Social Reformer. Born near Marion, Alabama, she was studying voice at the New England Conservatory of Music for a planned singing career when she met Martin Luther King, Jr., a young Baptist minister working toward a Ph.D. at Boston University. She was highly supportive of her husband and his efforts during the most tumultuous days of the American Civil Rights Movement. After Dr. King's assassination in Memphis, Tennessee on April 4, 1968, she became a community leader and kept his dream alive. She worked to keep his ideology of equality for all people at the forefront of America's agenda. She pressed for over a decade to have her husband's birthday declared a national holiday; in 1983 President Ronald Reagan signed the bill into law and the first federal holiday was celebrated in 1986. Mrs. King became a symbol, in her own right, of her husband's struggle for peace and brotherhood with her appearances at seminars and conferences on global issues.

Social Reformer. Born near Marion, Alabama, she was studying voice at the New England Conservatory of Music for a planned singing career when she met Martin Luther King, Jr., a young Baptist minister working toward a Ph.D. at Boston University. She was highly supportive of her husband and his efforts during the most tumultuous days of the American Civil Rights Movement. After Dr. King's assassination in Memphis, Tennessee on April 4, 1968, she became a community leader and kept his dream alive. She worked to keep his ideology of equality for all people at the forefront of America's agenda. She pressed for over a decade to have her husband's birthday declared a national holiday; in 1983 President Ronald Reagan signed the bill into law and the first federal holiday was celebrated in 1986. Mrs. King became a symbol, in her own right, of her husband's struggle for peace and brotherhood with her appearances at seminars and conferences on global issues.

Bio by: Fred Beisser