"Our mother has also behind the scene setting forth those motherly cares, the lack of which leaves a missing link in life." --Martin Luther King, Jr., from a 1950 essay while at Crozer Theological Seminary
An ongoing illustrative history study
This piece originally posted on 01/20/2025,
Martin Luther King Day
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"Our mother has also behind the scene setting forth those motherly cares, the lack of which leaves a missing link in life."
--Martin Luther King, Jr., from a 1950 essay while at Crozer Theological Seminary
It occurs to me that no comprehensive observance of Martin Luther King Day is truly possible without at least some understanding of the man's formative years. Accordingly I'm devoting today's lesson to the study of --and deep appreciation for-- the life and the accomplishments of his mother, Alberta Williams King. The dual tragedies of both her son's murder and her own, often cloud the merits of the lives that came before.
Born in 1904 Atlanta, Georgia, Alberta Christine Williams was herself the only surviving child of Jennie Celeste Williams and the Rev. Adam Daniel Williams of the Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta (yes, that very church, which probably merits an entire entry of its own). Alberta earned a teaching certificate from what is now known as Hampton University in 1924, and married her longtime boyfriend Michael (later Martin) King, Sr. on Thanksgiving Day, 1926. She had intended to embark on a career in teaching but, at the time, the local school board did not permit married women to teach. The couple lived in the Williams home and had three children: Willie Christine (later Farris), born in 1927; Michael (later Martin) Jr., in 1929; and finally Alfred Daniel ("A.D."), in 1930. Martin Jr., would later write at length about his close bond with his mother, and also about the unusual closeness to his two siblings, and would even playfully recollect that his father Martin Sr. "happens to be the kind who just won't argue." While justifiably proud of her children, Alberta was by no means content to settle solely into the life of a mother, and earned her BA from Morris Brown College in 1938. By this time her husband had succeeded his father-in-law as the pastor of Ebenezer Baptist, and had begun using the name Martin --as did his namesake. Alberta had confidently stepped the role of a pastor's wife and not only directed the choir but would also serve as its organist, from 1932 to literally the rest of her life. Among other venues, that choir performed at the world movie premiere of Gone With The Wind. She would also be a lifelong member of the National Baptist Convention and the Young Women's Christian Association (YWCA).
Perhaps more significantly than even her church life, though, was her active membership in the NAACP (National Association for the Advancement of Colored People) and the Women's International League for Peace and Freedom. No stranger to the cause of civil rights, Alberta and her husband marched as early as 1930, in protest against segregation laws and Black voter suppression. It is sometimes asserted (even today!) that "true Christians" by definition cannot possibly be advocates for social justice because that would conflict with their beliefs --a bad-faith and frankly racially-motivated argument; one usually put forward by white people whose status quo is being inconvenienced, or who are having their narrative challenged. Alberta was having NONE of that, and her commitment to equal justice under the law clearly had an impact on her children --particularly her eldest son! In the years following Martin, Jr.'s ordination and his emergence into the public spotlight, Alberta frequently appeared alongside her famous son at many of his public appearances, became a target of many of the same threats, and unapologetically advocated for improved voting rights and an end to segregation.
[Our mother] tried to explain the divided system of the South --the segregated schools, restaurants, theaters, housing; the white and colored signs on drinking fountains, waiting rooms, lavatories-- as a social condition rather than a natural order. She made it clear that she opposed this system and that I must never allow it to make me feel inferior. Then she said the words that almost every Negro hears before he can yet understand the injustice that makes them necessary: "You are as good as anyone." At this time Mother had no idea that the little boy in her arms would years later be involved in a struggle against the system she was speaking of.
This instillation was clear in her Alberta's other two children as well --perhaps to the surprise of no-one, in the wake of his older brother's April 4, 1968 assassination, youngest sibling Rev. Alfred Daniel (A.D.) solemnly stepped into the role of pastor of Ebenezer Baptist, but horrifyingly this tenure would not last --A.D. drowned in a swimming pool accident a mere fifteen months later. Thus bearing the agonizing weight of now having buried both of their sons, Alberta and Martin Sr. quietly began to step away from public life, but renewed their committment to their church and of continued service to humankind.
But worse was still to come.
While playing the organ during Sunday services at her beloved Ebenezer Baptist, on June 30, 1974, Alberta was shot (martyred, really) by a self-proclaimed "Hebrew Israelite" assassin with an unreasoning hate for Black ministers. She, along with another church deacon, died later that day at Grady Hospital. She was just shy of the age of 70. "I thought I had made it through the worst days of my life, recounts daughter Christine King Farris. "I was wrong." Now more than 40 years after her murder, there has been a renewed interest in Alberta' role as the "First Lady" of civil rights, and a desire to not gloss over her legacy, and what she represented.
Visit Alberta's page at the Martin Luther, King, Jr. Research and Education Institute, at: https://kinginstitute.stanford.edu/king-alberta-williams
(As a "Where Are They Now?" follow-up as it pertains to the church that was so intrinsic to Alberta's life: shortly after her death, Martin, Sr., wracked by grief, handed over the pastorship of Ebenezer Baptist to Joseph L. Roberts, Jr. in 1975; and eventually passed away in 1984. Roberts's pastorship was in turn succeeded in 2005 by future Georgia Senator Raphael Warnock; Warnock would preside over the funeral of Alberta's longtime friend and civil rights icon Congressman John Lewis in July 2020. Warnock would himself be elected to the U.S. Senate in a special runoff election on January 5, 2021 --a triumph that would unfortunately be overshadowed by the events of the following day.)
(Highly) recommended reading: The Three Mothers: How the Mothers of Martin Luther King, Jr., Malcolm X, and James Baldwin Shaped a Nation by Anna Malaika Tubbs. Flatiron Books, February 2021
Also recommended: Through It All: Reflections on My Life, My Family, and My Faith by Christine King Farris (d. 2023). Atria Books, January 2009
Next lesson - Lesson 171: John Henrik Clarke