No blood children, maybe, but as Yolanda pointed out in an NPR interview a few years ago, when people feel empowered, they become part of the King legacy: "I think it takes that for people to be effective change agents and to be champions of peace in their own lives. On January 15, 1997, she spoke at Florida Memorial College and expressed what she believed her father would feel if "he knew that people were taking a day off in his memory to do nothing". When asked by a young boy what she remembered most about her father, she admitted that her father was not able to spend much time with her and the rest of her family. In life, she said, I had to be prim and proper and poised the King daughter. Born in 1955 in Montgomery, Ala., King was just an infant when her home was bombed during the turbulent civil rights era. The head of the school was Walt Roberts, father of the actors Eric and Julia Roberts. Raphael Warnock stated; "She dealt with the difficulty of personal pain and public responsibility and yet she emerged from it all victorious. ", during a celebration that marked what would have been her father's sixty-fourth birthday. She was just 10 weeks old when the King family home was bombed in Jan. 30, 1956, as her father attended a boycott rally. Her paternal grandfather, the Rev. There, she joined hands with her siblings and mother along with other civil rights activists, singing We Shall Overcome. The flag at The King Center, where she was a board member, flew at half-staff on today. Yolanda Denise King nicknamed Yoki by the family was born Nov. 17, 1955, in Montgomery, Ala., where her father was then preaching. On April 8, 1988, King and Shabazz were honored by Los Angeles County supervisors for their "unifying" performance and message on stage at the Los Angeles Theater Center the previous night. } She stroked her youngest child, Bernice, as the preschooler raised sad eyes to her mother and looked around in wonder at all the strangers in the church that had been home to three generations of Kings. Members of the chapter are "deeply saddened to learn of the recent passing of Ms. Yolanda King,'' spokeswoman Tiffany Travis said today. "[88] She honored her father in 1995 by performing in the Chicago Sinfonietta in the play "A Lincoln Portrait", in which she was the narrator. Before her death, she led a production company called Higher Ground Productions an organization whose mission is to provide a "gateway for inner peace, unity, and global transformation," as per NPR. That decade saw King's acting career take off as she appeared in ten separate projects, including Ghosts of Mississippi (1996), Our Friend, Martin (1999) and Selma, Lord, Selma (1999). With Yolanda King, she also founded a group named Nucleus, Inc. in 1977. All rights reserved. Lawmakers and activists including Andrea Waters King , Yolanda Renee King, the granddaughter of Rev. She ran out of the room, screamed "I don't want to hear it,"[24] and prayed that he would not die. Jesse Jackson stated that King "lived with a lot of the trauma of our struggle. King cried when she found out her father had been imprisoned. The children referred to her father as an "Uncle Tom" and she was scared that he would go down in history as such. I remember thinking she was sparkly a good, throaty laugh, good sense of humor, the ability to dramatically capture the room's attention. In 1960, they moved to Atlanta, Georgia, where she was immersed in social upheaval. Yolanda Denise King, daughter and eldest child of civil rights leader the Rev. King's mother, Coretta Scott King, suffered a stroke before her death from cancer in 2006. She held membership at the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, which her father helped found in 1957, and she was a notable advocate for non-violence. Yolanda King: 'We will fulfil my grandfather's dream' The granddaughter of Martin Luther King Jr speaks at the 2020 March on Washington. King recalled that her mother had been the main parent and dominant figure in their home, while her father was often away. King aroused controversy in high school for her role in a play. "[100] While in Dallas in March 2004, King related; "It's only in the past half-dozen years or so that I have felt comfortable in my own skin. He added she was "thoroughly committed to the movement and found her own means of expressing that commitment through drama. She was also on the board of the King Center. A flag at The King Center, which King's mother founded in 1968 and where she was a board member, was lowered to half-staff on Wednesday. Her childhood experience was greatly influenced by her father's highly public activism. . Born on Nov. 17, 1955, in Montgomery, Ala., Yolanda Denise King was just an infant when her home was bombed amid the turbulent civil rights era. It's a dream about freedomfreedom from oppression, from exploitation, from poverty the dream of a nation and a world where each and every child will have the opportunity to simply be the very best that they can be." She held membership at the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, which her father helped found in 1957, and she was a notable advocate for non-violence. