How was life in 1968?
“It was wonderful, all of Memphis was wonderful at that time.Just the best place in the world to live and that was our city. But anyway, the thing about living in Memphis was everything was peaceful. Everyone had their place and they go along just fine. And the way they treated the black people goes back to the civil wars times. Where my Grandfather, he fought in the Civil war with a black boy his age.They were always together and really good friends.”
So you said Memphis was very peaceful in the 60s?
“Memphis was very peaceful; it was absolutely the model of a city.”
Where did the black people live?
“The black people lived in their own subdivisions. And some even worked for us. Some people even had servant houses. Most of them were old and broken down.”
So in ‘68 you think it was better for everyone?
“Yes. It was perfectly peaceful. There was segregation, but it was fine. But I’ll tell you what, even before that I would go to the theatre at night and I could walk alone and everything was fine. Can you imagine that? I didn’t have a fear in the world.”
So what was your day like in 1968?
“I would get up and go to work and work in the theatre in the evening. As far as the city was concerned, it was peaceful. They did their thing and we did our thing.”
How old was your son?
“He was just out of high school. Oh yeah, schools were still segregated.”
What stands out about Memphis in 1968?
“It was just as peaceful as it could be. The night that it happened we were at the dinner table.”
What was it like when King was shot?
“My mother came and said, have you seen the news? And we said no. And she said, “King’s just been shot.” And we were terrified. From then on we were scared to death. And there were 5 people and they found out what had happened. The whole city was terrified and quiet. And we locked our doors for the first time in ever. We didn’t know weather not he had people in an organization or something. It was the most shocking day ever, they didn’t know what else was going to happen.”