Memphis, Martin, and the Mountaintop: The Sanitation Strike of 1968

Duncan relays the story of the 1968 Memphis sanitation strike, which was triggered after two black sanitation workers died when their poorly maintained truck malfunctioned. After the incident, Mayor Henry Loeb refused to meet the demands of the newly formed sanitation workers' union for better pay, treatment, and safety standards, and 1,300 men walked off the job. Duncan writes in fervent free verse from the perspective of Lorraine Jackson, a fictional girl whose father joins the strike and who is loosely based on Almella Starks-Umoja, a teacher who marched in strike protests with her parents as a child. Lorraine's narrative is passionate and personal: "My daddy... marched for better pay. He marched for decent treatment. My daddy marched for me." As violence erupts, and Martin Luther King Jr. arrives to deliver his "I've Been to the Mountaintop" speech the day before his assassination, the emotional tenor of Lorraine's story builds, cresting with the strike's settlement: "So much was won. So much was lost. Freedom is never free." Christie's vivid, emotive gouache paintings feature a montage of powerful panoramas and portraits, including those of the protesters, King, and Lorraine's family. Ages 9-12. (Aug.)

Copyright 2018 Publishers Weekly, LLC Used with permission.

Gr 2-5--Duncan tells the story of the 1968 Memphis Sanitation Strike and the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. through the voice of Lorraine Jackson, an invented character who looks back on her childhood as the nine-year-old daughter of a sanitation worker. The book opens with a poem, beginning simply, "I remember Memphis," and continues mostly in prose, with several pages of poetry in different formats interspersed. The haiku "Omen" is striking amid the longer pages: "Yellow Daffodils. Sixteen inches under snow. King canceled his march." The language throughout is powerful. Christie's Acryla gouache paintings are breathtaking, from the wide white brush strokes in the snowy background of the aforementioned haiku, to the impeccable rendering of Coretta Scott King marching in a widow's veil four days after her husband's assassination. Lorraine is depicted earnestly with braids in bows, and bobby socks. Warm yellows and oranges and cool blues alternate as backgrounds to most full-bleed pages. The text is fully researched, with cited sources, and draws many details from interviews with a Memphis teacher who experienced this moment in history as a child. VERDICT A superbly written and illustrated work. A first purchase for public and school libraries.--Clara Hendricks, Cambridge Public Library, MA

Copyright 2018 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

★ "Duncan creates 9-year-old Lorraine Jackson to tell the full story of the Memphis sanitation strike of 1968. The author's choice to not focus on the singular efforts of King but on the dedicated efforts of community signals a deeply important lesson for young readers. Strong historical details back up the organizing feat...(t)he narrative is set in vignettes that jump between verse and prose, set against Christie's bold paintings... encapsulates the bravery, intrigue, and compassion that defined a generation, presenting a history that everyone should know: required and inspired." - Kirkus Reviews, starred review

★"In this impressive picture book, a character inspired by an African American family involved in the 1968 Memphis sanitation strike tells her first-person account of the experience in verse and prose. Each full-page spread functions as a chapter with...informative back matter (which)...includes a time line and source notes. The excellent gouache art is typical of Christie's distinctive and impactful style, with impressionistic images set on pages saturated with shades of blue, yellow, or orange. Most gratifyingly, the determination of the characters and the import of this part of history are imbued with dignity throughout." - Booklist, starred review

★ "The boldly colored, vivid illustrations add to the meaning of the story. The book could be read many times and new information would be discovered with each new reading....(T)he author uses descriptive words that make this book excellent to use as a mentor text for writing. Each choice in diction conjures a specific meaning and acts as the perfect word to help the reader picture and feel what is happening in the story." — School Library Connection, starred review

★"With Memphis, Martin, and the Mountaintop, Alice Faye Duncan...takes as her subject Martin Luther King's last campaign, and she makes clear that, while he didn't live to see its outcome, his work was not in vain. R. Gregory Christie...displays his unmistakable style...in his ennobling art, humanity is always paramount. (A)n inspiring account in which a heroic campaign lost its leader but nevertheless marched on to victory." — Shelf Awareness, starred review

★ "The language throughout (the book) is powerful. Christie's Acryla gouache paintings are breathtaking... The text is fully researched, with cited sources, and draws many details from interviews with a Memphis teacher who experienced this moment in history as a child. A superbly written and illustrated work. A first purchase for public and school libraries." - School Library Journal, starred review

"Duncan writes in fervent free verse...(the) narrative is passionate and personal...Christie's vivid, emotive gouache paintings feature a montage of powerful panoramas and portraits." -Publishers Weekly