July C. was twenty-five years old in the year 1968. She lived in Memphis, Tennessee. At the time, July would describe Memphis as a "big small town," sort of resembling a larger Paragould. There was racial tension in Memphis, but July didn't really notice it much. The public schools were segregated. July was teaching fourth grade at Harding Academy. When July heard of Martin Luther King Jr.'s assassination, she was frightened. The day, until that point, had been fairly normal except that July's trash was not being picked up due to the sanitation strike. She had not been expecting the tension to end in murder. Everyone was tense and frightened. There was a curfew after that, and nobody got out of their houses more than they needed to. Before King's death, July had viewed him as something of a trouble-maker, but she did not hate him, or have anger toward him. She was very upset to hear that he had been killed, and she wished there had been another way that people could have worked out their problems. July did not live in an area that was in the heart of the tension, so her daily life did not change. However, she and everyone around her were saddened by the death that took place.