[78] She joined her mother in placing a wreath around her father's crypt. Her father also addressed the issue himself. "[126] Like her parents and siblings, King did not publicly affiliate with a political party. Arrangements were to be announced later, the family said in a statement. Yolanda King was born November 17, 1955, shortly before the Montgomery Bus Boycott. In the 1990s, she supported a retrial of James Earl Ray and publicly stated that she did not hate him. [119] She made it clear that month that she was not trying to fill her father's footsteps, noting jokingly that "They're too big" and that she would "fall and break [her] neck". The cause of death was believed to be heart disease. In her teenage years, she became an effective leader of her high school class and was covered by the magazines Jet and Ebony. For a nation that prides itself on liberty, justice and equality for all, this is totally unacceptable. King aroused controversy in high school for her role in a play. When asked what kind of world she would like to live in, King said she wished "people could love everybody". [15], On November 22, 1963, when U.S. President John F. Kennedy was assassinated, she learned of his death at school. When King was 16, she received attention in Jet in 1972, where she talked about what her father's famous name was doing for her life. "[109] She found her mother's personal papers in her home. All four of MLK's children . She recalled having met a friend that was scared of being acquainted with her, because of her father's identity and expressed her thoughts in the colleges she wished to attend. The children of Martin Luther King and Coretta Scott King Yolanda Denise, Martin Luther III, Dexter Scott, and Bernice Albertine have each in their own way worked to carry on their parents' work fighting for racial equality and social justice. In the interview with the magazine, she related how people expected her to be "stuck up" and referred to it as one of the "handicaps" of being Martin Luther King's child. She felt teenagers were confused and were using drugs as a method to escape their problems. "She lived with a lot of the trauma of our struggle," said the Rev. [4] Despite this, the front porch was damaged and glass broke in the home. [110], She preached in January 2007 to an audience in Ebenezer Baptist Church urging them to be an oasis for peace and love, as well as to use her father's holiday as starting ground for their own interpretations of prejudice. His youngest two children, Esther and Vernon, were vacationing with King and her family in Jamaica when they heard of his death. 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. King called her father's name and having to live up to it a "challenge" and recalled a friend when she first met a friend of hers, who believed she could not say anything to King but after beginning to know her, realized that she was "no worse than my other friends" and she "could say anything" to her. I thought of that evening often over the years, the unexpected appearance of the living children of a beloved icon. Being a busy woman, her brother merely treated it as one of her hectic schedules. "We must keep reaching across the table and, in the tradition of Martin Luther King Jr. and Coretta Scott King, feed each other," King said. 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. King was born in the midst of the turbulent civil rights movement and was only an infant when the King home was bombed in 1956. While in high school, she gained lifelong friends. Image Credit Birthday: November 17, 1955 ( Scorpio) Born In: Montgomery, Alabama, United States 26 15 Civil Rights Activists #23 Human Rights Activists #11 Voice Actresses #17 Quick Facts Also Known As: Yolanda Denise King Died At Age: 51 Family: father: Martin Luther King Jr. "While Mrs. King was alive, the standards to which she would hold any potential life partner of any of her children would be so high as to be almost unmeetable," he speculates. Powered and implemented by FactSet Digital Solutions. [121] She disliked cliches used to define her father and expressed this to Attallah Shabazz, and recalled having seen a play where her father was a "wimp" and carried The Bible with him everywhere.[122]. Ms. King was 12 on April 4, 1968, when she heard a news bulletin on television saying her father had been assassinated in Memphis. King died late Tuesday in Santa Monica, Calif., at age 51, said Steve Klein, a spokesman for the King Center. We had cups of tea because it was so frigid that night, and then they were gone. Despite this wish, she acknowledged that this was of no ease and expressed happiness that her father had changed many things, and even made some people gain self-esteem. Yolanda King would have been 51 years old at the time of death or 59 years old today. Dr. King was assassinated in 1968, and Mrs. King died last year. Bernice King. Wage growth is slowing. None of them have children, and there will be no third generation of Kings to carry on Martin Luther King's legacy. 2007 CBS Interactive Inc. All Rights Reserved. Yolanda King, the Rev. Yolanda King, the oldest child of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., died on May 15, 2007, in Santa Monica, California, at the age of 51.Her career as an actor and speaker combined her father's activism with her own artistic pursuits. Her father admitted that he had never adjusted to bringing up children under "inexplicable conditions". In the early hours of May 19, 2007, King's body was brought to Atlanta, Georgia by private plane belonging to Bishop Eddie Long. After her hour-long presentation, she joined her sister and her aunt, Christine King Farris, in signing books. 