Beto gets SC State Rep. Marvin Pendarvis endorsement on live stream

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1. More information about the significance of this march

From O'Rourke's official facebook page:

Beto O'Rourke
6 mins ·

We marched together in Charleston on the 50th Anniversary of the MUSC Hospital Strike. An important reminder of the heroic women like Ms. Louise Brown who not only led the civil rights movement but who forced the necessary change in our country.

In 1969, 400 black hospital workers, mostly women, led a strike against the all-white administrations at two Charleston hospitals where they were working. The strike focused on improving unfair treatment and pay of black employees.

The administration refused to acknowledge a labor union created by the workers, which led to 12 hospital workers being arrested after protesting. Gaining national attention, the strike was joined by the Southern Christian Leadership Conference and leaders like Ralph Abernathy and Coretta Scott King who helped steer the movement.

More than 5,000 people marched on the city in protest. South Carolina's governor dispatched the National Guard and hundreds of state police to Charleston in response, declaring a city-wide emergency. A thousand people were arrested, and a months-long curfew was set.

The strikers persisted until the strike officially ended in June 1969 when hospital leadership finally agreed to meet some of the workers' demands. A half century later, we recognize there is still so much work to be done and we commit ourselves to fighting for equity, justice, and civil rights for all.