Pierre McAllister
Ms. Vasilic
Honors Project Part 3
11/29/13
My grandmother was a young woman living on the West side of Chicago. She lived in an apartment with her three small children in the early nineteen-sixties. While working a job in Des Plaines Illinois the most horrific thing happened, Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated.
When she arrived home she saw televised news reports of rioting, looting, and arsonists burning buildings. On the streets she heard that people were being pulled out of their vehicles and beaten in different sections of the city.
For fear of leaving her young children she did not return to work for the rest of that week. She called her employer and informed him of the current situation. She believed that it was too dangerous to go to work, and he agreed. Stores were being looted and burned which made it impossible to shop for food. For the next several weeks and months, she had to travel to Indiana to purchase food.
I’ve been told that the atmosphere at that time was very frightening because you were unsure as to whether you were safe from being attacked or robbed. Riding to and from work she was afraid for her life. It didn’t matter as to whether you were deep in the city, the suburbs, or the outlining areas. Racial tensions and emotions of anger, sadness, and fear were really high at that time.
She made it through the turmoil, however. Once the rioting was over, there was a shortage of resources and some parts of the city was almost completely deserted. No riot of this magnitude has taken place in Chicago since.
