For my dad, Greg L., East Memphis was a good and quiet place to live in the 1960s. He told me that in his neighborhood everyone's family situation was very similar to his. "All fathers worked all day, where as most mothers were stay at home moms." He recalls. He also said that public schools were a place that felt safe and he never felt threatened or scared when he was at school.
A typical day for my dad was he'd walk to and from school everyday. When he returned home from school he was greeted by his mom, and after he finished his homework he'd go play with his friends in his neighborhood.
When Dr. King was shot my dad was at home eating dinner. "Frankly my family felt like he was a troublemaker who was only in Memphis to stir up trouble between the city leaders and the garage men." When I asked my dad how he and his family reacted he said, "Our reaction was that he put himself into this position, and he was shot because of his actions."
My dad's part of town was mostly white so they were initially unaffected by the shooting. The night Dr. King was shot, he was going about his regular routine. But he did feel that his parents were uneasy about the shooting and they were afraid the city would explode in violence.
My father's family felt like Dr. King was a trouble maker just trying to cause rioting and violence in America. They thought he did it more for personal gain than to really help others. My dad said, "Now I, along with my parents, think that Dr. King was representing and championing the rights of a race people who were not being treated equally."
The only major change he saw was the fear of widespread rioting and killing of innocent people. As far as people acting differently my dad didn't notice anything. He felt like over the years society's attitude gradually changed after his death.
The thing he remembers most is White station church of Christ minister, Dr. John Scott, preached a sermon two Sundays after Dr. King was assassinated that related to these events. His main theme was that as Christians, we must respect all men and treat them as Christ would treat them. During the sermon, several families walked out, and several more left the congregation in the weeks that followed.
My dad's opinions of Dr. King and the Civil Rights Movement have changed significantly since those events unfolded on April 4, 1968 and the days that followed.