In the l960’s Judy C. was a young lady. To be precise, she was only 18. She was going to graduate that year, so that year was an eventful year for her. She went to Immaculate Conception High School on Central Street. She lived in East Memphis, and her father owned a liquor store farther in the city. Things were more elementary because of less crime. People minded their own business. Crime was not an issue, so no one had to be worried as often as they do now. It was comfortable to live in Memphis back then for Judy.
Judy graduated from high school in 1968. After school she would go straight home to do her homework. On occasion she would babysit, to earn some extra money. Money was not a big issue because things were not as expensive as they are now. There were quite a few racial issues and so it resulted in violence. Blacks and whites did not communicate well together, and it would be rare if they did because of segregation. Things were much more simple. As long as the blacks did what they were supposed to do, there was not much of a problem. There was not a lot of violence. You could walk downtown and not be as frightened as people are now. On the day that Martin Luther King Jr. was shot and murdered Judy was babysitting. She really did not think anything about it when she heard the devastating news. Once she looked at the news and saw all of the riots she became frightened.
After she had gone home she watched the news again. Once she had seen her parents concern, she started to become even more fearful. Her parents were concerned because after King was shot, there were quite a few riots. If a match was lit and thrown into her father’s liquor store, the entire store would go up in flames. After the shot, it became more violent than ever. The night after Martin Luther King Jr. was shot, Judy was babysitting. She went home and realized that the city was pretty quiet. There were new curfews were issued. There were a few riots and fights. People were outraged about King’s death. Judy saw an abundance of military patrols. Many of military officers had to stop riots and fights. To stop those riots and fights, they used high-powered hoses. After Judy finished babysitting, she went home and watched the news with her parents.
King was a truly inspirational person, but Judy did not personally have the chance to see that until after his death. After King’s death, Judy saw her parents concern and became concerned herself. Before his death, she honestly did not think that King would have made such a vast impact, not just in Memphis, but the whole country. King was a great person that not many recognized at that time. After his death, people started to fully realize what was happening. People were more afraid than understanding. Mainly because of all of the riots and army patrols. After King’s death, it was chaotic. There were quite a few riots. Since there were riots there were officers and soldiers trying to stop these riots.
The officers were not fair either. They went along with segregation. After he death, people seemed more hesitant about more things. It was like people put their guards up. People’s attitude did change, but they went back to normal after a few weeks. People did not begin to realize until a while later. The year that Martin Luther King Jr. was shot, Judy was supposed to have a big Senior trip. Every year before that year had gotten to go. They were going to go to Washington D.C. Unfortunately, they were not aloud to go that year. The government did not want any Memphians going to the capitol. Even if they were aloud to go, Judy’s parents would not have aloud her to go because of all of the governing things going on. That was a big year for Judy C. Even though she did not realize how important King was, she realized it later in her life.