Alberta Williams King

Alberta Williams King
Born Alberta Christine Williams
(1904-09-13)September 13, 1904
Atlanta, Georgia, U.S.
Died June 30, 1974(1974-06-30) (aged 69)
Atlanta, Georgia, U.S.
Cause of death Assassination
Nationality American
Citizenship American
Education Spelman Seminary
Hampton University
Spouse(s) Martin Luther King Sr.
Children Christine King Farris
Martin Luther King Jr.
Alfred Daniel Williams King I
Parent(s) Rev. Adam Daniel Williams
Jennie Celeste Parks Williams

Alberta Christine Williams King (September 13, 1904 – June 30, 1974) was Martin Luther King Jr.'s mother and the wife of Martin Luther King Sr. She played a significant role in the affairs of the Ebenezer Baptist Church. She was shot and killed in the church six years after the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr.[1]

Life and career

Alberta Christine Williams was born on September 13, 1904, to Reverend Adam Daniel Williams (1863-1931), at the time preacher of the Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta, Georgia, and Jennie Celeste Williams (née Parks; 1873-1941).[2] Alberta Williams graduated from high school at the Spelman Seminary, and earned a teaching certificate at the Hampton Normal and Industrial Institute (now Hampton University) in 1924.

Williams met Martin L. King (then known as Michael King), whose sister Woodie was boarding with her parents, shortly before she left for Hampton. After graduating, she announced her engagement to King at the Ebenezer Baptist Church. She taught for a short time before their Thanksgiving Day 1926 wedding, but she had to quit because married female teachers were not then allowed.

Their first child, daughter Willie Christine King, was born on September 11, 1927. Martin Luther King Jr. followed on January 15, 1929, then Alfred Daniel Williams King I, named after his grandfather, on July 30, 1930. About this time, Michael King changed his name to Martin Luther King Sr.

Alberta King worked hard to instill self-respect into her children. In an essay he wrote at Crozer Seminary, Martin Luther King Jr., who was always close to her, wrote that she "was behind the scenes setting forth those motherly cares, the lack of which leaves a missing link in life."

Alberta King's mother died on May 18, 1941, of a heart attack. The King family later moved to a large yellow brick house three blocks away. Alberta would serve as the organizer and president of the Ebenezer Women's Committee from 1950 to 1962. She was also a talented musician who served as the choir organist and director at Ebenezer, which may have contributed to the respect her son had for the Black arts.[3] By the end of this period, Martin Luther King Sr. and Jr. were joint pastors of the church.

Family tragedies, 1968–1974

Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated on April 4, 1968, while standing on the balcony of the Lorraine Motel in Memphis. King was in Memphis to lead a march in support of the local sanitation workers' union. He was pronounced dead one hour later. Mrs. King, a source of strength after her son's assassination, faced fresh tragedy the next year when her younger son and last-born child, Alfred Daniel Williams King I, who had become the assistant pastor at the Ebenezer Baptist Church, drowned in his pool.

Death

Alberta King was shot and killed on June 30, 1974, at age 69, by Marcus Wayne Chenault, a 23-year-old black man from Ohio who shot her with two pistols as she sat at the organ of the Ebenezer Baptist Church. Chenault stated that he shot King because "all Christians are my enemies", and claimed that he had decided that black ministers were a menace to black people. He said his original target had been Martin Luther King Sr., but he had decided to shoot his wife instead because she was close to him. Edward Boykin, one of the church's deacons, was also killed in the attack, and a woman was wounded. Alberta was interred at the South View Cemetery in Atlanta. Martin Luther King Sr. died of a heart attack on November 11, 1984, at age 84 and was interred next to her.

Chenault was sentenced to death; although this sentence was upheld on appeal, he was later resentenced to life in prison, partially as a result of the King family's opposition to the death penalty. On August 3, 1995, he suffered a stroke, and was taken to a hospital, where he died of complications from his stroke on August 19, at age 44.[4][5]

Notes

  1. ↑ Winchester, Simon. "From the archive, 1 July 1974: Martin Luther King's mother slain in church Alberta King, mother of the late Rev Martin Luther King, was shot and killed today by Marcus Wayne Chenut as she played the organ for morning service". Guardian.
  2. ↑ Ancestry of Rev. Martin Luther King Jr
  3. ↑ Lewis V. Baldwin, The Voice of Conscience: The Church in the Mind of Martin Luther King Jr. (New York: Oxford University Press, 2010, 27)
  4. ↑ The Seattle Times: Living: Martin King 3rd: living up to society's expectations
  5. ↑ Saxon, Wolfgang (August 22, 1995). "M. W. Chenault, 44, Gunman Who Killed Mother of Dr. King". New York Times.

References

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