There was such a need, like they were looking for a miracle. "[126] Like her parents and siblings, King did not publicly affiliate with a political party. [67] That same year, she presented the Martin Luther King Jr. Award for Public Service to Chicago Mayor Harold Washington during the fifth annual Ebony American Black Achievement Awards. I thought of that evening often over the years, the unexpected appearance of the living children of a beloved icon. King received a Bachelor of Arts degree from Smith College in Northampton, Massachusetts, a master's degree in theater from New York University,[59] and an Honorary Doctorate of Humane Letters from Marywood University. ", As an actress, she appeared in numerous films, including "Ghosts of Mississippi," and even played civil rights heroine Rosa Parks in the 1978 miniseries "King.". [104] She was hospitalized on August 16, 2005,[105] and was set to come home as well. Her father also addressed the issue himself. Steve Klein, a spokesman for the Martin Luther King Jr. Center for Nonviolent Social Change, said the cause of death had not been determined but seemed related to cardiopulmonary problems. I don't have to try and prove anything to anyone anymore. King; two brothers, Martin Luther King III and Dexter Scott King; and an extended family. [8] The Kings would have another daughter, almost eight years later, named Bernice (born 1963). Not long after, she collapsed in the Santa Monica . [66], She showed dissatisfaction with her "generation" on January 20, 1985, and referred to them as being "laid-back and unconcerned", and "forgetting the sacrifices that allowed them to get away with being so laid-back". Legal Statement. I dream things that never were and say why not?". While her siblings were trying to find out what it meant, Yolanda already knew. "[91] In an interview with People magazine in 1999, she recalled when she first learned of her father's death and stated in her words that "to this day, my heart skips a beat every time I hear one of those special bulletins. The statement was made while she was in the presence of 800 people who gathered to honor her father at the Everett Theatre. Yolanda Denise King, daughter and eldest child of the Rev. At her father's former Atlanta church, Ebenezer Baptist, she performed a series of one-actor skits on King Day this year that told stories including a girl's first ride on a desegregated bus and a college student's recollection of the 1963 desegregation of Birmingham, Ala. She also urged the audience at Ebenezer to be a force for peace and love, and to use the King holiday each year to ask tough questions about their own beliefs on prejudice. }, First published on May 16, 2007 / 5:32 AM. display: none; The "commitment" to diverse members in the audience and the play itself, was what represented the opportunities for which King fought. She made lifelong friends while in the institution that would collectively be called the "Grady Girls". We had cups of tea because it was so frigid that night, and then they were gone. Yolanda King is survived by her sister, the Rev. Davis said Houston heart association officials have received no specific information on the cause of King's death but added that King had a family history of heart disease and stroke. ", "Yolanda never wavered from a commitment to nonviolent social change and justice for all," he said. King was the first national ambassador to the anti-stroke campaign and she helped spread the word about risk factors and warning signs of stroke, Davis said. ATLANTA (AP) On April 4, 1968, a movement lost its patriarch when the Rev. Members of the chapter are "deeply saddened to learn of the recent passing of Ms. Yolanda King,'' spokeswoman Tiffany Travis said today. I could let the rough edges show., Yolanda King, 51, Actor and Dr. Kings Daughter, Dies, https://www.nytimes.com/2007/05/17/us/17king.html. To Yolanda, it seemed as if adults naturally went to jail occasionally, because all those she knew seemed to do that. 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." King joined her mother and siblings in marches and was lauded by such figures as Harry Belafonte, who established a trust fund for her and her siblings. And that's how we can effectively commemorate the life of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.". "Daughters of M.L. Their play Stepping into Tomorrow was praised by supervisors as being "entertaining and enlightening." Yolanda King was the most visible of the four children during this year's Martin Luther King Day in January, the first since her mother's death. [112] On May 12, 2007,[107] days before her death, she spoke at St. Mary Medical Center, on behalf of the American Stroke Association. Martin Luther King III uttered that "Yolanda is still in business. She mentioned the possibility that the event could have been a calling for Americans to put their loyalty towards "their race, tribe and nation", as her father once said. Bernice King, Yolanda King and Martin Luther King III. [21] At the age of eight after writing her first play,[22][23] she also enrolled in the only integrated drama school of that time. She then toured the country with the Christian Theater Artist Company, which she helped found. He may be dead physically, and one day I am going to see him again".