Nickleberry died on Dec. 30 in Memphis, according to an obituary by R.S. Lewis and Sons Funeral Home, which handled his services. A cause of death was not disclosed.
MEMPHIS, Tenn. (AP) — Elmore Nickleberry, a longtime Memphis sanitation worker who participated in the pivotal 1968 strike that brought
“He knew something was going to happen. He could feel it,” Nickleberry said. “When he spoke like that, he had the power in his voice.”
Nickleberry worked for the Memphis sanitation department for 65 years. He served in the U.S. Army and was honorably discharged before going to work for the department at the age of 21.
“I stood outside the gate for two weeks trying to get a job,” Nickleberry said. “Then a man told me, ‘Boy, you’ve been coming here for two weeks, a week or two.’ I said. ‘Yes sir.’ He said, ‘Come on in boy.’ I went on in, and the next day I started picking up garbage.”
Nickleberry and other sanitation workers received several awards in later years. A memorial near the Clayborn Temple, where organizers passed out the famous “I Am A Man” placards they would carry during protests, honors their legacy.
“The efforts of the strikers, with their iconic “I Am A Man” placards, and of people of good will in Memphis, led to remarkable progress in race relations and labor equity, and forever changed my city for the better,” U.S. Rep. Steve Cohen, a Memphis Democrat, said in a statement after Nickleberry’s death. “The strike and its aftermath were a defining moment for Memphis and for the country.”
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