Colbert I. King
{{short description|American journalist}}
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| birth_name = Colbert Isaiah King
| birth_date = {{birth date and age|1939|09|20}}
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| education = Howard University (BA)
| occupation = Opinion writer, editor
| years_active = 1990–present
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| employer = The Washington Post
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| spouse = {{marriage|Gwendolyn King|1961}}
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| awards = Pulitzer Prize for Commentary (2003)
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Colbert Isaiah King (born September 20, 1939){{Cite web|url=http://www.pulitzer.org/winners/colbert-i-king|title=Colbert I. King of The Washington Post|date=2003|website=www.pulitzer.org|language=en|access-date=2017-10-20}} is an American columnist for The Washington Post and the deputy editor of the Post
Early life
King was born to Amelia Colbert King and Isaiah King III{{Cite web|url=http://www.thehistorymakers.org/biography/colbert-i-king-40|title=Colbert I. King|date=May 4, 2005|website=www.thehistorymakers.org|publisher=The HistoryMakers|access-date=2017-10-21}} and grew up in the Foggy Bottom neighborhood of Washington, D.C.{{Cite news|url=http://www.adweek.com/digital/a-depraved-foggy-bottom/|title=A 'Depraved' Foggy Bottom|date=January 21, 2005|work=Fishbowl DC|access-date=2017-10-20|publisher=AdWeek|language=en-US}} He attended Thaddeus Stevens Elementary School, Francis Junior High School, and Paul Laurence Dunbar High School. At Dunbar, he was a member of JROTC as well as the school's championship drill team. After graduating from high school in 1957, he earned his Bachelor of Arts degree in government from Howard University in 1961.
Career
From 1961 to 1963, King served as an officer in the United States Army Adjutant General's Corps, then worked as special officer for the United States Department of State through 1970, eventually leaving over objections to the Counter Intelligence Program (COINTELPRO). He then spent a year on a fellowship at the Department of Health, Education and Welfare, working with James Farmer to draw national attention to sickle-cell anemia and other underserved minority health care issues.
From 1971 to 1972, King was a VISTA volunteer. In 1972, he became minority staff director of the United States Senate Committee on the District of Columbia, where he helped draft the District of Columbia Home Rule Act.
In 1976, King became Deputy Assistant Secretary of the U.S. Treasury Department, then was appointed U.S. executive director to the World Bank by President Jimmy Carter.
In 1980, he became executive vice president for the Middle East and Africa at Riggs Bank, where he served for 10 years and became a member of the board of directors.
King joined The Washington Post
He was a regular television panelist on the weekly political discussion show Inside Washington until the show ceased production in December 2013.{{Cite news|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/style/after-more-than-40-years-inside-washington-will-go-off-the-air/2013/09/08/dd4fcc88-18a3-11e3-82ef-a059e54c49d0_story.html|title=After more than 40 years, 'Inside Washington' will go off the air|last=Farhi|first=Paul|date=September 8, 2013|newspaper=The Washington Post|access-date=October 20, 2017}}
= Awards =
In 2003, King won the Pulitzer Prize in Commentary "for his against-the-grain columns that speak to people in power with ferocity and wisdom".
Personal life
King lives in Washington, D.C., with his wife, Gwendolyn Stewart King,{{Cite news|url=https://nationalpress.org/award-winner/colbert-i-king/|title=Colbert I. King|work=National Press Foundation|access-date=2017-10-23|language=en-US}} who served as Commissioner of the U.S. Social Security Administration under President George H.W. Bush.{{Cite news|url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1989-07-15-mn-2999-story.html|title=Gwendolyn King Selected to Head Social Security|last=Associated Press|date=1989-07-15|work=Los Angeles Times|access-date=2017-10-23|language=en-US|issn=0458-3035}} They met in the late 1950s at Howard University{{Cite news|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A36619-2005Feb18.html|title=For Redder, for Bluer|last=King|first=Colbert I.|date=February 19, 2005|newspaper=The Washington Post|access-date=October 22, 2017}} and married on July 3, 1961, and have three children. King's son Rob King is senior vice president of SportsCenter and News at ESPN.{{Cite news|url=https://www.poynter.org/news/rob-king-and-colbert-i-king-journalism-fatherhood-and-new-generation|title=Rob King and Colbert I. King on journalism, fatherhood and a new generation|last=Hare|first=Kristen|date=June 18, 2016|work=Pontyer|access-date=October 21, 2017}}
References
External links
- [https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/opinion/columns/kingcolbert/ Column archive] at The Washington Post
- [http://nationalpress.org/awards/winner/colbert-i.-king/ The 2010 Chairman’s Citation Winner: Colbert I. King], National Press Foundation
- {{C-SPAN|60804}}
- [https://web.archive.org/web/20121024031453/http://www.ushmm.org/museum/exhibit/focus/antisemitism/voices/transcript/?content=20121004 Voices on Antisemitism interview with King], United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, October 4, 2012
{{PulitzerPrize Commentary 2001–2025}}
{{Portalbar|Biography}}
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Category:Pulitzer Prize for Commentary winners
Category:The Washington Post people
Category:Howard University alumni
Category:United States Army officers
Category:20th-century American journalists
Category:American male journalists
Category:21st-century American non-fiction writers
Category:Journalists from Washington, D.C.
Category:Dunbar High School (Washington, D.C.) alumni