In April of 1968, my grandmother and interviewee Chesteen C. was a seventeen year old teenager living in a small neighborhood in Memphis, TN. That small neighborhood was Binghamton, which at that time was a poorer neighborhood for blacks. Binghamton was a quiet, peaceful neighborhood where every one knew every one, they watched out for one another, and they all had a mutual respect for one another. Before the sanitation issue, the part of Memphis that she remembers was peaceful and quiet. Even though she was not raised with the silver spoon in her mouth, she made the best out of what she had. Her day to day life consisted of being a part of the class of 1968 class of Lester High School. She sang in the church choir, a member of the high school social club, member of the majorette team, and a member of the pep squad, which we now call the cheerleading team. Her favorite subjects were American History and Spanish. She was apart of the homecoming court and she also ran for Lester High School Queen.
Life back then was different from now because of the amount of respect that people had for one another. "When I was growing up, yes ma'am, no ma'am, yes sir, and no sir were words that we used everyday to any adult we spoke to. Rather it be teacher, neighbor, store clerk, or just one of our parents, we always addressed an adult by mister, misses, or miss," says Chesteen C., who is now 64 years old.
As I asked her did she remember the day Martin Luther King, Jr. was assassinated, she mood turned from bright to gloomy. She remembers waking up, going to school, and coming home like a normal day. She came home, helped her mom fix dinner, and sat down and ate dinner. They heard that Martin Luther King had been shot over the news. She remembers her mother saying, "Oh my god. They done killed Martin Luther. What are we gone do?" She remembers the city feeling still for about an hour or so before riots came. She remembers feeling sad, sitting in her room crying, and wondering what his wife and children were gonna do without their dad. Her mom would not let her and he siblings go outside and socialize with the other kids. She went to school the next day and everyone in the school had something to say about Martin Luther King, Jr.
She stills believes that Martin Luther King, Jr. was a great man and if he had a longer life a different and much bigger change would have come.