UofM’s Hooks Institute to Host Program Highlighting the Women of the 1968 Sanitation Workers Strike

March 4, 2019 - The Benjamin L. Hooks Institute for Social Change at the University of Memphis will host a special event featuring first-hand stories of courage and survival from the women of the 1968 Sanitation Workers Strike. The evening will feature select excerpts from the national video web series 1300 Men: Memphis Strike '68, produced by Striking Voices for TheRoot.com, as well as a panel of wives of 1968 strikers, moderated by journalist and Striking Voices founding producer, Emily Yellin.

The event will take place Thursday, March 21, in the University Center River Room (300) on campus with a reception at 5:30 p.m., followed the program at 6 p.m. This event is free and open to the public.

Visit Ben Hooks Events for more information.

About Emily Yellin
Emily Yellin is a reporter, author and producer who currently leads a multimedia journalism project called Striking Voices, centered around in-depth video interviews with some of the Memphis sanitation workers who went on strike in 1968 and their families. She and the Striking Voices team produced a video and photo portrait series called 1,300 Men: Memphis Strike '68, based on those interviews, in partnership with TheRoot.com, where the videos premiered during the first four months of 2018, coinciding with the 50th anniversary of the strike. Yellin is a longtime contributor to The New York Times, mostly writing about the South, race and women's issues. She has also written for Time, The Washington Post, The International Herald Tribune, Newsweek, Smithsonian Magazine and other publications. She is the author of two books: Your Call Is (Not That) Important to Us and Our Mothers' War.

CONTACT

Nathaniel C. Ball l 901.678.3655 | ncball@memphis.edu