In 1968, Lynn G. was 24 years old. Him, his wife, and two children lived in Audubon Downs Apartments in Memphis, Tennessee. It was a large apartment complex for the 1960's. He paid seventy-nine dollars a month to live there. Living in Memphis during this time was a time of transition. It was a like this because of the separate but equal laws. African Americans had their own set of laws called the Jim Crow Laws. They were said to be equal to the laws of the white people, but that is not how it was. For instance, there were black and white police officers. Black officers could only arrest black people and white officers could arrest people of either race. It was obvious that things were separate, but were not equal.
In the school year of 1967 - 1968, Lynn G. taught at Presbyterian Day School. He was married and had two children. He says that life then was different from today. Today if the laws were not the same, then we would all be endangered. In 1968 it was fine that the laws were not equal. This was considered a transition period, meaning that it was changing. In the school year of 1968 - 1969, after Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated, Lynn G. was one of the first white teachers at an all black school, Mount Pisgah. The students had black Mondays where they did not come to school to protest the segregation. Public schools get a certain amount of money from the state based on the average daily attendance By not coming to school on Mondays, the students were reducing the amount of money the state was giving the county. The county would have to make up the money being lost somehow.
On the day that Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated Lynn G. was teaching at Presbyterian Day School. He said that he was shocked, disappointed, and hurt when he heard that he was assassinated. He felt hurt and disappointed because he was close to the black community. He says there was a lot of uneasiness and unrest when Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated. Before the assassination the protesting was peaceful, but throughout the night the protesting became violent. The night after the assassination, Lynn, his wife, and two children went to his wife's mother's home. At this time, the city was on the edge of violence.
Lynn G. thought of Martin Luther King Jr. Like Ghandi. Martin Luther King Jr. was a minister, so his protests for equality were peaceful. Memphis has got a bad reputation since the assassination was here. He says that after he was assassinated things slowly started to change, but not all at once. At first, people might have still felt the same towards black people, but they did not say it to there faces but behind their back. He says that life today has dramatically changed, but we still have a ways to go.