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. who melded her fathers message of racial equality and nonviolence with her own calling as an actor and a motivational speaker, died on Tuesday in Santa Monica, Calif. She was 51. [46] Her grandfather Martin Luther King Sr. initially was not going to go to her performance due to opposition by locals, but changed his mind afterward. Historian David Garrow, who won a Pulitzer for his biography of King and who remains friends with many King intimates, says it's not so surprising that none of the King children married. Yolanda King is seen in a 2006 file photo. [48] Despite statements such as these, King did not become aware of the public discomfort with her role until years later, citing her mother's involvement in her knowledge of the criticism.[49]. Coretta King had established her own career as a civil rights activist, and after her husband's assassination in 1968, she founded the Martin Luther King Jr. Center for Nonviolent Social Change (via Biography). Despite this, she did voice opposition to President Ronald Reagan's reluctance to sign the law establishing Martin Luther King Jr. Day, her father's national holiday. . A young cousin who lived in Atlanta and had worked on the Carter campaign had stopped by during inauguration week. Yolanda Denise King, 51, the eldest daughter of the late civil rights leader Rev. I could let the rough edges show., Yolanda King, 51, Actor and Dr. Kings Daughter, Dies, https://www.nytimes.com/2007/05/17/us/17king.html. On May 15, 2007, she told her brother Dexter that she was tired. [24], On May 15, 2007, King told her brother Dexter, that she was tired, though he thought nothing of it because of her "hectic" schedule. Her brother Martin III was born in 1957; brother Dexter in 1961; and sister Bernice in 1963. [4] Despite this, the front porch was damaged and glass broke in the home. We compared notes about having gone to women's colleges and teased each other about the perceived weaknesses of our respective alma maters. In 1979, Yolanda met Attallah Shabazz, the eldest daughter of Malcolm X,[60] after arrangements had been made by Ebony Magazine to take a photograph of the two women together. When asked what kind of world she would like to live in, King said she wished "people could love everybody". She also urged the audience at Ebenezer to be a force for peace and love, and to use the King holiday each year in January to ask tough questions about their own beliefs on prejudice. She made lifelong friends while in the institution that would collectively be called the "Grady Girls". She received a standing ovation afterwards, alongside a thunderous applause. 1894 shipwreck found in Lake Huron, confirming "powerful, tragic story", Garland to face Congress amid ongoing special counsel investigations, FBI chief says agency feels pandemic likely started with Chinese lab leak. In her teenage years, she became an effective leader of her high school class and was covered by the magazines Jet and Ebony. Get browser notifications for breaking news, live events, and exclusive reporting. Klein said the family did not know the cause of death but think it might have been a heart problem. Instead, the two quickly found common ground in their activism and in their positive outlook towards the future of African-Americans. The four King children gathered at the February 2006 funeral of their mother, Coretta Scott King. Yolanda King was born November 17, 1955, shortly before the Montgomery Bus Boycott. ATLANTA (AP) On April 4, 1968, a movement lost its patriarch when the Rev. She went to drama school, where was active in student counsels, and in 1976, she graduated from Smith College with a Bachelor of Arts in Drama and African American Studies. When she returned home, she rushed to confront her mother about his death and even ignored her grandfather, Martin Luther King, Sr., to tell her mother what she had heard and that they would not get their "freedom now." She was 12 years old when Martin Luther King Jr. died. [39] On April 4, 1970, the second anniversary of her father's death, she and her sister Bernice attended their grandfather Martin Luther King, Sr.'s silent prayer for their father at his gravesite. On her company's Web site, King described her mission as encouraging personal growth and positive social change. [13][14] She also found "great irony" in President Ronald Reagan having signed a bill to make Martin Luther King Jr. Day a national holiday. Martin Luther King Jr.'s eldest child who pursued her father's dream of racial harmony through drama and motivational speaking, collapsed and died after making a speech . When asked by The Associated Press at that event how she was dealing with the loss of her mother, she responded: "I connected with her spirit so strongly. [44] The practice of going to her father's grave on the anniversary of either his birth or assassination became an annual ritual for the King family to mourn his death. "[53] At the time of her turmoil in college, King recalled having not known Malcolm X and "didn't understand daddy, so here I was trying to defend something I thought I knew about but really didn't. "[127] Joseph Lowery stated; "She was a princess and she walked and