The person I interviewed, Valerie C., was only 12 years old , living in Memphis when He passed. She said " During the early evening hours, I was at church with my brother & cousins rehearsing an Easter Speech."
She explained to me, " One of the ladies got together I'm the main sanctuary, & told that Dr. King had been shot & killed. She told us to get our things & go directly home. I lived about four streets away from the church. As we were running home, we saw soliders in tanks riding through our neighborhood. We of course we were scared to death. They were telling is to get off the streets. Some of the soldiers were walking." She recalls "It was a scary scene."
Valerie told me that her parents has not been allowed out of the yard to come get her. She said that Memphis was probably the last place in the country to realize that Dr.King had been shot & killed.
Her mother found out, because someone in her neighborhood knew someone who had worked at the hospital where Dr.King was taken. They then passed the word by mouth.