My grandmother Eugenia was 25 years old and living in Memphis in the 60's during the height of the civil rights movement and Dr. king was the key activists during this period.
Before the height of the movement, she says that almost all the schools in the South were segregated, those she attended as well. "The schools were segregated, so all of the black kids went to different schools than the white kids, overall the materials and supplies we got were used and broken. We all got old desks and books that belonged to the white schools before us."
She and her 8 siblings lived in the Le Moines Projects in the South Memphis, she says that she used to have to take the bus to and from to school, and that she always had to make sure you stayed in your neighborhood. The are she lived in was predominately black and there were also white neighborhoods, this was one reason to stay in your neighborhood. It was obvious that segregation in the city spanned out into a much larger area than school. Many restrooms, water fountains, and stores were white only. As you can imagine, this only added to the tension that led to the movement.
In 1968, she had a full time job in American Airlines. "I think I was a booking representative at American Airlines. Besides maybe 2 others, I was the only black person there. After my shift I would go home or hang out. With my friends", she says. Before that, she went to college at Memphis State University. "The colleges had just been desegregated 2 or 3 years earlier, so of all the students there were about 83 black people". In addition to this staggeringly uneven ratio, many of the black students were mistreated and given unequal learning opportunities. She says, "If I got into class early the others would make sure they sit right in front of me, or or if I was already sitting down, others would make sure not to sit near me." She also says that much of the educational content they got was minimal, for instances she says about her orientation "I remember our orientation when we had a white professor and a few black kids, he said to us, 'I haven't had any trouble with your kind before and I don't plan to', and that was it, the orientation." At the point one of her professors kicked her out of the class because, 'She wouldn't teach any negroes'.
Besides going to school my grandmother would also work in the hospital for only 16 dollars every two weeks. This salary wouldn't support the cost of the 3,750 dollars or school, and she couldn't get student loans, since many banks wouldn't supply black students with loans. Between this and the hostility of the school environment, she did not complete school. Yet another example of the racial tension in the city.
She also participated in the sanitation marches in the city, she remembers how during the march the police came and she and her cousin ended up in the store, "We thought the glass was going to break because there were so many people outside and it was so crowded you could hardly breathe." She was also at King's speech at the temple. "I was headed out with my aunt to Arkansas when it started to storm, we saw a bridge was closed, so we headed to the temple since we figured the speech was cancelled, we headed in when some one said, 'Dr. King is coming'." This would be his final speech before assassination.
The day King was assassinated my grandmother was working. "I was asleep and getting ready to take the night shift when my friend called, 'Dr. King got shot!' 'Who got shot?' I was still sleepy. I thought 'How could this happen?'" She also describes the day after. "Everyone was furious, there were riots, and some people burned down the plaza nearby, there were National Guards everywhere"
She always looked up to Dr. King, especially after he passed. She said he offered hope when it seemed that everyone who wasn't white would always be subordinate to those who were. Dr. King's message got through to many after he died, many of the black people in the city would no longer be told where to sit or where to learn. But many other white people still refused to allow Dr. King's message permeate the hatred that they showed towards those of other races. Even when she moved to Syracuse, New York, some people there still showed prejudice towards black people. But despite this minority, Dr. King played a huge role in the life of Eugenia J. and everyone who has their basic rights to this day.