Dr. Martin Luther King Jr’s daughter,
Bernice King, to head SCLC
O n October 30th, a critical step forward was made in preserving the legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and his works, in unprecedented fashion. Dr. Bernice King, Martin’s youngest daughter and child, was elected to be the next president of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC). She becomes SCLC’s first woman president and the third King to assume the position, following her father who co-founded the organization in 1957 and her brother, Martin III, who served as president from 1997 to 2004.
King defeated the other finalist, Arkansas Court of Appeals Judge Wendell Griffen.
She stated, while speaking in a room at Atlanta's Ebenezer Baptist Church, where her father celebrated his last birthday before his 1968 assassination, to promise to use her family legacy to energize a new generation's non-violent battle for social justice and to increase the involvement of women.
"I stand before you as a daughter of the civil rights movement calling forth the daughters and sons of the next generation of social change," said King, who also pledged to build a bridge between veteran black activists of the 1960s and the hip-hop generation of the present day. "I am a King, yet I am mindful that I am not the only one.”
Bernice was only five years old when her father was assassinated. Now 46, she has become an internationally known motivational speaker and author. She is a minister at New Birth Missionary Church in Lithonia, Georgia, the church pastored by Bishop Eddie Long. She is also a licensed attorney and member of the State Bar of Georgia; she works as a mediator. King holds a Master’s Degree in Divinity from Candler School of Technology and a Juris Doctorate in Law from Emory University School of Law.
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