Memoir Writing Prompt: Where were You on that Fateful Day?

April 4, 1968: I was a second-semester freshman at Mansfield State College when I heard the news of the assassination of Martin Luther King. Friends and family were in disbelief again as they had been in 1963 at JFK’s assassination and would be again just two months later when Bobby Kennedy was killed. Even though I was an impressionable college student, I stayed away from the politics of the day. I did wonder what made people want to take another person’s life, just because they disagreed with their politics.

I first met an African-American in college. He was a football player and in my Teaching of Music methods class. The professor made us sit on kindergarten chairs, and my new friend, as well as several other football players, didn’t fit very well. We all laughed about it; we laughed a lot in that class as these giants sang Mary Had a Little Lamb and played London Bridge is Falling Down.

Memoir Writing Prompt: Can you remember back to the first time you met someone of a different race than you? Did you grow up in a mixed-race neighborhood? Write about your experience of other races for your generations to come.

Today’s Writing Prompt: Civil unrest today, 2018, seems to be similar to the civil unrest of the 60s. Write your thoughts about the unrest today. Be careful not to include the thoughts of media personality, friends, or family. Take a moment to take a close look at YOUR OWN thoughts.
Have fun as you write for your generations to come.