It is April 4th, 1968. People have all gathered at the Lorraine Motel to see a great man. As this great man is outside greeting his crowd with a smile, he is suddenly shot dead by a man in a tall skyscraper across the street. The great man's name; Martin Luther King Jr. The shooting of King is a day that will remain in people's memories for the rest of our nation's history, even for those who were not alive at that time. The newer generations have been told many times of King's massive contribution to the civil right's movement and why his death was such a tragic loss. While people who weren't born in that time know many things about the assassination, the men and women who were alive at the time and experienced the terrible event and the events after provide the most notable reasons as to why the event was so devastating to many. It's possible to get every detail of what happened at the location just from a simple google search, and everyone at the location probably felt the exact same way, but the people not at the Lorraine Motel, may have a different perspective on the events.
Nancy and her family was out of town on the day King was shot and they may not have really known what had happened yet, but eventually knew from watching tv and hearing about it from people talking. King's death was all over the news, interrupting every channel with the tragic event. After that night, there was a curfew for several days in the hopes to make sure that everyone would stay safe and hopefully not riot. The curfew worked at first because people were still recovering from the tragedy. However, after a while people started growing more unsettled.
Nancy noticed the quiet, almost ghostly nature of the streets at night. She started growing tired of the constant, nagging drone of the curfew sirens telling her to go to her home at a certain time based on someone else's point of view. As a result of this form of control, many started to understand where King was coming from in his plights to bring equality to everyone. The tight grasp that the government had on the people made them realize how controlled the African Americans must have felt all this time, which, adding on that King was shot, led to many people protesting in favor of his movement.
Nancy felt that King was trying to do the right thing even before he passed away, and still thought the same of him after his death. However, some people changed their attitudes after King's death saying that because he was gone, it was proof that the civil rights movement was a useless effort. While no one will ever forget King's assassination, it is important for everyone to remember the great accomplishments of his life and how he steered our nation into an era of equality and justice.