Alberta Williams King#Assassination

File:Martin Luther King, Henry Elkins, and Alberta Williams King at Ebenezer, 1962.png (left), Henry Elkins (center), and Alberta Williams King (right) at Ebenezer, 1962]]

Alberta Christine Williams was born on September 13, 1904.{{Cite web|last=University|first=Stanford|date=June 22, 2017|title=Alberta Williams born|url=https://kinginstitute.stanford.edu/encyclopedia/alberta-williams-born|archive-url=|archive-date=|access-date=January 23, 2021|website=The Martin Luther King Jr., Research and Education Institute|language=en}} Her parents were Reverend Adam Daniel Williams, at the time preacher of the Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta, Georgia, and Jennie Celeste (Parks) Williams.[http://www.wargs.com/other/kingml.html Ancestry of Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr] (compiled by William Addams Reitwiesner). 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 the local school board prohibited married women from teaching.

After their wedding, the newly married couple moved into an upstairs bedroom at the Williams family home, which is where all three of their children were born.{{Cite web|last=|first=|last2=|first2=|last3=|first3=|date=|title=Birth Home - Martin Luther King, Jr. National Historical Park (U.S. National Park Service)|url=https://www.nps.gov/malu/planyourvisit/birth-home.htm|archive-url=|archive-date=|access-date=January 23, 2021|website=www.nps.gov|language=en}} 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. In 1980, the home was designated for preservation as part of the Martin Luther King Jr. National Historical Park.{{Cite web|date=January 18, 2014|title=The Martin Luther King, Jr. Birth Home|url=http://historyatlanta.com/martin-luther-king-jr-birth-home/|access-date=January 23, 2021|website=History Atlanta|language=en-US}} The house the family moved to was located nearby. It has since been torn down.

The King's first child, daughter Willie Christine King, was born on September 11, 1927.{{Cite web|last=University|first=Stanford|date=May 2, 2017|title=Farris, (Willie) Christine King|url=https://kinginstitute.stanford.edu/encyclopedia/farris-willie-christine-king|archive-url=|archive-date=|access-date=January 22, 2021|website=The Martin Luther King Jr., Research and Education Institute|language=en}} Michael King, Jr., followed on January 15, 1929, then Alfred Daniel Williams King, named after his grandfather, on July 30, 1930.{{Cite web|last=University|first=Stanford|date=June 1, 2017|title=King, Alfred Daniel Williams|url=https://kinginstitute.stanford.edu/encyclopedia/king-alfred-daniel-williams|archive-url=|archive-date=|access-date=January 22, 2021|website=The Martin Luther King Jr., Research and Education Institute|language=en}} About this time, Michael King changed his name to Martin Luther King Sr.{{Cite web|last=University|first=Stanford|date=June 12, 2017|title=King, Martin Luther, Sr.|url=https://kinginstitute.stanford.edu/encyclopedia/king-martin-luther-sr|archive-url=|archive-date=|access-date=January 23, 2021|website=The Martin Luther King Jr., Research and Education Institute|language=en}}

Alberta King worked hard to instill self-respect into her children. Martin Luther King Jr., wrote an essay while he studied at Crozer Seminary stating that she "was behind the scenes setting forth those motherly cares, the lack of which leaves a missing link in life."{{Cite web|last=University|first=Stanford|date=June 1, 2017|title=King, Alberta Williams|url=https://kinginstitute.stanford.edu/encyclopedia/king-alberta-williams|archive-url=|archive-date=|access-date=January 22, 2021|website=The Martin Luther King Jr., Research and Education Institute|language=en}}

During this period King continued her studies at Morris Brown College, receiving a BA in 1938.{{Cite web|last=University|first=Stanford|date=April 18, 2017|title=Alberta Williams King receives BA from Morris Brown College|url=https://kinginstitute.stanford.edu/encyclopedia/alberta-williams-king-receives-ba-morris-brown-college|archive-url=|archive-date=|access-date=January 23, 2021|website=The Martin Luther King Jr., Research and Education Institute|language=en}}

King founded the Ebenezer choir and served as church organist from 1932 to 1972. Her work as organist and as director at Ebenezer is considered to have contributed deeply to the respect her son had for music.Baldwin, Lewis V., The Voice of Conscience: The Church in the Mind of Martin Luther King, Jr (New York: Oxford University Press, 2010, 27). 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. She returned to the position in 1963 and continued in the role until "retiring" in 1972.

In addition to the choir, Alberta would also serve as the organizer and president of the Ebenezer Women's Committee from 1950 to 1962. By the end of this period, Martin Luther King Sr. and Jr. were joint pastors of the church.

Outside of her work at Ebenezer, King was the organist for the Women's Auxiliary of the National Baptist Convention from 1950 to 1962. She was also active in the YWCA, the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), and the Women's International League for Peace and Freedom.

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 following her son's assassination, faced fresh tragedy the next year when her younger son and last-born child, Alfred Daniel Williams King, who had become the assistant pastor at Ebenezer Baptist Church, drowned in his pool.{{cite magazine |title=The Rev. A. D. Williams King |url=http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,901197,00.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081214143110/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,901197,00.html |url-status=dead |archive-date=December 14, 2008 |magazine=Time |date=August 1, 1969 |access-date=June 22, 2024}}

Alberta King was shot and killed on June 30, 1974, age 69, by Marcus Wayne Chenault, a 23-year-old Black man from Ohio.{{Cite news|last=Delaney|first=Paul |date=July 12, 2022|title=Slaying of Mrs. Martin Luther King Sr.|pages=6 |work=The Decatur Review|agency=New York Times|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/24581284/|access-date=August 10, 2023|via=Newspapers.com}} Chenault's mentor, Hananiah E. Israel, a Black Hebrew Israelite preacher who rejected the New Testament, castigated Black civil rights activists and church leaders as being evil and deceptive, but claimed in interviews not to have advocated violence.Smith, Jay, [https://www.newspapers.com/clip/24634518/ "I Gave Marcus the Key"], Dayton Daily News, July 3, 1974, pp. 1 and [https://www.newspapers.com/clip/24634578/hananiah-e-israel-2/ 15].

