Echol Cole
Encyclopedia
Echol Cole was one of the two sanitation workers
killed in Memphis, Tennessee
on Tuesday, February 1, 1968. Robert Walker was the other. The death of these men, together with many numerous racial and working-class injustices, contributed to Martin Luther King, Jr.
(MLK) on March 18, participating in a city-wide march to honor these men, support the Memphis Sanitation Strike
, and address the human rights violations which led to their deaths. The march ended with police action, but another was scheduled. King was assassinated the evening before the second march.
From Taylor Branch
’s On Canaan’s Edge (ISBN 978-064857121), page 684:
Waste collector
A waste collector is a person employed by a public or private enterprise to collect and remove refuse and recyclables from residential, commercial, industrial or other collection site for further processing and disposal...
killed in Memphis, Tennessee
Memphis, Tennessee
Memphis is a city in the southwestern corner of the U.S. state of Tennessee, and the county seat of Shelby County. The city is located on the 4th Chickasaw Bluff, south of the confluence of the Wolf and Mississippi rivers....
on Tuesday, February 1, 1968. Robert Walker was the other. The death of these men, together with many numerous racial and working-class injustices, contributed to Martin Luther King, Jr.
Martin Luther King, Jr.
Martin Luther King, Jr. was an American clergyman, activist, and prominent leader in the African-American Civil Rights Movement. He is best known for being an iconic figure in the advancement of civil rights in the United States and around the world, using nonviolent methods following the...
(MLK) on March 18, participating in a city-wide march to honor these men, support the Memphis Sanitation Strike
Memphis Sanitation Strike
The Memphis Sanitation Strike began on February 11, 1968 in Memphis, Tennessee. Citing years of poor treatment, discrimination, dangerous working conditions, and the recent work-related deaths of Echol Cole and Robert Walker, some 1300 black sanitation workers walked off the job in protest...
, and address the human rights violations which led to their deaths. The march ended with police action, but another was scheduled. King was assassinated the evening before the second march.
From Taylor Branch
Taylor Branch
Taylor Branch is an American author and historian best known for his award-winning trilogy of books chronicling the life of Martin Luther King, Jr. and some of the history of the American civil rights movement...
’s On Canaan’s Edge (ISBN 978-064857121), page 684:
- “It was a gruesome chore to retrieve the two crushed bodies from the garbage packer and pronounce them dead at John Gaston Hospital. Echol Cole and Robert Walker soon became the anonymous cause that diverted Martin Luther King to Memphis for his last march. City flags flew at half-mast for them, but they never were public figures like Lisa Marie PresleyLisa Marie PresleyLisa Marie Presley is an American singer and songwriter, also known as the "Princess of Rock and Roll". She is the only child of Elvis Presley, and daughter of Priscilla Presley.-Early life:...
, whose birth at 5:01 PM was being announced. . . . Cole and Walker would not be listed among civil rights martyrs, nor studied like Rosa ParksRosa ParksRosa Louise McCauley Parks was an African-American civil rights activist, whom the U.S. Congress called "the first lady of civil rights", and "the mother of the freedom movement"....
as the catalyst for a new movement. Their fate was perhaps too lowly and pathetic.”