carried herself like a princess. [9] Decision-making towards what school she would attend in first grade was done primarily by her mother, since her father expressed disinterest to her early in the decision-making. As she said during an interview, "I prefer Yoki. [19], King, and her brother "Marty", were enrolled in the fall semester of 1965 at Spring Street Elementary School, in Midtown Atlanta, Georgia. Dr. King was assassinated in 1968, and Mrs. King died last year. ", The Rev. She and her mother, at the time of the bomb's detonation, were in the rear section of their home. [25] Her memories of her father prompted her to state that he "believed we were all divine. [78] She joined her mother in placing a wreath around her father's crypt. She was among 187 people arrested during a demonstration by lesbian and gay rights activists. Yolanda, Martin, Dexter and Bernice King lost their father. King was scheduled to visit Houston this weekend to attend numerous events related to the "Power to End Stroke'' campaign sponsored by the local chapter of the American Heart Association, Houston Gulf Coast Division. [16] She predicted at that time that all of the "Negro leaders" would be killed and the non-leading African-Americans would agree to segregation. Martin Luther King III uttered that "Yolanda is still in business. After her hour-long presentation, she joined her sister and her aunt, Christine King Farris, in signing books. Supervisor Kenneth Hahn said to King that he "sensed I was in the presence of a great man when I met your father. At the time of the honor, King said that their production company had been approached by organizations seeking to arrange special staging of the play for gang members before May 1, when the show's run would end. She was 51. Garrow says his first inclination when he heard of Yolanda's death was: This is it. Yolanda King is survived by her sister, the Rev. She was an actress and writer, known for King (1978), JAG (1995) and Hopscotch (1980). Even in her infancy, Yolanda was faced with the threats her father was given when they extended to his family. The death comes just over a year after the death of her mother, Coretta Scott King a civil rights leader in her own right at the age of 78, of complications from ovarian cancer, and after a battle with the effects from a stroke. After the move, she founded Higher Ground Productions where she produced and starred in a myriad of films. She proceeded to read his books, and started to believe that her father had been correct all along. [22] She ranked in the top 10 percent of her class. The two were the same age. As an actress, she appeared in numerous films and even played civil rights heroine Rosa Parks in the 1978 miniseries "King." Her educational accomplishments continued when she earned a Master of Fine Arts from New York University in 1979 (via Stanford). Her family has speculated that her death was caused by a heart condition. In honor of her father, King promoted a show in Los Angeles entitled "Achieving the Dream" in 2001. She was one of the first black children at a previously segregated elementary school in Atlanta, where she endured racial epithets. King appeared on News & Notes on January 15, 2007 to discuss her. [18] In 1964, upon learning her father would receive the Nobel Peace Prize, she asked her mother what her father was going to do with the money he was receiving in addition to the award. Her father admitted that he had never adjusted to bringing up children under "inexplicable conditions". Legal Statement. There, in my living room, shaking off snow and laughing, were the kids in the picture two of them, anyway. 2023 FOX News Network, LLC. [125] She stated at the Chicago's Out and Equal Workplace Summit in 2006 "If you are gay, lesbian, bisexual or transgender, you do not have the same rights as other Americans, you cannot marry, you still face discrimination in the workplace, and in our armed forces. Klein said the family did not know the cause of death but that relatives think it might have been a heart problem. ", The Rev. Below, she speaks at a 2000 Human Rights Campaign gala. Yolanda and Martin III sat nearby, numb with sadness. WASHINGTON, DC - JANUARY 18: Yolanda Renee King, the granddaughter of Martin Luther King Jr., finishes preaching at the Washington National Cathedral January 18, 2022 in Washington, DC. She originally wanted $8,000, but negotiated down to $6,500. Her mother started to realize that Yolanda had become more aware of the possibility that her father could be killed as well. The Associated Press contributed to this report. She served on the Partnership Council of Habitat for Humanity, was the first national Ambassador for the American Stroke Association's "Power to End Stroke" Campaign, a member of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, a sponsor of the Women's International League for Peace and Freedom, Human Rights Campaign, and held a lifetime membership in the NAACP. Her death comes little more than a year after the death of her mother, Coretta Scott King. During the course of her lifetime, King's name was mispronounced to the point that it bothered her. 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