underlying situation that existed, not only in Memphis but nationally, are still alive today. The promised land which Dr. King saw from the mountaintop the night before his death is still on the horizon. We may have moved closer to it, but we still are marching.
If you want to understand from where we have come, Michael Honey's book will provide an in depth view of one key moment in the journey.
11 people found this helpful
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Sandor
5.0 out of 5 stars The Memphis Sanitation Workers' Strike and Martin Luther King: A History
Reviewed in the United States on April 4, 2013
Verified Purchase
I am moved beyond words by this book. As someone who has been active in strikes and the labor movement, I have been enthralled by the story of the Memphis Santitation Workers' Strike, and the detail which Michael Honey gives this history draws me in to its narrative more than even the film documentaries I have seen on the subject. Many times i have had to put the book down to absorb the emotions and images it evokes, described by someone who I am sure must have had firsthand knowledge of the events, the personalities involved, and the monumental history of a time that reverberated and shook the foundations of American society with the death of the Civil Rights Movement's greatest charismatic leader. To anyone who has little knowledge of this watershed moment in our history, which probably means most of us, I can't recommend this book highly enough. It's a forgotten, or overlooked history, restored to us in sharp detail. Thank you, Prof. Honey.
5 people found this helpful
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John V. Atkinson
5.0 out of 5 stars Recalling memories
Reviewed in the United States on July 13, 2007
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As one who lived through the history recalled in this book,I found it excellent.It is great to read a book in which you personally knew all the people written about and recall all the events.Michael Honey has done an excelllent job.I highly recommend this book to all students of the civil rights movement and Martin Luther King jr. Especially I recommend it to all residents of Memphis and Tennessee.May we never allow this history to repeat itself
11 people found this helpful
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Auntie Jpeg
5.0 out of 5 stars Prof. Honey writes an excellent history of MLK's involvement in 1968 Memphis sanitation workers strike.
Reviewed in the United States on December 1, 2013
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Prof. Honey does an excellent job of bringing together the facts surrounding the 1968 sanitation workers strike in Memphis, TN and its intersection with MLK's poor peoples campaign. It is very readable and a rhythm/pace that keeps you engaged through the end of a 400+ page book.
One person found this helpful
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Top reviews from other countries

Jannelle
5.0 out of 5 stars Five Stars
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on March 16, 2017
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A superb documentation of this important event in history!
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Tim Wakeman
4.0 out of 5 stars Four Stars
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on August 3, 2016
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Just what I needed
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