For this project I interviewed my grandmother, Patricia M. During the time around the assassination she was a 33 year old mother who lived in scenic hills. An ideal family location with a strong, interconnected community. Coming from rural Mississippi, she was thrilled to live in a suburban area outside of the big city. Unlike today, strong social neighborhoods were common. Where people knew most people in their community if not everyone. Life for her was in accordance with social expectancies of the time. She was a stay-at-home mom who took care of their son, Warren, cleaned the house, and cooked for the family, while her husband was a provider. This family structure was different than that of today. Today, gender roles are more diversified in the way of who is the caretaker and who provides financial stability. On the day king was assassinated, she said that she remembered chaos and panic. People in her community were spreading the word and making sure others were checking their television for news. When she saw the news reports she felt horrified at Dr. King's murder and ashamed of Memphis. She knew it wasn't safe and so her family left and stayed the night in a town in Mississippi about 3 hours away. When they got there it was nighttime and they checked the news for updates and saw that there were protests and riots of mostly African Americans but also they had found evidence on where the shot was fired. She had always had the utmost respect for Dr. King. She was impressed with his intelligence which she was surprised by, which was to the fault of her upbringing and lack of contact with black people. She had thought highly of him and his peaceful methods even before he died and that wasn't changed by his death. Afterwards there was an instant change racism, but eventually she saw racism begin to fade, although much faster in the north, it also happened in the south. She could see attitudes change over time and eventually all men and women were recognized as equal creations by the American government. As I interviewed my grandmother I couldn't help but notice a sense of unknowing by her and my grandfather in their early years. My grandfather didn't spend any real time with any black person until he was 27 and in law school and soon realize that those black men were not only just as smart as white people they were smarter than him. My grandmother said over and over, to make sure I knew, "we didn't know, we hadn't been around them". In conclusion I found the only way to perpetuate ignorance was to eliminate interaction, because without interaction with black people there perspectives would never change. The key factor to breaking the race barrier was and is communication, it's so simple it's stupid.