]oyce L. is my grandmother. She lived during the time of the civil rights movement. Around the time of 1968 she was about 18 years old. At the time, my grandmother was in both high school and nursing school. She said that during that time things were really difficult for African Americans. There were all kinds of prejudices in Memphis and it was a very segregated city. Segregation, in a way, stood out the most in the city. She recalled a number of times having to sit in restaurants basements just to eat a meal or even sitting in the worst part of movie theaters. However, things looked like they were going to change when a man named Martin Luther King Ir. came onto the scene. It finally seemed like there was going to be a chance and a way for us to get equal rights she said. But one day everything changed.
On April 4"‘ 1968, Martin Luther King ]r. was assassinated while planning to lead a protest in Memphis, TN for the sanitation workers. My grandmother found this out while she was still in her nursing class. During that tragic event you could tell all the people around seemed to be very sad. She told me that during that night there was a curfew placed on everyone in the city of Memphis. Even so, there were riots and the trash still piled up. She said the events that day were all surprising and chaotic. Today, my Grandmother recalls Dr. Martin Luther King Ir. as being a very great man. He accomplished a lot for all people. After his death she said that people acted and viewed problems very differently. Mostly because, for most people, he made a huge difference in the world.