[43]. Garrow says his first inclination when he heard of Yolanda's death was: This is it. In her teenage years, she became an effective leader of her high school class and was covered by the magazines Jet and Ebony. <img src="http://members.cox.net/jnashatty/P1020216.jpg" height=450 width=600> [116], Bernice King said it was "very difficult standing here blessed as her one and only sister. Al Sharpton, a black political leader, said he expressed his condolences to her brother Martin Luther King III on Wednesday. Soon after, she heard of the event when a news bulletin popped up while she was washing dishes. In 1999, she acted in Selma, Lord, Selma, about the civil rights march, and in 1996 appeared in Ghosts of Mississippi, about efforts to track down the killer of Medgar Evers, the civil rights leader. Yolanda has mostly been portrayed in films that revolve around her parents. [47] In response to her role in the play and her own response to the role, a man wrote to Jet predicting that she would marry a white person before she was eighteen. Speaking last January in Atlanta at Ebenezer Baptist Church where her father preached for many years Yolanda exhorted those observing the national holiday that bears his name to remember that America has not yet achieved peace and racial equality. The other indelible image is of Mrs. King and her children. She called him my first buddy, saying, I was tremendously loved.. Stepping into Tomorrow led to the formation of Nucleus in the 1980s, a theater company which King and Shabazz founded. With Elodia Tate, she edited a motivational book emphasizing the importance of diversity. She died on May 15, 2007 in Santa Monica, California, USA. On her company's Web site, she described her mission as encouraging personal growth and positive social change. [81] In October, King gave support for a Cabrini-Green family that wants to escape the violence, and a fundraiser for their cause. [24] In February 1982, King was a speaker during the centennial of Anne Spencer's birth. Remember people with biographies & photos. She returned to Smith College on January 26, 1989. When asked by The Associated Press at that event how she was dealing with the loss of her mother, she responded: "I connected with her spirit so strongly. Though her mother kept her nave to the controversies so she could "fulfill [her] objective, which was to do the play", that did not stop her from learning of the negativity implemented from her role years later. He would be killed a scant three months later by an assassin's bullet. 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. He added she was "thoroughly committed to the movement and found her own means of expressing that commitment through drama. The next year, Ms. Kings uncle A. D. King, her fathers sole brother, accidentally drowned. I watched as the four King children grew into adulthood, then middle age, all single. U.S. Yolanda King Dead At Age 51 May 16, 2007 / 5:32 AM / CBS/AP The King Center in Atlanta set up to preserve the legacy of civil rights leader Dr. Martin Luther King says his oldest. Born on Nov. 17, 1955, in Montgomery, Ala., King was just an infant when her home was bombed during the turbulent civil rights era. She died on May 15, 2007 in Santa Monica, California, USA. Martin Luther King Jr. 's eldest child who pursued her father's dream of racial harmony through acting and motivational speaking, has died. [89], In the fall of 1995, at age 39, she joined Ilyasah Shabazz and Reena Evers in saluting their mothers as they chaired an attempt at registering one million African-American women to vote in the presidential election of 1996. She was one of the first black children at a previously segregated elementary school in Atlanta, where she endured racial epithets. } or redistributed. She was also on the student council. She originally wanted $8,000, but negotiated down to $6,500. Photos honoring the life of Yolanda King from Santa Monica, California - ADVERTISEMENT - Play Music Pause Music Tweet; Help | Login | Sign Up; . Her mother started to realize that Yolanda had become more aware of the possibility that her father could be killed as well. She was 51. "[69] King started Black History Month of 1986 by giving a speech in Santa Ana, which called for the study of African-American history to not be "relegated to the shortest and coldest month of the year. Being the oldest, she had to watch her three younger siblings; Martin Luther King III, Dexter King and Bernice King and referred to the three as independent when she watched them whenever their mother went out of town. And I was happy to see that they bore no resemblance to the sad-eyed youngsters I'd seen on television during their father's services. The children referred to her father as an "Uncle Tom" and she was scared that he would go down in history as such. Market data provided by Factset. She ran out of the room, screamed "I don't want to hear it,"[24] and prayed that he would not die. Martin Luther King Jr., and Coretta Scott King, Dexter Scott King, the Rev. [17] For Christmas 1963, King and her siblings accepted a sacrificial Christmas as appealed by their parents and only received a single gift. [44] The practice of going to her father's grave on the anniversary of either his birth or assassination became an annual ritual for the King family to mourn his death. Flying bug found at Walmart turns out to be rare Jurassic-era insect [86], On February 1, 1994, King attempted to speak before a diverse class of students at North Central College. Trending News Death 15 May 2007 (aged 51) Santa Monica, Los Angeles County, California, USA. At that time, she was also called by Andrea Young, whose own father had insisted that she should. display: block; All rights reserved. Legal Statement. 