“I lived in Memphis for half of the 1960s. I lived on 1002 Hawthorne Street. Memphis was very musical. There was Elvis and you could take a bus to go downtown and go shopping like at Goldsmith’s. At the time it was very peaceful, like everyone knew their place. Although I did see colored bathroom signs and colored water fountain signs. The public schools were segregated and most in most neighborhoods, the Catholics and the Jews all lived close together. In 1968, children of all races were being bused, and the colored signs were gone. I was engaged at the time, and the city had a curfew of about 9:30 after the assassination because of riots. I felt ashamed because I was from Memphis and such an important man was shot where I lived. Stores were looted and there was a standoff between the different races and the government. The city was angry and distressed from everything that was going on.
“After King was assassinated, there was a lot of fear. I was in college in New York and My friend told me the news. Everyone knew what happened. I also remember seeing it on TV. People began to stand up for equal rights and as a silent protest, I sat at the back of metro buses to show that segregation was over. People were fearful especially with the curfew. People were afraid to go out. They felt polarized because of the violence and looting. Before and after King died, I thought and think of him as a hero because he believed in equality and the dignity of all people. After King died the city changed dramatically. The people were in shock. Certain groups of people had more distrust than others. Others tried to heal the city. White people thought of blacks as violent but thoughts had changed. People tried to make it better.White people would sell their houses to blacks but people would get scared and moved away from them. They drove whites out of schools because of the integration. Life had really changed.
“These times were the best and worst of times. There was a huge change in time. The Vietnam war was going on and people wanted the freedom of being drafted. They fled to Canada and different places to avoid being drafted to war. People also wanted to change the world and to make it a better place and to make a difference. In the beginning, King was untrusted, but now, he is known as a symbol of freedom and he changed the world. “