Where did you live? What was it like? What stands out about living in Memphis in the 1960s?
At the time Brown lived in Memphis, but not in the city. She lived in the suburban part of town, where there wasn’t a lot going on. The only people who did manual labor were African American; it was rare to see a white man doing that kind of work. In was quite peaceful at the time because Brown didn’t really know what was going on at the time. She was so young that no one really told her anything was wrong. Brown said, “I didn’t know what was going on until around 1966, and even then it wasn’t all that clear.” She was curious as to why there was a difference and even asked her family’s housekeeper why they didn’t make bandages brown colored. She even said, “When I’m older I’m going to invent some [bandages] that are brown.” She was always taught to be respectful of black people and not to treat them any differently. Although her mother was afraid of black men, she never really showed Stephanie to be.
Describe your life in 1968. What was a typical day like for you in 1968? School? Work? How was it different from today?
“Life was pretty normal back then, I went to school and wore uniforms every morning,” Brown explained. Aside from cassette players there weren’t any electronics at the time. She explained a typical night: “We had this tape recorder and my sister and I would pretend we were on a show, we would play it for our parents; it was super cute.” Her family was really close; they would hang out and always talk about their days. Stephanie's mother was very involved with the community. She would participate in church and Junior League and plenty more. She was sort of raised by their families black maid. Her parents worked, so she didn’t see a whole lot of them, except for dinner they were always home for dinner.
What do you remember about the day King was assassinated? What was different than normal? How did you feel? What did you think? Where were you when you heard? How did you react? How did people around you react? How did things change throughout the night?
Brown does not exactly remember where she was that day, but she does remember what happened that night. She went home and saw her sister playing in the room and she said, “Did you hear the good news?” Stephanie's sister was oblivious to what was going on and thought that
STEPHANIE BROWN JAMES CONTINUED
the death of Martin Luther King was going to stop all of the rioting. At this point Stephanie could not believe that her sister said it was good news, especially because she completely agreed with what King stood for. Her parents never really talked about what happened. Brown remembered something and said, “I saw my father leave in the middle of the night to go to the city with his hunting gun. I remember just thinking to myself that this might be the last time I will ever see him because the rioting was so bad.” Later on Brown’s grandfather went to the city and told him to go home and be with his family.
Describe your night after King was shot? Where were you that night? What was the city like?
The night after was not as eventful as the night before. Their housekeeper stayed over at their house because it was too dangerous to go out. Since they didn’t live in the city nothing was too crazy, but it was still dangerous. They were scared, but they also felt safe because her father had a gun and would protect them.
What did you think of King before and after his death?
Stephanie thought that what King stood for was right, but her family didn’t think so. Although her family didn’t agree with her, they were still very supportive of her opinion. She was already upset about the blacks being treated differently, so King’s death really took a toll. Brown wasn’t so sure that she liked the techniques that King would use in his speech, but she was still a supporter.
Did life change at all after his death? Did people act different or view problems differently? Do you think people’s attitudes changed?
Life didn’t really change, but a few aspects did. King’s death made Stephanie more of a vocal person about her opinions. Brown believed that King’s death was a bigger deal than Kennedy’s; she thought that more revolved around it. She was also shameful of the city that she lived in because the majority amount of people celebrated King’s death.