Dr. Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., whose life was cut short at 39 years old, would have turned 92 today, January 15. From the Electrical Minority Workers Caucus and Day of Service to the IBEW Strong initiative, his impact lives on in Local Union No. 3, the IBEW, and the American labor movement.
MLK Day is a federal holiday observed every year on the third Monday of January. It is a time to reflect on how much progress we have made as a nation and how much more we have left to do. The past year has confronted us with one crisis after another and the inequalities that hold us back, but Dr. King and the civil rights movement he led continue to give us hope.
Take the time to think about what you and your union can do to honor and carry on Dr. King’s legacy. Click here to learn more about the National Day of Service on January 18.
This mural is at a community center in Chicago, IL where Local 3 members volunteered on the Day of Action at the 30th Annual IBEW Electrical Workers Minority Caucus Leadership Conference (January 15-19, 2020). Over 400 IBEW sisters and brothers from across the U.S. and Canada participated in dozens of projects throughout the city.
Coretta Scott King, Martin Luther King Jr., Harry Van Arsdale Jr. and Bayard Rustin. Scott King was an activist in her own right and continued after her husband’s death fighting for equality for all men and women. Rustin was a civil rights leader in the 1940s through the 80s, organizing Freedom Rides in the South and the 1963 March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom.
A. Philip Randolph, Coretta Scott King, Martin Luther King Jr. and Harry Van Arsdale Jr. Randolph organized the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters, the first predominantly African-American labor union, and he led the 1963 March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom.
Martin Luther King Jr., Leroy Tempro, and Harry Van Arsdale Jr. Leroy Tempro, a Local 3, IBEW Fixture Division member, was the labor coordinator for the 1963 March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom, which was joined by more than 400 members of Local 3, about 50,000 trade unionists and 250,000 people overall (estimates vary).
Dr. Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. with Local 3, IBEW Business Manager and NYC CLC President Harry Van Arsdale Jr. at the first meeting of the Brotherhood Party at the Hotel Commodore in Manhattan, October 1961.
