My name is Dorothy R.; I was 26 years old when Martin Luther King Jr. died. I was living in a poor area in South Memphis. Back then we had our own neighborhood. The neighborhood had its own schools and stores. Also families stayed together. There was also less crime in 1968. A typical day for me would be getting my children ready for the day, after they were ready I would get ready myself and go to work. I worked at Cecil's grocery for eight hours each day. Life was good until Martin Luther King Jr. got shot. After that the city felt different.
April 4, 1968 was not like any other day. It was a rainy day and the power was out. Not only were the lights out but the telephone was not working either. As I was ironing, I heard the news that Martin Luther King Jr. was shot. I could not believe that a man who was trying to make a difference could just be shot like that and in the city that I live in. As the night went on, we were not supposed to leave our houses. The mood of the city was very somber. After his shooting, the attitudes of people in the city changed and not for the better. Instead of progressing like we were, we were now moving back. The city of Memphis was forever changed that night.