Martin Luther King, Sr. Speaks at the Funeral of Alberta Williams King (July 3, 1974)

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Alberta Christine Williams King (September 13, 1904 - June 30, 1974) was Martin Luther King Jr.'s mother, married to 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 by Marcus Wayne Chenault, a 23-year-old Black Hebrew Israelite six years after the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr.[1]
Alberta Christine Williams was born on September 13, 1904.[2] Her parents were Reverend Adam Daniel Williams, at the time preacher of the Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta, Georgia, and Jennie Celeste (Parks) Williams.[3] 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.[4]
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.[4] She taught for a short time before their Thanksgiving Day 1926 wedding, but she had to quit because the local school board prohibited married women from teaching.[4]
After their wedding the newly married couple moved into an upstairs bedroom at the Williams's family home, which is where all three of their children were subsequently born.[5] The King family lived in the home until King's mother's death from a heart attack in 1941, when Martin Jr. turned 12 years old.[6] In 1980 the home was designated a National Historic Site by Congress.[6] The house the family subsequently moved to was located nearby (it has since been torn down).[6]
The King's first child, daughter Willie Christine King, was born on September 11, 1927.[7] Michael Luther King Jr. followed on January 15, 1929, then Alfred Daniel Williams King I, named after his grandfather, on July 30, 1930.[8] About this time, Michael King changed his name to Martin Luther King Sr.[9]
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."[4]
During this period King continued her studies at Morris Brown College, receiving a BA in 1938.[10]
King founded the Ebenezer choir and served as church organist from 1932 to 1972.[4] Her work as organist and as director at Ebenezer is considered to have deeply contributed to the respect her son had for music.[11] She served as choir director for nearly 25 years, leaving for only a brief period in the early 1960s to accompany her son and assist him with his work.[12] She returned to the position in 1963 and continued in the role until "retiring" in 1972.[12]
Alberta King was shot and killed on June 30, 1974, aged 69, by Marcus Wayne Chenault, a 23-year-old black man from Ohio who had adopted the theology of the Black Hebrew Israelites.[13] Chenault's mentor, Hananiah Israel of Cincinnati, castigated black civil rights activists and black church leaders as being evil and deceptive, but claimed in interviews not to have advocated violence.[14] Chenault did not draw any such distinction, and actually first decided to assassinate Rev. Jesse Jackson in Chicago, but canceled the plan at the last minute.
Two weeks later he set out for Atlanta, where he shot Alberta King with two handguns as she sat at the organ of the Ebenezer Baptist Church. Chenault said 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 King's wife instead because she was near him. He also killed one of the church's deacons, Edward Boykin, in the attack, and Mrs. Jimmie Mitchell, a retired schoolteacher, suffered a wound to the neck.[12] “It seemed like I was watching a scene from a bad movie play out," King's daughter would later recall in her 2009 memoir Through It All.[15]
King and Boykin were rushed to the nearby Grady Memorial Hospital.[1] Officials announced King was "barely alive" when she arrived at the hospital, while Boykin was pronounced dead on arrival.[1] King died shortly afterward from a gunshot wound to the right of her head.[1]
Alberta King was interred at the South-View Cemetery in Atlanta.[16] Martin Luther King Sr. died of a heart attack on November 11, 1984,[17] and was interred next to her.[16]
Assassin's conviction[edit source]
Chenault was convicted of first-degree murder and sentenced to death. The sentence was upheld on appeal, but he was later resentenced to life in prison, partially as a result of the King family's opposition to the death penalty.[15] On August 3, 1995, he suffered a stroke, and was taken to a hospital. On August 19, he died aged 44 of complications from his stroke.[18][

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@graceandpeace4414 Жыл бұрын

To lose two children and spouse within six years..and have the fortitude to still stand

@hozonkai9967 Жыл бұрын

Poor Man. Lost both his sons and wife to tragedy

@samsneadd Жыл бұрын

and to evil. Anyone else that has been thru what this man has went thru would have hated and tried to kill anyone that resembled those that took away his family. If a black person had robbed a non black person at gun point and let them live, then most of society would say that victim was in their right to be scared and traumatized to hate all blacks. If a rape victim hates all men, we say that is normal and to be expected. Yet, He still spoke of love and peace and did not judge all even if they resembled the ones behind the trigger aimed at his family. They died for believing in Gods word and speaking peace. The same thing that Jimmy Graham did that they all loved and adored him for ( as they should). This whole family was taken out. And lets not fool ourselves we know. IF the FBI agent just confessed two weeks ago to the conspiracy of Malcolm X and the whole family, why would the Kings be any different? The FBI and CIA would have ppl pull the trigger if they did not do it themselves. They even had wicked blacks tht worked with or under the them, if not that were just flat out used to do their evil deeds. Let that sink in.

