Martin Luther King, Sr. was a Baptist pastor,
missionary, and an early leader in the American
Civil Rights Movement.
He was also the father of Martin Luther King,
Jr.
Early life
King, born Michael King, led the Ebenezer
Baptist Church in Atlanta, Georgia, and became
a leader of the civil rights movement, as
the head of the NAACP chapter in Atlanta and
of the Civic and Political League.
He encouraged his son to become active in
the movement.
Ebenezer Baptist Church
King was a member of the Baptist Church and
decided to become a preacher after being inspired
by ministers who were prepared to stand up
for racial equality.
He left Stockbridge for Atlanta, where his
sister Woodie was boarding with Reverend A.D.
Williams, then pastor of the First Baptist
Church.
He attented Dillard University for a two year
degree.
After King started courting Williams' daughter,
Alberta, her family encouraged him to finish
his education and to become a preacher.
King completed his high school education at
Bryant Preparatory School, and began to preach
in several black churches in Atlanta.
In 1926, King started his ministerial degree
at the Morehouse School of Religion.
On Thanksgiving Day in 1926, after eight years
of courtship, he married Alberta in the Ebenezer
Church.
The couple had three children in four years:
a daughter, Willie Christine King, Martin
Luther King, Jr., and a second son, Alfred
Daniel Williams King.
King Sr. became leader of the Ebenezer Baptist
Church in March 1931 after the death of Williams.
With the country in the midst of the Great
Depression, church finances were struggling,
but King organized membership and fundraising
drives that restored these to health.
By 1934, King had become a widely respected
leader of the local church.
That year, he also changed his name from Michael
King to Martin Luther King after becoming
inspired during a trip to Germany by the life
of Martin Luther, the German theologian who
initiated the Protestant Reformation.
King was the pastor of the Ebenezer Baptist
Church for four decades, wielding great influence
in the black community and earning some degree
of respect from the white community.
He also broadcast on WAEC, a religious radio
station in Atlanta.
In his 1950 essay An Autobiography of Religious
Development, King Jr. wrote that his father
was a major influence on his entering the
ministry.
"I guess the influence of my father also had
a great deal to do with my going in the ministry.
This is not to say that he ever spoke to me
in terms of being a minister, but that my
admiration for him was the great moving factor;
He set forth a noble example that I didn't
mind following."
King Jr. often recounted that his father frequently
sent him to work in the fields.
He said that in this way he would gain a healthier
respect for his forefathers.
This was a driving factor in his civil rights
movements across the United States.
In his autobiography, King Jr. remembered
his father leaving a shoe shop because he
and his son were asked to change seats.
"This was the first time I had seen Dad so
furious.
That experience revealed to me at a very early
age that my father had not adjusted to the
system, and he played a great part in shaping
my conscience.
I still remember walking down the street beside
him as he muttered, 'I don't care how long
I have to live with this system, I will never
accept it.'
Another story related by Martin Luther King,
Jr. was that once the car his father was driving
was stopped by a police officer, and the officer
addressed the senior King as "boy".
King pointed to his son, saying "This is a
boy, I'm a man; until you call me one, I will
not listen to you."
Martin Luther King Jr. became an associate
pastor at Ebenezer in 1948, and his father
wrote a letter of recommendation for him to
Crozer Theological Seminary.
Despite theological differences, father and
son would later serve together as joint pastors
at the church.
King Sr. was a major figure in the civil rights
movement in Georgia, where he rose to become
the head of the NAACP in Atlanta and the Civic
and Political League.
He led the fight for equal teachers' salaries
in Atlanta.
He also played an instrumental role in ending
Jim Crow laws in the state.
King Sr. had refused to ride on Atlanta's
bus system since the 1920s after a vicious
attack on black passengers with no action
against those responsible.
King Sr. stressed the need for an educated,
politically active black ministry.
In October 1960, when Martin Luther King,
Jr. was arrested at a peaceful sit-in in Atlanta,
Robert Kennedy telephoned the judge and helped
secure King's release.
Although King, Sr. had previously opposed
Kennedy because he was a Catholic, he expressed
his appreciation for these calls and switched
his support to Kennedy.
At this time, King, Sr. had been a lifelong
registered Republican, and had endorsed Republican
Richard Nixon.
His son, Martin Luther King Jr. soon became
a popular civil rights activist.
Taking inspiration from Mohandas Gandhi of
India, he led nonviolent protests in order
to give African Americans greater rights.
Martin Luther King, Jr. was shot and killed
in 1968.
King Sr's youngest son, Alfred Daniel Williams
King, died of an accidental drowning on July
21, 1969, nine days before his 39th birthday.
His wife Alberta was murdered in June 1974.
She was sitting at the organ of their church
when she was shot.
King Sr. continued to serve as pastor of the
Ebenezer Baptist Church until 1975.
In 1969, King Sr. was one of several members
of the Morehouse College board of trustees
held hostage on the campus by a group of students
demanding reform in the school’s curriculum
and governance.
One of the students was Samuel L. Jackson,
who was suspended for his actions.
Jackson subsequently became an actor and Academy
Award nominee.
King Sr. played a notable role in the nomination
of Jimmy Carter as the Democratic candidate
for President in the 1976 election.
After Carter's success in the Iowa caucus,
the New Hampshire primary and the Florida
primary, some liberal Democrats were worried
about his success and began an "ABC" movement
to try to head off his nomination.
King Sr. pointed to Carter's leadership in
ending the era of segregation in Georgia,
and helping to repeal laws ending voting restrictions
that especially disenfranchised African Americans.
With King's support, Carter continued to build
a coalition of black and white voters and
win the nomination.
King Sr. delivered the invocation at the 1976
and 1980 Democratic National Conventions.
King, Sr. was also a member of Omega Psi Phi.
Later life
With his son's widow Coretta Scott King, King
Sr. was present when President Carter awarded
a Presidential Medal of Freedom to Rev. King.
Jr. posthumously in 1977.
King Sr. published his autobiography in 1980.
He died of a heart attack at the Crawford
W. Long Hospital in Atlanta on November 11,
1984.
Books
David Collins, Not Only Dreamers: the story
of Martin Luther King, Sr. and Martin Luther
King, Jr.
Rev. Martin Luther King, Sr., Daddy King:
an Autobiography
Mary-anne Coupell, "Martin Luther King Jr.'s
Whole Life"
Murray M. Silver, Esq., "Daddy King and Me,"
Memories of the Forgotten Father of the Civil
Rights Movement.
See also
Martin Luther King, Jr., King Sr.'s son, American
clergyman, activist, and leader in the African-American
Civil Rights Movement; famous for his "I Have
A Dream" speech in 1963.
Martin Luther King III, one of King Sr.'s
grandsons, also named Martin Luther.
References
