Mary Louise S. was 30 years old on the day Martin Luther King was assassinated. She was at the barber shop after work when she heard the news of Dr. King's assassination. She went home immediately after her hair cut was finished. Her husband, Don, was worriedly awaiting her arrival as he heard the news of riots in Memphis. They locked the doors and stayed at home the rest of the night.
Leading up to the assassination, life in the Memphis was very segregated and African-Americans were starting to march and protest about life. Mrs. S. remembered the garbage men having a strike against the way they were being payed and that's why Dr. King came to Memphis. She did not know much about Dr. King except for what she heard from friends and neighbors. Her neighbors said Dr. King was stirring up trouble wherever he went and she was somewhat worried that he would be coming to Memphis.
Throughout her life, Mary didn't have any feelings against African-Americans but she had always been taught to not associate with them. She grew up in segregated schools and lived in segregated communities leading up to and a little while after the assassination. She worked at Sears with her husband where customers changed from only white customers to a mix of majority white customers with a few black customers. She also built new relationships with African-Americans as racism shifted in Memphis. Change was slow after the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., but led the way to racial equality in Memphis and other parts of the country.