225 Yolanda King, the oldest child of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., died on May 15, 2007, in Santa Monica, California, at the age of 51. She was one of the first black children at a previously segregated elementary school in Atlanta, where she endured racial epithets. The next year, Ms. Kings uncle A. D. King, her fathers sole brother, accidentally drowned. Yolanda King: 'Open My Eyes, Open My Soul'. After having been a public speaker for over twenty years, Yolanda recalled her talents having "happened very naturally growing up in a house like mine". She was also on the student council. On her company's Web site, King described her mission as encouraging personal growth and positive social change. Martin Luther King Jr., and Coretta Scott King, Dexter Scott King, the Rev. She founded a dramatic group with Atallah Shabazz, daughter of Malcolm X, the slain civil rights leader, and started a theatrical production company, Higher Ground Productions, dedicated to what she called personal empowerment. As a subscriber, you have 10 gift articles to give each month. 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. Yolanda King is survived by her sister, the Rev. There was such a need, like they were looking for a miracle. Mrs. King said the children attended because they wanted to. "[37] King openly stated years later that she did not hate James Earl Ray.[38]. The statement was made while she was in the presence of 800 people who gathered to honor her father at the Everett Theatre. [39] She was active in student government and drama. [85] In October, she uttered her belief that her father's dream of integration was not fully understood. Yolanda King, the eldest child of the Rev. May 24, 2007 #1 A friend of mines sent me these photos, so I cannot verify the authenticity.I think she looks beautiful. She was also subject to some harassment by her classmates, describing it as the "era when students were making demands and many black students were closer to the teachings of Malcolm X, or what they thought were his teachings." "She was the first daughter of the civil rights movement and never shamed her parents or her co-activists.". She was among 187 people arrested during a demonstration by lesbian and gay rights activists. Father's death: 1968 Teenage years and high school: 1968-1972 Early adulthood College: 1972-1976 . Yolanda King was born on November 17, 1955 in Montgomery, Alabama, USA. She wrote her first play at 8, and her mother sent her to acting school the next year. "We must keep reaching across the table and, in the tradition of Martin Luther King Jr. and Coretta Scott King, feed each other," she said. [102] During the fall of 2004 she played Mama in "A Raisin in the Sun" at the Schwartz Center for the Performing Arts at Cornell University. In 1960, they moved to Atlanta, Georgia, where she was immersed in social upheaval. Positive reception came to this interview, and Yolanda was even called the "leader of the 16-year-olds" for her "calmness, her concern," and "her vision". Yolanda King was the most visible and outspoken among the Kings' four children during activities honoring this year's Martin Luther King Day in January, the first since Coretta Scott King's death. Martin Luther King Jr., has died, said Steve Klein, a spokesman for the King Center. Three officers shot, standoff follows in Kansas City, Mo., police say, Vanessa Bryant, family settles claims over Kobe crash site photos for $28.5M, Flying bug found at Walmart turns out to be rare Jurassic-era insect, Pennsylvania police seized gloves, flashlight from home of Idaho murders suspect, CDC warns drug-resistant stomach bug a "serious public health threat". [30] Four days later, she and her family accompanied their mother to Memphis City Hall on her own terms, as she and her brothers had wanted to come. "Thanks for having us.". Mutual Fund and ETF data provided by Refinitiv Lipper. Yolanda King learned about racial discrimination at 3 or 4 when she was barred from an amusement park. [11] When she was 6 years old, she was saddened by classmates' remarks that her father was a "jailbird". Yolanda King, Actress: King. ATLANTA - Yolanda King, the Rev. The King Center in Atlanta set up to preserve the legacy of civil rights leader Dr. Martin Luther King says his oldest child, Yolanda Denise King, has died. Yolanda Denise King (November 17, 1955 May 15, 2007) was an African-American activist, actress and first-born child of civil rights leaders Martin Luther King Jr. and Coretta Scott King who pursued artistic and entertainment endeavors and public speaking. She founded a production company called Higher Ground Productions. Around an hour later,[113] King collapsed in the Santa Monica, California home of Philip Madison Jones, her brother Dexter King's best friend, and could not be revived. On her company's Web site, she described her mission as encouraging personal growth and positive social change. When she replied "Your father is going to jail so that you can go to Funtown." Despite this, King managed to keep up her grades and became involved in high school politics, serving as class president for two years. [13][14] Yolanda King was born on November 17, 1955 in Montgomery, Alabama, USA. The family did not know the cause of death but that relatives think it might have been a heart problem, he said. In fact, she proved that the smile was more powerful and sweeter because it had to press itself through mournfulness to be seen, force itself through cruelty to show that the light of survival shines for us all." Please enter valid email address to continue. Yolanda was an advocate for racial and social justice, workers' rights, LGBTQIA+ rights, and general nonviolence. To Yolanda, it seemed as if adults naturally went to jail occasionally, because all those she knew seemed to do that. 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. [ 13 ] [ 14 ] yolanda King would have been 51 years old at the time of but... 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