The melodramas of Memphis: Contending narratives during the sanitation strike of 1968

Abstract

The 1968 sanitation strike in Memphis was dominated by two melodramas that played out in the public rhetoric generated by the controversy. These melodramas shaped the arguments and images, the very consciousness of the controversy, and clashed with enduring consequences for the city. This essay examines the nature of rhetoric as melodrama, argues that melodrama may be the most rhetorical form of narrative, and explores the possible impact upon community when opposed interests define themselves in such extreme narrative terms.