In the year of 1968, Elizabeth E. was eight years old. She was a bright little girl with brown hair and hazel eyes. Elizabeth had two brothers and one sister: Danny, David, and Janie. They all lived together with their Mother and Father in a cute little house in Frasier. As a child, Elizabeth loved her neighborhood. She remembers at least one child living in every house on the street. There were parks at every corner with police men at every one. The police men would organize fun games for the neighborhood children at the parks. Elizabeth would play kickball, t-ball, baseball, and even run relay races all the time with her brothers and sister and neighborhood friends. In the year of 1968, growing up was full of fun times playing outside with friends but that year also included many big events.
Elizabeth grew up like every other kid now. She woke up and ate breakfast, and then she went to school. After school she would come home play outside, eat dinner, and do her home- work with her siblings. Although her life seems as normal as any child in today's society, this was not the case. Elizabeth lived in a white neighborhood. She remembers that there weren't any African Americans in or near her neighborhood. She didn't go to school with them. Elizabeth specifically says "if you wanted to see them, you had to go to where they lived." She even re- members talk about riots downtown but she didn't know or understand why the African Americans were rioting. There was always a fear that the riots would come to her neighborhood, but they never did.
April 4, 1968 started out as any other day for her. She went to school and came home like usual, but later that night she remembers being very afraid and confused. All of the televisions were on and every news station was covering the same topic. The televisions broadcasted every- thing, showing the violence and horror of what had happened. This tragic story occurred at 6:01 pm, Central Time, Martin Luther King was shot and killed in Memphis, Tennessee. She had seen King on the television before but she didn't understand why he was important or why the African Americans were so upset.
Before King was shot, Elizabeth wasn't taught much about King and why he was impor- tant. After he was shot she was taught in school about why he was significant in the lives of African Americans. Because of King's death Elizabeth was changed in her understanding of why this event was such a big deal. Elizabeth has stated that she thinks King's death made the civil rights issues more mainstream to media and to America which then propelled the movement for- ward in a way that no other event would have.
Martin Luther King's death changed the lives of many including people like Elizabeth. Without his bravery in his line of work, who knows what the world would look like today. King made an important sacrifice not only for African Americans but for our Nation as a whole.