Chenault first decided to assassinate Rev. Jesse Jackson in Chicago, but cancelled 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. While Alberta was playing "The Lord's Prayer" on the church organ, Chenault stood up and yelled, "You are serving a false god," and fired his gun at her.{{cite news |last=Burns |first=Rebecca |date=June 28, 2012 |title=The murder of Alberta King |url=http://www.atlantamagazine.com/civilrights/the-murder-of-alberta-king/ |newspaper=Atlanta Magazine |access-date=September 5, 2015 }}

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 wounded retired schoolteacher Jimmie Mitchell in the neck.{{Cite news|date=September 1974|title=In Memory of 'Mama King'|work=Ebony|url=|access-date=}}

King and Boykin were rushed to the nearby Grady Memorial Hospital. Officials announced King was "barely alive" when she arrived at the hospital. Boykin was pronounced dead on arrival.{{Cite news|last=Winchester|first=Simon|date=July 1, 2014|title=Martin Luther King's mother slain in church: From the archive, 1 July 1974|language=en-GB|work=The Guardian|url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/jul/01/martin-luther-kings-mother-slain-in-church-1974|access-date=January 23, 2021|issn=0261-3077}} King died shortly afterward from a gunshot wound to the right side of her head.

Alberta King was interred at the South-View Cemetery in Atlanta.{{Cite web |title=South-View Cemetery |url=https://www.exploregeorgia.org/atlanta/history-heritage/african-american/south-view-cemetery |access-date=January 23, 2021 |website=Official Georgia Tourism & Travel Website {{!}} Explore Georgia.org |language=en}} Martin Luther King Sr. died of a heart attack on November 11, 1984,{{Cite book |last=Aaseng |first=Nathan |title=African-American Religious Leaders |publisher=Facts on File |year=2014 |isbn=978-0816078684 |location= |pages=134}} and was interred next to her.

Chenault was convicted of first-degree murder and sentenced to death. The 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. On August 19, 1995, he died at 44 from complications from the stroke.[http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/living/2002766432_jdl29.html The Seattle Times: Living: Martin King 3rd: living up to society's expectations]{{cite news|last=Saxon|first=Wolfgang|title=M. W. Chenault, 44, Gunman Who Killed Mother of Dr. King|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1995/08/22/obituaries/m-w-chenault-44-gunman-who-killed-mother-of-dr-king.html|newspaper=The New York Times|date=August 22, 1995}}

{{reflist}}

• [http://www.stanford.edu/group/King/publications/papers/vol1/Introduction_to_Volume_I.htm The Papers of Martin Luther King Jr. Volume I: Called to Serve, January 1929-June 1951 (University of California Press, 1992) Introduction] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060114171557/http://www.stanford.edu/group/King/publications/papers/vol1/Introduction_to_Volume_I.htm |date=January 14, 2006 }}
• [http://www.stanford.edu/group/King/publications/autobiography/ch1.htm The Autobiography of Martin Luther King, Jr. (New York: Warner Book, 1998) Chapter 1 edited by Clayborne Carson] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20040819183841/http://www.stanford.edu/group/King/publications/autobiography/ch1.htm |date=August 19, 2004 }}
• [http://www.stanford.edu/group/King/publications/papers/vol1/501122-An_Autobiography_of_Religious_Development.htm Martin Luther King, Jr., "Autobiography of Religious Development," 22 November 1950] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20050312132253/http://www.stanford.edu/group/King/publications/papers/vol1/501122-An_Autobiography_of_Religious_Development.htm |date=March 12, 2005 }}
• Daddy King and Me: Memories of the Forgotten Father of the Civil Rights Movement. Continental Shelf Publishing, 2009; Chapter Four, p. 69.

• [http://www.stanford.edu/group/King/about_king/encyclopedia/King_Alberta_Christine_Williams.htm Stanford University biography of Alberta King] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090301232928/http://www.stanford.edu/group/King/about_king/encyclopedia/King_Alberta_Christine_Williams.htm |date=March 1, 2009 }}
• [https://web.archive.org/web/20050317073210/http://www.aaregistry.com/african_american_history/1706/Alberta_W_King_killed African American registry article on the death of Alberta King]
• {{Find a Grave|9796}}
• [https://web.archive.org/web/20061221022755/http://www.thekingcenter.org/mlk/bio.html The King Center biography of Martin Luther King, Jr]

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Category:1904 births

Category:1974 deaths

Category:African-American Christians

Category:American murder victims

Category:Baptists from Georgia (U.S. state)

Category:People from Atlanta

Category:Spelman College alumni

Category:Hampton University alumni

Category:People murdered in Georgia (U.S. state)

Category:Deaths by firearm in Georgia (U.S. state)

Alberta Williams

Category:Murdered African-American people

Category:1974 murders in the United States

Category:Burials at South-View Cemetery

Category:American women organists

Category:Victims of religiously motivated violence in the United States

Category:20th-century Protestant martyrs