Breaking Chains from Memphis to Baseball

About this episode

The episode reflects on Martin Luther King Jr.'s labor legacy and explores the organization of baseball players and the history of labor newspapers.

On this week’s Labor History Today: In April 1968, Martin Luther King Jr. stood with striking sanitation workers in Memphis—members of AFSCME Local 1733—delivering his powerful “Mountaintop” speech just one day before his assassination. We reflect on King’s labor legacy and what it means for organizing today. With the 2026 baseball season underway, we also take a look at the business of the game, featuring a segment from the Heartland Labor Forum on how players organized to break free from a system that bound them to their teams—and built one of the most powerful unions in the country. Along the way, Conor Casey, Labor Archivist and Head of the Labor Archives at the University of Washington, brings us the story of the Seattle Union Record, a pioneering labor newspaper that showed the power of workers telling their own stories. Questions, comments, or suggestions are welcome, and to find out how you can be a part of Labor History Today, email us at LaborHistoryToday@gmail.com Labor History Today is produced by the Labor Heritage Foundation and the Kalmanovitz Initiative for Labor and the Working Poor. #LaborRadioPod #History #WorkingClass #ClassStruggle @GeorgetownKILWP…

Topics covered

• labor history
• civil rights
• union organizing
• baseball
• worker rights
• labor legacy

Keywords

• labor history
• Martin Luther King Jr.
• AFSCME
• union organizing
• baseball
• Seattle Union Record
• worker rights
• civil rights

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: AFSCME Local 1733, Labor Heritage Foundation, Kalmanovitz Initiative for Labor and the Working Poor, University of Washington, Seattle Union Record

Places: Memphis, Seattle

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