by Rev. Dorothy S. Boulware
When the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. stood with Memphis sanitation workers in 1968, he wasn’t just fighting for fair wages — he was embodying a centuries-old alliance between the faith community and labor.
From the secret meetings of enslaved people plotting liberation to the pulpit speeches of modern-day labor leaders, the bond between faith and labor has long been a cornerstone of the fight for justice. This partnership, a bedrock of the civil rights movement, continues as leaders like the Rev. William J. Barber II and unions like the AFL-CIO carry the torch, advocating for living wages, voting rights, and economic equity.
A Longstanding Alliance
It would be difficult to separate the church from laborers and their rights and the civil rights movement because of their built-in impetus to fight for each other’s issues. Black laborers have traditionally been stalwart members — and even church leaders — so the connection is vital and ongoing.
The earliest Black labor meetings to plan uprisings happened while enslaved people confused their masters into believing it was just those Africans having worship as usual. They plotted escape from the unfair but cruelly legal labor practices they endured, with their songs and prayers masking conversations about freedom.
Later, many of the early gatherings to organize for better working conditions and pay were held in Black churches.
Trade unionist A. Phillip Randolph, with the help of activists Anna Arnold Hedgeman and Bayard Rustin, organized the 1963 March on Washington, which most people forget was about jobs and justice. Faith organizations, houses of worship, community groups, as well as numerous labor unions showed up in the nation’s capital for the historic march and sounded the alarm for fair treatment and more, better-paying jobs.
The lead song of the Civil Rights Movement soundtrack, “We Shall Overcome,” was adapted from the hymn “I’ll Overcome Some Day,” written in 1901 by Rev. Charles Albert Tindley of Philadelphia, who, ultimately, became a bishop in the United Methodist Church.
Dr. King’s Legacy
Dr. King’s April 4, 1968 speech was his last because he refused to desert the sanitation workers of Memphis, although he knew his life was in mortal danger if he appeared.
“If we’re serious about the legacy of Dr. King and the legacy of justice, we can’t simply remember ‘I have a dream’ without remembering what he said about living wages and lifting up poor and low-wealth people,” Rev. William J. Barber, president of Repairers of the Breach and co-chair of the Poor People’s Campaign, told Religion News last year.
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Barber’s work exemplifies this legacy. Over the past two years, his coalition enlisted the hands and feet of laborers of all kinds to knock on doors and register voters — workers who hadn’t traditionally voted because campaigning politicians never bothered to speak to issues like poverty and wage inequality.
“We had some 400 organizations join with us in 2022 when we had the first mass poor people and low-wage workers March on Washington, as well as major denominations and religious groups. We’re calling on all of them to reach the people in their immediate circles,” Barber said.
Labor in the Pulpit
And the partnership between labor and faith communities continues. The AFL-CIO’s program, The “Labor in the Pulpit, on the Bimah and in the Minbar” program, sends labor leaders to houses of worship on Labor Day weekend to “speak about the values of equity, racial and economic justice, and the solidarity that labor shares with the faith community,” according to its website, which also contains an organizing guide and toolkit for potential hosts. The bimah and the minbar are — for the synagogue and the mosque, respectively — the equivalents of the pulpit of a church.
Speakers “make a five-minute presentation about the values labor shares with the faith community, the issues impacting working people and the importance of the faith community and labor working together to achieve a more just and equitable society for all,” according to the toolkit.
During these services, the speakers also bring to mind the hard work of past leaders who fought diligently for things like an eight-hour work day, overtime pay, pensions, family and medical leave, and even the minimum wage, for which the fight continues.
As economic inequality grows and voting rights come under threat, this alliance between faith and labor leaders offers a model of collective action. Whether in the pulpit, on the picket line, or at the ballot box, the shared struggle for justice is as urgent as ever.
Source: Seattle Medium