@ivojohnson6829 9 ай бұрын

🙏🏾

@willsims5477 Жыл бұрын

What a good man! This is real manhood and still loving his fellow man. He actually asked the court not to put his wife’s murderer on death row. What a blessing

@lemarcusbrown1708 Жыл бұрын

I would have put his ass on death row , quick, fast and in a hurry. Public execution. I would def not be so forgiving

@willsims5477 Жыл бұрын

@@lemarcusbrown1708 I have to admit, I don’t know what I would do. I think it was noble of him! To lose his wife and two of his children tragically had to be devastating.

@deloreswillis9224 Жыл бұрын

Nothing… but GOD🙏🏿

@sheresastubbs9408 Жыл бұрын

I am astonish in disbelief because I was viewing a documentary on Mrs. Alberta Williams King. Had never heard of her until the documentary my God what a amazing woman.

@schawnettarobinson8584 9 ай бұрын

Dr. King sounds like his father.

@chrisogonas 8 ай бұрын

Long live the Kings Spirit ✊

@billywhite3523 Жыл бұрын

Martin Jr, A. D. and his wife Alberta are all dead at this time. Martin Sr paid a very heavy price

@ronwalker1975 Жыл бұрын

M.L.K., Sr. is a strong man emotionally with his ONLY two sons and wife physically GONE, he was given the power from God to forgive James Earl Ray, Marcus Wayne Chenault, and the mysterious killer of A.D. King for causing them to have such a horrific demise!!;

@redrockballa Жыл бұрын

james earl ray didn’t kill mlk it’s documented that the fbi did it

@Penrose-wi6tx Жыл бұрын

@@ronwalker1975 James Earl Ray didn’t kill, Dr. King

@411CTda3rd 9 ай бұрын

The hell he didn't! JER is guilty as sin. @@Penrose-wi6tx

@brendagray9601 8 ай бұрын

@@ronwalker1975James Earl Ray Did Not Kill Dr. King. It Was Higher Uppers

@Gregory-yk4wx Жыл бұрын

A GOOD MAN and CAN PREACH RIP and POWER.

@tanyagilliard5360 8 ай бұрын

I love you Papa King...You were a King for real... Rest in Power Sir .God brought you through tough times ..MLK AD King yours then your wife Alberta King died tragically..💙🙏🏽💙

@jabaricunningham6796 Жыл бұрын

Do you have any more clips from the service?

@JSARogers Жыл бұрын

@foggymelson do you have video of the entire service?

@alberta4949 Жыл бұрын

This is so sad how she was killed

@maureensawatzki7917 8 ай бұрын

😭😭😭

@ladyt.thompson8992 Жыл бұрын

Amazing, Man, like my Dad❤️

@adriennerobinson9831 Жыл бұрын

What Grace!!!!

@maureensawatzki7917 8 ай бұрын

😭😭😭 this is heart 💔 to watch. The King have suffered so much. May God bless them all. ❤

@MarkWestbrook-kq9wr 7 ай бұрын

How much grief can one take in 6 years he 2 sons and his wife

@teshondagetties7122 5 ай бұрын

He also spoke at his son’s funeral, Rev. A.D. King

@darrendoyle9327 Жыл бұрын

them kind of black man we need a nap neighborhood we miss them 🙏🏾✊🏾

@RogetAlexanderPrice Жыл бұрын

Nice video and tribute to a fine woman.

@leighburton832 8 ай бұрын

Wow! Jimmy Carter was just a governor when this occurred!

@LarryBanks85 8 ай бұрын

Wow!

@marygivens9451 7 ай бұрын

AMAZING GRACE!

@ernestbowmanjr550 Жыл бұрын

A young Willie Watkins!

@cynthiaperkins5584 Ай бұрын

I see where Martin Luther,jr. gets his eloquent speaking from.

@georgetrotter1742 Жыл бұрын

I would like to know more about this man.I love 💕 to hear 👂 him talk about Color people Rights in this (World)All People Rights whoever raced We Are 🛐✝️❤️🙏.

@georgetrotter1742 Жыл бұрын

This Is So True Love for all of us Love Because God Is Love .