Martin Luther King Jr.’s kids have carried on his legacy.
The four children of the civil rights activist and his wife, Coretta Scott King, were sons Martin Luther King III, 65, Dexter, 61, and daughters Yolanda, 51, and Bernice, 59.
MLK’s four children were still relatively young when he was killed on April 4, 1968. Yolanda, his oldest child, was just 12 years old at the time, while Bernice, his youngest child, was only 5.
King’s children have nevertheless managed to recognize their parents’ achievements in the more than 50 years since his death.
America celebrated the life and accomplishments of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. on January 16, 2023.
On the third Monday of January, the United States observes Martin Luther King Jr. Day as a federal holiday.
It honors the life and legacy of civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr. Dr. King were assassinated on April 4, 1968.
Martin Luther King was a father to 4 kids
Martin Luther King, and his wife, Coretta Scott King, were the proud parents of four children.
Yolanda King
Yolanda King was Dr. King and Coretta Scott King’s first child, and like her father, she was an American activist.
Yolanda Denise King, the oldest child of MLK and Coretta, was born on November 17, 1955. In Memphis, Tennessee, her father was murdered when she was only 12 years old.
She graduated from Smith College and New York University with a master’s degree in 1979.
Just one year after her mother’s death in January 2006, Yolanda passed away on May 15, 2007, at 51.
Martin Luther King III
The oldest son of Dr. King, Martin Luther King III, is an American human rights activist born on October 23, 1957.
Most of Martin’s life has been devoted to carrying on his parents’ legacy.
He had occasionally served as a mediator, like when he met President-elect Donald Trump following his verbal assault on Rep. John Lewis in January 2017.
From 1997 to 2004, he presided over the Southern Christian Leadership Conference as its fourth president.
King III gave a speech during the 2008 Democratic National Convention to support Barack Obama’s campaign for president.
Dexter Scott King
Dexter Scott King was born on January 30, 1961.
He attended Morehouse College in Atlanta to pursue a business degree, following in his father’s footsteps. He left school in 1983 due to health issues and later entered the music industry.
When his father was killed, he was seven years old. Dexter presided over the King Center for Nonviolent Social Change in Atlanta, Georgia.
Dexter has been an ardent advocate for animal rights since the 1980s.
Bernice King
Bernice King, the youngest child of Dr. King and Coretta, was born on March 28, 1963.
Like her father, she is a pastor in the United States. When Bernice’s father was murdered in 1968, she was only five years old.
Bernice was chosen to lead the Southern Christian Leadership Conference in 2009, following in the footsteps of her brother and father.
