In 1968 Linda C., now Linda K., lived with her parents in Cromwell Parkway village area. She had moved to Memphis from Philadelphia in 1963, about five years before. It was a nice neighborhood at the time, in fact, Memphis in the 60’s was nationally known as the “cleanest city” in the country. Having moved from a big northern city where most people lived in “row houses,” with small back yards, if they even had one; to Linda, this was like living in a suburban area- there were lots of trees, a nice green city, and back then, people would even leave their homes with the doors unlocked. The mayor of Memphis in 1968 was Henry Loeb; so just to put things into perspective, it is completely different from the Memphis we all know as of today as being one of the worst cities in crime.
In the year 1968, Linda worked downtown at the 100 N. Main building for Travelers Insurance Company, and she always rode the bus to and from work. At this time, she was engaged to Odie K., who would also occasionally pick her up while he would be collecting his accounts for work, and then they might even go out to eat and talk about their upcoming marriage. Life was much simpler at this time, technology was not as advanced, prices were cheaper than today, and people were more friendly. But at this time, Dr. Martin Luther King was in Memphis to help support the sanitation workers strike; there were marches nearly every day, Black workers would march down streets with signs that said ”I am a MAN.” Sometimes, things would get to a certain point that there was violence downtown. Many thought and still think that life was better and easier in the 60’s than it is today.
The day of April 4, 1968 was a very frightening, and tragic day that will always be remembered in Memphis. Dr. King was in town, like I mentioned earlier, and was preaching non violence between people while he helped support the sanitation workers’ strikes. There were many different people who had different ideas about Martin Luther King or what he taught.
Often peaceful marches turned into riots in the streets. Linda still remembers that night when the news came out that Dr. King was shot at the Lorraine Motel in full detail. Linda was with her fiance eating when the newscasters on the T.V. started to cover the huge story on a nation wide news telecast. All over Memphis, police were in search for the murderer of Dr. King. The mayor of Memphis, Henry Loeb, urged people to stay calm throughout the whole process, but just about everyone expected for there to be trouble throughout the city. The National Guard was even called into the city to try to keep order. There was a curfew that night, and Linda, who was just 18, thought it was kind of stupid, as a normal teenager would, but this actually did inconvenienced a lot people; some people decided not to follow the curfew and to go downtown to start riots and march. People of all races started fires in buildings all down the streets along with long strains of robbing, looting, and killing. It was a long night as you could expect at a time like this.
The night of April 4 is one that Linda says she will never forget. As you know, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was shot downtown at the Loraine Motel, but what many don't know is that this controversial event that took place in Memphis shook-up the whole country, and maybe even the world. People all over Tennessee were hurt and maybe even killed from riots, fires, and robberies in the city. People from all over came to Memphis to help support the sanitation workers strike, in fact, people out of state even started marches in protest over the killing of Dr. King in their towns. The MPD, MFD, and National Guard were doing all they could to get people to stop the riots, at one point they even started spraying people with high powered water hoses of the trucks. The attitude of the city changed in a few minutes according to Linda. People couldn't fall asleep because they were scared of what was going to happen next, but for the most part, the city was quiet.
In Linda’s eyes, Martin Luther King was a peacemaker, an inspiration, and a great leader who stood up for what he believed in. Because of Dr. King’s movements and ideas, this country has learned from his life and what he stood for, thereby causing many great changes in the World. Race relations have come a long way yet some things have not changed enough in Linda’s mind. She believes we are living in a much more violent world, unfortunately one that our generation has to face. She also believes that it is good to study and learn about these times, and think more about how we should treat each other; she believes strongly in the Golden Rule, “Do unto others as you would have others do unto you.” If you can live your life by that, you cannot go wrong.
Linda believed peoples attitudes changed after Martin Luther King’s death because he made people stop and think about how we all treat each other. He especially had a big part in stopping all the major segregation; He set aside the fact that he had a different colored skin and made people realize that that does not matter, that we should all treat each other equally, and most of all that we are all people. After his death, he seemed to have become more of a sign to people of all colors of how we should love each other and set aside the fact that all people have different colored skin. He was a very special man who put himself aside to help people around him. After all, they did make a national holiday in his honor.
Well Linda though that after King’s death, his movement made people think more about segregation, and since she was from up North in Pennsylvania, she heard that some of the northern people did not like the fact that blacks were not segregated. When she was little, she really did not ever even think about having a black person as friend, but then after Martin Luther King’s movements, people started to stop and think about these things and how stupid these things were. If you stop and think about it, Martin Luther King has practically changed the world. Without him, there would be segregated schools, water fountains, restaurants, stores, bathrooms, buses, and there were even segregated seats. He changed the lives of thousands and made the World a better place.