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". The next-youngest, Dexter, leaned silently against his mother's side. Yolanda was an advocate for racial and social justice, workers' rights, LGBTQIA+ rights, and general nonviolence. She also found "great irony" in President Ronald Reagan having signed a bill to make Martin Luther King Jr. Day a national holiday. Joseph Lowery, one of her father's close aides in the civil rights movement. It's often hard for young people to understand the fear and terror so many people felt and how bold they were to get involved in the marches. She was helping the association raise awareness, especially among blacks, about stroke. [29] King complimented her mother as a "brave and strong lady," leading to a hug between them. She stated in 2000 to USA Today, that her acting "allowed me to find an expression and outlet for the pain and anger I felt about losing my father,". In high school, she was president of her sophomore and junior classes and vice president of her senior class. [22] King flew to Memphis, Tennessee with her brothers and mother and participated in leading a march in Memphis with sanitation workers and civil rights leaders. Sign In . Below, she speaks at a 2000 Human Rights Campaign gala. FILE - In this Feb. 6, 2006, file photo, from left, the children of the Rev. She was a young girl during his famous stay in the Birmingham, Alabama, jail. Powered and implemented by FactSet Digital Solutions. [65] In 1984, she was arrested in the view of her mother for having protested in front of the South African Embassy, in support of anti-apartheid views. Besides her brother Dexter Scott King, Yolanda King is survived by another brother, Martin Luther King III, and her sister, the Rev. She was credited with having her father's sense of humor.[1]. When asked by a young boy what she remembered most about her father, she admitted that her father was not able to spend much time with her and the rest of her family. Historian David Garrow, who won a Pulitzer for his biography of King and who remains friends with many King intimates, says it's not so surprising that none of the King children married. [90] King joined the rest of her family in February 1997, in advocating a retrial for James Earl Ray, the man convicted of her father's murder, having realized that "without our direct involvement, the truth will never come out. Martin Luther King Jr. , Rev. 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. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. who melded her father's. [9] Decision-making towards what school she would attend in first grade was done primarily by her mother, since her father expressed disinterest to her early in the decision-making. In the 1990s, she supported a retrial of James Earl Ray and publicly stated that she did not hate him. Yolanda King founded and led Higher Ground Productions, billed as a "gateway for inner peace, unity and global transformation." She became an actress, ran a production company and appeared in numerous films, including "Ghosts of Mississippi," and as Rosa Parks in the 1978 miniseries "King.". [63], When presenting herself in 1980 to the GSA staff members, she stated: "Jim Crow [segregation] is dead, but his sophisticated cousin James Crow, Esq., is very much alive. During the play, she changed costume numerous times and adjusted her voice and body language when changing roles. She was 7 when her father mentioned her and her siblings in his 1963 speech at the March on Washington: "I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.". Born 1950 and died 2007. "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. 2023 FOX News Network, LLC. "[73] At this point in her life, King also served as director of cultural affairs for the King Center for Nonviolent Social Change and was tasked with raising and directing funds for all artistic events.[74]. She wore the mantle of princess, and she wore it with dignity and charm," said the Rev. The four children of the civil rights activist noticed "something was happening". Search instead in Creative? She stated, "It is entirely appropriate that you would choose to focus on multiculturalism as the opening activity of Black History Month. King was cremated,[115] in accordance with her wishes. I remember listening to the news, in disbelief, in the twilight hours of April 4, 1968. [7] King's father eventually was satisfied with the nickname "Yoki", and wished that if they had a second daughter, they would name her something simpler. "[101] "I struggled with a lot of the legacy for a long time, probably actually into my 30s before I really made peace with it," Yolanda stated in 2005 on "Western Skies", a public radio show based in Colorado. After her hour-long presentation, she joined her sister and her aunt, Christine King Farris, in signing books. [103] King was having a conversation with her mother in her home when she stopped talking. [76] King and Shabazz had planned the play months before the voters of the state rejecting the holiday, and King prepared a statement which solidified her reasons for supporting the boycott. [39] She was active in student government and drama. She proceeded to read his books, and started to believe that her father had been correct all along. She received a standing ovation afterwards, alongside a thunderous applause. 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