Gracie+-+Oral+History

TOPIC: Assassination of Martin Luther King Jr.
TURNING POINTS - ORAL HISTORY Without oral history, we would not be able to appreciate and understand the events of the past and the impact the events have on the present. While it is often difficult for young historians to find suitable subjects for oral history on historical topics, that challenge becomes much easier the closer we come to the 21st century. In Unit 8, all students will be conducting some sort of oral history interview concerning an event, era, idea, or issue from our final unit.

 **Gracie Culver** **Oral History Topic Summary**

**Topic: The Assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr.** **Interview Subject: Alison and Wells Culver (My Parents)**

Martin Luther King, Jr. was born the son of an Atlantic Preacher. He rose to national attention when he helped lead the Montgomery Bus Boycott in Alabama, that began the modern civil rights movement. King was committed to nonviolent protest, despite many threats and arrests. He wanted to effect social change. Martin Luther King, Jr. helped the United States see itself as a country that involved and included different races, when he proclaimed his very famous "I Have A Dream" speech. He delivered it at 1963's March on Washington.

Around the time before King was assassinated, he traveled to Memphis to show his support for the sanitation workers that were on strike. The night before King's assassination, he gave a very inspirational speech that almost seemed to indicate his approaching death. On the sad day of April 4, 1968, Martin Luther King, Jr. was waving to a crowd from his hotel room balcony in the Lorraine Motel, when he was shot. Just an hour later, King died.

After the nation mostly recovered from the shocking news, there was massive rioting that arose in more than 100 cities. Over the next few days, many people were killed, wounded, and injured as a result of the riots.

James Earl Ray Jr was finally found after a search, and arrested for King's murder. He pleaded guilty to the crime and received a 99-year prison term.

"Martin Luther King Jr.: assassination." //American History//. ABC-CLIO, 2011. Web. 20 May 2011.

Primary Source: "Eyes On The Prize." American Experience. WGBH, 1997-2006. Web. 23 May 2011. .


 * Gracie Culver **
 * Oral History Interview [Questions] **


 * Topic: The Assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr. **
 * Interview Subject: Alison and Wells Culver (My Parents) **

What was your impression of MLK before the assassination, vs. after the assassination? Before the assassination, I knew that he was leading a cause. But I didn't understand the way he was doing it. I didn't know that much about MLK specifically, as I did about the general need of civil rights. After he died, I realized about the techniques he used, and the extreme efforts towards non-violence and him following the role of Ghandi.

What media and news coverage before his death do you remember about MLK? Just the television nightly news, which covered a little bit about the protests. It wasn't as much about MLK, as it was about the events themselves.

Describe how the news and media reported MLK's assassination. I remember just hearing about it - through friends, and school. I had friends in school who were in the NAACP. I was a kid, so I didn't really watch the news that much.

Did anything happen in your neighborhood when Dr. King was assassinated? What was the overall mood of the neighborhood? How did the racial unrest effect you? We didn't have that much drama in my neighborhood specifically, I mean, it was an important event, and it was sad, but not so far away there were race riots going on.

What was your perception of the Civil Rights Movement at the time? I was a huge supporter of the Civil Rights Movement, because I had a lot of friends and I knew many adults who were involved in it.

How did MLK's assassination change your perception of the Civil Rights Movement? It gave it more momuntum, in a sense, because it felt as though the black power movement had lost - sacrificed something to the cause, but it also felt like it lost a leader. And the whole movement felt like it didn't have a strong, unifying spokesperson.

How would the Civil Rights Movement be different if MLK wasn't around? I think there would have been a lot more bloodshed, and groups like the Black Panthers would have had a lot more power, and probably the violence would have made the process take much longer.

**Gracie Culver** **Oral History Topic Reflection**

**Topic: The Assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr.** **Interview Subject: Alison and Wells Culver (My Parents)**

Although I have been interested in this topic for a very long time, and have researched it online, it was much different hearing the story from the perspective of someone who was actually alive at the time. I was surprised at some of my parent's answers, because I actually didn't know that they had friends who were actually in the NAACP. It was very interesting to hear about stories and events through other people's eyes... it allows you to get more perspectives, and learn a lot more.

Something that was very fascinating to me was how my father said that MLK's assassination gave the Civil Rights Movement more momentum. Now that I think about it, I agree with what he said - that the whole movement felt like there was no strong, unifying spokesperson without MLK. It made me realize just how big of a role MLK played in the Civil Rights Movement. It was also very enthralling to me how there were race riots going on after the assassination - so close to where my father used to live, on the East Side in Milwaukee. I want to learn more about what exactly the Race Riots were. If I could ask any other people about the assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr, I would have asked my grandmother - she was older than my parents were at the time, and would have had more information on the assassination, and her perspective on the Civil Rights Movement would be very intriguing to me.

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To learn some more about MLK's assassination, and James Earl Ray, check out this link: [|MLK Assassination]