Poster for the 1968 Memphis Sanitation Strike: Museum Object and Cultural History

The object in the museum catalogue

A poster used during the Memphis Sanitation Strike that took place from February to April 1968. The strike was lead by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. The light blue poster has centered, large, block, red text that reads, [I AM / A MAN] with the word [AM] underlined in red. Printed below in smaller red text is the word, [MEMPHIS]. Along the bottom edge of the poster, in small red text, is the printer’s name and location, [tea lautec litho - san Francisco] printed on the left and [(c) 1968 EMERSON GRAPHICS – 243 COLLINS STREET. SAN FRANCISCO 94118 / MAIL ORDER $1.25 (QUANTITY PRICES ON REQUEST)] printed on the right. There is an inscription written in black ink on the back of the poster that reads, [GIFT OF JOHN DE FOREST].

Materials, dates and provenance

• Date: 1968
• Designed by: Emerson Graphics, American, founded 1968
• Printed by: Tea Lautrec Litho, American, 1967 - 1994
• Type: posters
• Medium: ink on paper
• Dimensions: H x W: 28 1/16 × 22 1/16 in. (71.2 × 56 cm)
• Place printed: San Francisco, California, United States, North and Central America
• Place used: Memphis, Shelby County, Tennessee, United States, North and Central America
• Place used: Washington, District of Columbia, United States, North and Central America
• Topic: African American
• Topic: Activism
• Topic: American South
• Topic: Civil Rights
• Topic: Labor
• Topic: U.S. History, 1961-1969
• Object number: 2017.107.5
• Credit Line: Collection of the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture, Gift of Vincent A. deForest in honor of Tom Offenburger, SCLC (Dir. of Information)
• Data Source: National Museum of African American History and Culture

Sources and reuse

Catalogue descriptions and facts adapted from National Museum of African American History and Culture through the Smithsonian's official Open Access dataset. This record explicitly marks its metadata CC0 1.0; formatting and selection have been changed. The underlying object's rights statement is: © Emerson Graphics Permission required for use. Proper usage is the responsibility of the user.