I Am Somebody

I love stumbling upon documentaries like this about little known resistances and fights that have happened where the marginalized strike back. In "I Am Somebody" it was literally a strike. The hospital workers in local 1199 of Charleston, South Carolina went on strike for fair wages. What was the fair wage they were requesting you ask? Well, they were getting paid $1.30 an hour. I know that the date of their strike was 1969 so we can't compare that to today's wages, but here's the more important thing: the Black hospital workers were getting paid less than their white counterparts.

The hospital workers got the attention of Ralph Abernathy and Coretta Scott King who came to lend a hand. It was peaceful and it was effective. This little documentary is a simple, yet noble, attempt to bring their strike to the attention of many more.