In 1968 my grandfather, William L. W., was 26 years old. He lived in an apartment complex in Memphis. During this time in history, everything was segregated; however, some schools were beginning to integrate. In the African American schools, they always got old books passed down from white schools after the white schools got new books. My grandfather remembers working for MLGW in 1968 and

In the year 1968, my grandmother, Edna Lee C., was a young lady at the age of 28 who was living in Memphis, Tennessee. Being a long time ago, she recalls bread being about 35 cents a loaf and the bus fair about 20 cents. At the time, the city was a pretty busy one and the wages were a lot lower than they are now but the prices were also lower. My grandmother worked at Baptist Hospital for many years and made close to $80 every two weeks. She worked from 10:30 to 6 and her only off days were Wednesdays and Thursdays. 

Irvin T., at age twenty-three, was studying law at Tulane University in New Orleans.  In the late 1960s, he spent time with his friends, in the slow-paced absence of technology.  Because he was studying law, he spent plenty of time in the library.  The university was planning to discharge the students for spring break, but the students were unexpectedly released early on April 4, 1968 after the shocking assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.  

In 1968 Susanah D. lived in the suburbs around Memphis with her husband Joseph D., married two years. Susanah was a stay at home wife and Joseph worked at an amusement park in the suburbs close to where they lived. She remembers 1968 as a stressful time because of the Sanitation Worker Strikes and the War in Vietnam. She remembers visiting "Yankee" family members and having culture shock because African Americans were treated so differently in the north than they were in the south,

My grandmother whose full name is Nancy R. grew up in Wheeling, West Virginia. When she was down here when MLK got shot she had just moved here from Wheeling, West Virginia she was a newlywed twenty-four year old. The main thing that stood out to her about living in Memphis at the time was that it was one if the cleanest cities in then country compared to what it is like now. Her typical day was mainly being a newlywed homemaker trying to make her house look better than it actually was. 

I interviewed my mom's uncle. When asked what age he was in 1968 he responded with "I was 20 years old, turning 21 in Oct. of ‘68." When asked where he lived his said "I lived aboard the USS Belknap, which was home ported in Norfolk, VA. Prior to that I lived with my family in Southhaven, MS, but had joined the Navy in 1965, shortly after completing a semester of college at Northwest Mississippi Jr. College."