A group of sanitation workers whose strike 50 years ago brought civil rights icon Martin Luther King Jr. to Memphis, Tennessee, are being honored.

The NAACP and the National Civil Rights Museum say the surviving sanitation workers are recipients of this year's NAACP Vanguard Award. A group of workers attended a news conference and were honored at the museum on Tuesday.

Some workers are scheduled to attend the NAACP Image Awards on Monday, the holiday that marks King's birthday.

King came to Memphis to support the workers, who were pushing for better working conditions and higher pay.

On April 3, 1968, King delivered his final speech, "I've Been to the Mountaintop."

The next day he was assassinated on a balcony at the Lorraine Motel, now the National Civil Rights Museum.