Martin Luther King Sr., an influential minister and civil rights leader in his own right, was known as Michael King before he changed his name and the name of his oldest son to Martin Luther King in 1934. (Photo courtesy of Youtube/Twitter)
By Sean Yoes
AFRO Senior Reporter
syoes@afro.com
As we all attempt to fully absorb the catastrophic events of the last week including the deadly Capitol insurrection and the unprecedented second impeachment of an American president, contemplating the life and legacy of Dr. Martin King Jr. feels like a somewhat surreal exercise.
On Jan. 15, Dr. King would have been 92-years old had he lived. Yet, as I reflect on King’s life during these most tumultuous of times in 2021, I recently learned something about him that I did not know.
He was not born “Martin Luther King” and neither was his father.
The father of one of the nation’s most consequential leaders, affectionately known as “Daddy King,” was born Michael King Dec. 19, 1897 in Stockbridge, Ga. the oldest son of Delia and James Alberta King. As a boy he attended the Stockbridge Colored School and in his later years he reflected on his zeal to learn as a child. “We had no books, no materials to write with and no blackboard. But, I loved going to school,” King said.
Yet, like so many Black Americans who came of age in the early 20th Century especially in the Jim Crow south, the threat of White terrorist violence seemed ubiquitous. He personally witnessed several physical attacks on his neighbors, including the lynching of a Black man. However, he also witnessed members of his community who were willing to speak out against the oppression of Black people and many of them were Black preachers, who King grew to respect. And he also developed a desire to preach himself. Initially, he delivered eulogies before the chickens on the family farm. By 1917, at age 20, he made the decision to become a minister. The next year in 1918, King left Stockbridge to join his sister Woodie in Atlanta. The next year in 1919, Woodie King boarded at the home of a prominent Atlanta minister, A.D. Williams, who presided over Ebenezer Baptist Church for 25 years. Williams was a spiritual leader who infused his ministry with social activism and was a founding member of the Atlanta chapter of the NAACP. He was also the father of Alberta Williams, who Michael King took an immediate liking to. And both her parents apparently welcomed him into the family circle. They also encouraged him to continue his education. He subsequently completed his high school education at the Bryant Preparatory School, obtained a two-year degree from Dillard University and began preaching at several churches in Atlanta. By 1926, began working toward his ministerial degree at the Morehouse School of Religion and that same year after eight years of courtship King married Alberta Williams at Ebenezer Baptist Church.
Several years before he changed his name in 1934, Michael King Sr., met Alberta Williams around 1918 and after eight years of courting the couple married in 1926. They were married until her tragic murder in 1974 at the hands of a mentally deranged Black man. (Photo courtesy of Youtube/Twitter)
The young couple began growing their family right away with three children in four years: a daughter, Willie Christine King born in 1927, Michael King Jr. born 1929 and Alfred Daniel Williams King born in 1930.
And in March 1931, King Sr., took over the leadership of Ebenezer Baptist after the death of his father-in-law A.D. Williams. King would ultimately follow in the footsteps of his father-in-law to also become president of the Atlanta branch of the NAACP.
But, it was in 1934, during a trip to Germany that Michael King Sr. would experience a transformational moment. King traveled to Germany to participate in the Baptist World Alliance meeting that year and at that time was formally introduced to the legacy of the great reformation leader Martin Luther. And King deepened his appreciation of the Protestantism movement. It was around that time that he changed his name from Michael King, to Martin Luther King. And he changed his oldest son’s name to the same.
During Martin Luther King Jr.’s early years, his father provided the most immediate and tangible example of a proponent and practitioner of social change through theology. And he credited his father for influencing him in joining the ministry. “He set forth a noble example that I didn’t mind following,” said King Jr. The elder King was also an example for his son of an unbowed Black man operating in the dangerous Jim Crow South.
King Jr., apparently saw his father stand up to a policeman who had stopped the elder King for a traffic violation and referred to him as a “boy.” Allegedly young King witnessed his father firmly assert, “This is a boy (as Daddy King pointed to his son). I’m a man, and until you call me one, I will not listen to you.” And according to King Jr., the policeman, “wrote the ticket up nervously, and left the scene as quickly as possible.”
Before his son ascended to the pantheon of the American Civil Rights Movement, Daddy King was a prominent civil rights and community leader in Atlanta. He served on the boards of Atlanta University, Morehouse College and the National Baptist Convention.
He was an important figure in the Democratic Party and a strong supporter of Jimmy Carter first as governor of Georgia and later during his successful campaign for President of the United States. King Sr., delivered the invocations at the Democratic National Convention in 1976 and 1980.
After leading Ebenezer Baptist Church for 44 years, he died in Atlanta in 1984.
In October 1940, Daddy King talked about “the true mission of the church.”
“The spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the Gospel to the poor,” he said to his fellow clergymen. “In this we find we are to do something about the brokenhearted, poor, unemployed, the captive, the blind, and the bruised.”
Sean Yoes is the AFRO’s Senior Reporter and the author of Baltimore After Freddie Gray: Real Stories From One of Baltimore’s Great Imperiled Cities.
