Gordon L. was 15 years old when his family recently moved from Nashville to the rapidly growing east Memphis. Industrialization was rapidly approaching as new buildings were erected and new subdivisions were created. Gordon lived in an all white, middle class neighborhood. From his view things seemed to be segregated.
Read MoreMr. C. by Becca S., Harding Academy
Mr. C. lived in Germantown right by Germantown high school. Mr. C. was 33 and lived a pretty normal life. He was a trucker and moved mobile homes for a living. Mr. C. said there was not much different from the 1960s, than from today. You work for your family. You make a living. When King was assassinated Mr. C. was on his way back from a business trip and heard about the shooting at a truck stop. When he was driving into Memphis on the interstate he said he saw a lot of police cars, but besides that everything was calm.
Read MoreMartha R. by Lauren H., Harding Academy
Martha R. was 28 years old, married to John Reed, with one child Rob R.. They lived on Dogwood road in Germantown, Tn. Martha worked in a doctors office and her husband was a traveling salesman. Most of the white people lived in the suburbs while the black people lived inside the city, so Memphis was very divided. She was working at the doctors office one afternoon when she heard the news, that Martin Luther King Jr. had been shot. Martha was so shocked and sad that anyone could murder someone like that, but she never thought that it could happen so close to home in Memphis.
Read MoreMs. Candice V. by Elaine S., Harding Academy
Ms. Candice V. was a twenty year old college student in 1968. She commuted to the University of Memphis because she lived in Germantown. She had morning classes and was typically home around noon. She would leave to go to her first job on Union Avenue, which was from 5pm to 9pm. During this time, in Memphis, she remembers: the sanitation strike, the tanks and racism. She remembers that, but she also stated that it didn't really affect her a lot because most of the corruption was going on downtown and she was either at school or home. Her home life was good. H
Read MoreMrs. Martha, Reed H., Harding Academy
My grandma was 28 years old. She lived in Germantown TN. Germantown was a small town to her because she was from Dallas but Germantown was growing rapidly. It wasn't a huge but she says it still had a big city atmosphere.on dog the things that she really noticed was that everybody was segregated. Most of the suburbs were white people and the inner city was generally African American.
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