Alberta Williams King

Alberta Williams King was born on September 13, 1904. She was the mother of Martin Luther King Jr.

King studied at Hampton Normal Industrial Institute (now re-named Hampton University) to receive her teacher’s degree. She taught until her marriage to Martin Luther King Sr. , but was forced to quit by a local school board that did not permit married women to teach. She later returned to school and received her Bachelor of Art from Morris Brown College.

King was involved in Ebenezer Baptist Church throughout her life. Her father, Reverend Adam Daniel Williams, was the minister at the time of her birth, and later in life she would serve as the organist and start a choir. King started the Ebenezer Women’s Committee at the church during the time that Martin Luther King, Sr. and Jr. were running the church as joint pastors.

Tragically, this place where King spent much of her life would become the place of her death. King was assassinated in the church by Marcus Wayne Chenault, a Black Hebrew Israelite who saw civil rights leaders as a threat to the African-American community.

Chenault later admitted to plots to assassinate Rev. Jessie James and Martin Luther King, Sr. Chenault was sentenced to death for his crimes, but his sentence was changed to life in prison due to the Kings’ disapproval of the death penalty.