Martin Luther King, Jr. didn't just believe in the dignity of labor. He believed in fighting for it.

said, "With regard to domestics in this country, now and then, I think Dr. King said it best: 'All labor that uplifts humanity has dignity and importance. Martin Luther King, Jr. was certainly outspoken on the dignity of labor, which is an important and powerful theme. It's also, unfortunately, a theme too often appropriated by conservatives as a way to argue that because domestic or custodial work has dignity, it doesn't also need a decent paycheck.

But King was also outspoken about the importance of workers organizing and fighting for rights and a voice in the workplace, and he was an ally of unions in that fight. In fact, the line Spencer quoted is taken from his speech during the Memphis sanitation strike, the night before he was killed, just one of many times he spoke to or joined with unions. the union of the Memphis sanitation strike, has a collection of quotes demonstrating exactly this. As I have said many times, and believe with all my heart," King wrote to the Amalgamated Laundry Workers in 1962, "the coalition that can have the greatest impact in the struggle for human dignity here in America is that of the Negro and the forces of labor, because their fortunes are so closely intertwined.

The labor movement was the principal force that transformed misery and despair into hope and progress.