This episode of Imagine an America was recorded on April 4, 2026, three months before Clara Jean Ester’s passing, when she spoke at the National Civil Rights Museum’s observance and visited the balcony for the first time since Dr. King’s assassination.

Listen as Ms. Ester shares the powerful details of that historic day and reflects on her enduring legacy of courage and service.

Clara J. Ester was a native Memphian, a graduate of LeMoyne-Owen College, and a community organizer and nonprofit leader. Clara’s interest in social welfare and justice was fueled by her early relationship with Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. She was very active in the civil rights struggle in Memphis, TN, and is a surviving witness on the Lorraine balcony when Dr. King was assassinated. She was one of the youth organizers for the Second Poor People’s Campaign in Marks, MS. In this episode, she recounts the harrowing details of that fateful day on the Lorraine balcony of Room 306 on April 4, 1968.