By CHELSAE CORDIA
Staff Writer
April 4, 1968.
Fifty years later, Kathern Harris remembers exactly what she was doing.
Then a 22-year-old living in Cleveland, Harris had arrived at the home of her sister and brother-in-law when a special television news bulletin by journalist Walter Cronkite caught her attention.
"Dr. Martin Luther King, apostle of non-violence in the Civil Rights Movement has been shot to death in Memphis, Tennessee," Harris said Cronkite's voice stated.
"I stood motionless as I listened to the remainder of the bulletin," Harris said. "I was in shock. A man who brought so much hope to so many was gone. How could hate and fear turn to that level of violence?"
Wednesday marks the 50th anniversary of King's death, shot in the chest as he leaned over the second-floor balcony of Memphis's Lorraine Motel. Though the activist and religious leader has been gone half a century, his legacy is remembered by residents of Poplar Bluff.
Harris, now 72, said King's assassination left her feeling hurt beyond her own understanding, as her life had been impacted by Dr. King, "the activist; the pastor; the peacemaker; the humanitarian; and the orator," she said.
"I had never heard anyone speak with such eloquence and wisdom," she said. "I longed to use his delivery style. He captured the attention of hundreds of thousands in a manner that all could relate to."
Harris, who retired after a career in education, said she vowed to use her voice to accomplish successes as King had done, by making positive changes.
"Dr. King cautioned mankind, 'Let no man pull you low enough to hate,' and, 'The time is always right to do right,'" Harris said. "My parents gave me the skills to fly. Dr. King gave me hope to 'believe I can fly.' Dr. King changed the world to make it a better place for all people."
It was reported in the April 5, 1968, edition of the Daily American Republic that following King's death, riots swept the nation nearly as fast as the news itself.
"Assassination Of King Sparks Violence In U.S., LBJ Delays Hawaii Trip," the headline read.
Locally that was not the case. In Charleston, Mo., on April 6, the Missouri State Highway Patrol said about 50 people began protesting around 12:30 a.m. the night before and the event lasted roughly an hour.
Likely the only nod to local aftermath involved the lowering of flags by city and school officials. The article ran directly above the Charleston report. The headline read, "Local Flags At Half Staff To Honor Dr. King."
The DAR stated, "In Poplar Bluff, Mayor Earl C. Porter announced on Friday that flags on all city buildings will be flown at half-staff today through Monday in memory of Dr. Martin Luther King. Flags on public school buildings in Poplar Bluff will be at half-staff on Monday, Superintendent Fred Morrow said."
Rex Rattler was in fourth grade at Wheatley School when Morrow lowered the flags to honor the slain civil rights activist. Wheatley had been a segregated facility until 1958.
As he looked out the window of his grocery store on Garfield Street on Friday afternoon, Rattler pointed to the former school building where his teacher, Mrs. Brewer, broke the news of King's death.
"What I knew, from the television coverage I had seen of him, was that he was a very famous man and making some effective change," Rattler said. "Since that time, all the things that he's done have become more real and more personal to me, as well as the significance and importance of him has enhanced since I first learned about him."
Rattler, now 58, said as a child he believed King was killed because he was "working to do the right thing." He said he later learned that King's death not only impacted the black community, but all races because of his work fighting for the sanitation industry and with the Poor People's Campaign in Washington, D.C., an effort to gain economic justice.
Rattler, who keeps a portrait of King hung inside his store, said he most remembers the famous "I Have a Dream" speech, in which King calls for the end of racism and for equal civic and economic opportunities for all.
"I still embrace those words," Rattler said. "I am so happy that he shared his dream. He was able to give people hope, and hope is what we live for."