Demonstrations
In spite of Friday's bitter experience, marches were conducted daily throughout the following week (February 26-March 2).
In Monday's march, which was typical of others during the week, most of the demonstrators were adults and nearly all were Negroes. There were four white girls from Southwestern at Memphis and a couple of young white men from Memphis State. Not many Negro youngsters were in the lines. Quite a few were on the sidewalks, watching and chuckling.
Some of the signs were neatly stenciled and carried pointed, but judicious messages: "Dignity and Decency For Our Sanitation Workers," and "Keep Your Money In Your Pocket," and "Jim Crow Must Go," and "We Are Together Once And For All."
Others were crudely lettered and blunt: "Only God Is King, Henry," and "Watts Also Waited Too Late," and "Watts Also Fired Negroes," and "Sign Contract Blue-Eye Soul Brother."
The march moved slowly up Beale Street and turned north on Main. Trying to keep two car-lengths apart, as instructed, the marchers moved past the pawn shops on Beale; past dozens of fashionable shops on Main. All but a few of the stores were empty. So were the streets, except for clerks who had stepped out to watch and people waiting on corners for buses.
Asked how the boycott was affecting business, a dime store clerk answered, "Well, it ain't helping any. People stay away for fear of getting involved."
An elderly woman carried her sign and faced straight ahead, lips pursed and eyes darting from side to side. She was dressed simply, but neatly, and wore a hat. Asked if she were a member of a striker's family, she answered, "No, I'm just a church member and a friend. It's easier for me to march because I am alone now, and don't have children to take care of. I could be home in bed. But I remember. I been there. I've been without work. And I've been too poor and hungry to go to work when I had it."
On Saturday, March 2, 400 to 500 college and high school students picketed downtown stores all day. That afternoon there was a joint march by the young people, the ministers and their followers, and the sanitation men. The papers estimated 1,000 people in that march; again observers sympathetic to the strikers guessed twice that many.
Meanwhile, on the day after the use of Mace on marchers, Mayor Loeb and City Attorney Frank B. Gianotti decided to seek an injunction against the strike in Chancery Court. Chancellor Robert Hoffman issued an injunction prohibiting engaging in a strike against the city; causing, authorizing, or inducing employees to strike against the city; picketing city property and coercing the city by striking, picketing, or other means to recognize the union as bargaining agent. Officials explained that it would be difficult to enforce the injunction so as to require the men to return to work, but 23 persons specifically named could be cited for contempt and jailed for up to ten days. These included Jerry Wurf, president of the union international; P. J. Ciampa, the union's field director; T. 0. Jones, president of the local; and other national and local officers.
