| Birth: | Dec. 19, 1899
Stockbridge
Georgia | | Death: | Nov. 11, 1984
Atlanta
Georgia | 
Civil rights activist, prominent pastor of Ebenezer Baptist Church for over 40 years and known most notably as father of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. However, King, Sr. known by family and all as "Daddy King" was an important civil rights leader in his own right. Few men could be as stubborn and domineering as King. He lacked intellectual depth patience, and often noted he could be taken to court for his crimes against the English language. Despite suffering great personal insult and loss throughout his life, King like his son stuck rigidly to the code of nonviolence and forgiveness. In the 1930s, he built up the membership of Atlanta's Ebenezer Baptist Church to a congregation of several thousand. This gave King a base in the African-American community from which he could preach about civil rights and advocate progressive social action. In 1936, King, Sr., led the! first black voting-rights march in the history of Atlanta. In 1960, he played a key role in the mobilizing black support to elect John F. Kennedy president. King also offered crucial support to his son at many times in his career even though they did not always agree. Martin Luther King, Sr. (born Michael King), was born on December 19, 1899 in Stockbridge, Georgia to a family of poor sharecroopers. He was the eldest son of nine children born to James and Delia King. Growing up in the early part of the twentieth century, King saw firsthand the brutality of southern racism. In his early teens, he himself was beaten by a white mill owner. He also saw a black man hanged by a white mob. Yet, his family continued to advocate nonviolence. When his mother was dying, King cursed white people, but his mother disagreed. "Hattred makes nothin' but more hatred...Don't you do it," she told him. As a member of Floyd Chapel Baptist Church, King was inspired by the few min isters who risked speaking out against racial injustice and decided to become a minister himself. In 1917, despite his educational deficiencies, he was trained and licensed by the ministers from his church. In the spring of 1918, King left Stockbridge to join his older sister Woodie in Atlanta. Woodie was boarding at the home of Rev. A. D. Williams, prominent minister of Ebenezer Baptist Church; and King seized seized the opportunity to introduce himself to the minister's daughter, Alberta Williams. After the two began a courtship, King was quickly welcomed into the Williams household. Rev. and Mrs. Williams supported their future son-in-law's ministerial aspirations by encouraging him to continue his education. He worked variety of jobs including on the railroads, an auto tire shop, loading bales of cotton, and driving a truck. He also went to school at night, graduating from high school in 1925. He then completed his studies at Bryant Preparatory School and served as pastor of several churches in Atlanta and nearby College Park before becoming assistant pastor of Ebenezer in 1926. King was able to convince the president of Atlanta's Morehouse College that he should be admitted to the three-year minister's degree program at the Morehouse School of religion in 1926 in spite of not fully meeting the school's educational requirements. On Thanksgiving Day of that same year, King and Alberta were joined in marriage at Ebenezer. The newlyweds then moved into the Williams family home, where they had three children-Willie Christine, Martin Luther, Jr., and Alfred Daniel within their first four years of marriage. As King continued his education, he also took over some of the duties at the church. When his father-in-law suddenly died in the spring of 1931, King was voted pastor. Through membership and fundraising drives, ! he rescued the church from financial ruin brought by the Great Depress ion and preached his message of social action and nonviolence. In the 1930s, King joined the NAACP, the Atlanta Negro Voters League, and the Interracial Council of Atlanta. In addition to the voting-rights march, he worked at integrating the Ford Motor Company and ending segregation of the elevators in the Fulton County courthouse. By 1934, King was a well-respected pastor and traveled to the World Baptist Alliance in Berlin. Also at this time, he changed his name and that of his oldest son to Martin Luther King at the whish of his dying grandfather. Never hesitating to direct his influence as a pastor toward the cause of racial equality, King headed Atlanta'a Civic and Political League and NAACP branch. But perhaps King's most significant contribution to the civil rights movement was the influence he had on the development of Martin Luther King, Jr.'s social consciousness. From 1956 to 1968 King's son rose to be one of the major national leaders of the civil rights movement and throughout his son's career, King continued to advocate racial equality within his church and community. April of 1968 began a series of tragedies in the life of King with the assasination of his son which devastated him. Upon seeing his son's body in the casket, King was more a father trying to wake his son from a nap finally collapsing and sobbing. "He never hated anybody," the old man softly cried. "He never hated anybody." In 1969 his younger son A. D. drowned in a mysterious swimming pool accident and in 1974 his beloved wife who he called "Bunch" was shot while playing the organ at Ebenezer (The assassin later admited that King had been his target). In spite of the spiritual strength provided by the Lord, King grieved deeply. He steeped into a public role after Martin's death, attending events that honored his son and del! ivering the invocation at the 1976 and 1980 democratic National Conven tions. He continued to preach at Ebenezer until his resignation in 1975 and to continue work for civil rights. In the fall of that same year he becomes the first African-American to address a joint session of the Alabama state legislature. In 1976, when presidential canidate Jimmy Carter made a remark about "ethnic purity," many believed that would lose him the southern black vote. King would play a instrumental role in preventing that. When King hugged Carter on a public platform, it symbolized Carter's acceptance by black civil rights leaders, and Carter went on to win 90 percent of the black vote. In August 1976, King found himself in a coronary care unit. The following year he was treated for congestive heart failure. Althouh his steps were slowing, and he needed a cane to use for balance now, King's spirit still sought usefulness and service. King spent the remainder of his life giving lectures and as a guest minister at churches. On the morning of November 11, 1984, King attended services at Atlanta's Salem Baptist Church. That after noon, he suffered a heart attack and was rushed to Crwford W. Long Memorial Hospital dying that afternoon at 5:41 p.m. with his surviving child and a grandson at his side. Days later on November 16, 1984, nearly 3,000 blacks and whites stood side by side at his funeral at Ebenezer Baptist Church. One by one, leaders of the nation came to offer memories and tributes to the man who had occuped the church's pulpit for 44 years and whose faith in God and compassion for his fellow man directed his life. (bio by: Curtis Jackson)
Search Amazon for Martin King | | | Burial:
South View Cemetery
Atlanta
Fulton County
Georgia, USA
Plot: Next to First Road paralleling Jonesboro Road
GPS (lat/lon): 33.4209709, -84.2242737 |
Maintained by: Find A Grave
Record added: Jun 04, 2000
Find A Grave Memorial# 9795 |
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