BLACK SOCIAL HISTORY
Alveda King
| Alveda King | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Alveda King at a 2009 rally by Pro-Life Unity. | |
| Member of the Georgia House of Representatives from the 28th district | |
| In office 1979–1981 | |
| Preceded by | Virginia Shapard[1] |
| Succeeded by | Bob Holmes[2] |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Alveda Celeste King January 22, 1951 Birmingham, Alabama, U.S. |
| Political party | Democratic (previously) Republican |
| Spouse(s) | Eddie Clifford Beal (Divorced) Jerry Ellis (Divorced) Israel Tookes[3] (Divorced) |
| Children | Eddie Clifford Beal III Darlene Celeste Beal Jarrett Ellis 3 others |
| Residence | Atlanta, Georgia, U.S. |
| Alma mater | Central Michigan University (M.A.) |
| Occupation | minister, political activist, author |
| Religion | Christian |
| Website | http://www.alvedakingministries.com/ |
Alveda Celeste King (born January 22, 1951)[4] is an NAACP member, American, civil rights activist, Christian minister,[5]conservative, pro-life activist, and author. She is a niece of civil rights leader Martin Luther King, Jr. and daughter of civil rights activist Rev. A. D. King and his wife Naomi Barber King. She is the full-time Pastoral Associate of African-American Outreach for the Roman Catholic pro-life group, Priests for Life.[6] She once served as a Senior Fellow at the Alexis de Tocqueville Institution, a conservative Washington, D.C. think-tank. She is a former member of the Georgia House of Representatives and the founder of King for America.
Childhood and family
Alveda King was born in Atlanta, Georgia. She was the first of five children of A. D. King, the younger brother of Martin Luther King Jr., and Naomi Barber King. She says her mother wanted to abort her so she could continue college but her grandfather was able to convince her to keep her child.[7] When she was 12, her father became a leader of the Birmingham campaignwhile serving as pastor at the First Baptist Church of Ensley in Birmingham, Alabama. Later that same year, King's house was bombed by opponents to the civil rights movement.
Father's death
In 1969, her father, A.D. King, was found dead in the pool at his home after a long bout with alcoholism and depression.[8] The cause of death was listed as an accidental drowning.[9][10][11][12] Grandfather King said in his autobiography, "Alveda had been up the night before, she said, talking with her father and watching a television movie with him. He'd seemed unusually quiet...and not very interested in the film. But he had wanted to stay up and Alveda left him sitting in an easy chair, staring at the TV, when she went off to bed... I had questions about A.D.'s death and I still have them now. He was a good swimmer. Why did he drown? I don't know – I don't know that we will ever know what happened."[13]
Abortions
She had two abortions and attempted to get a third one. When she became pregnant, she says her doctor, without the family's knowledge, gave her an abortion.[14] She was divorced soon after that. When she was pregnant in 1973, she went to Planned Parenthood and got a second abortion.[15] Later, she wanted to get a third abortion, but neither the father nor her grandfather would pay for it.[16]
Education
King studied journalism[17] and sociology as an undergraduate, and she received a Master of Arts degree in business management from Central Michigan University. She received an honorary doctorate from Saint Anselm College.[6] In Salon.com, King explained her honorary degree: "I guess for my stand on the support of marriage, and family, and education, and life."[18]
Career
Public office
From 1979 to 1981, King represented the 28th District in the Georgia House of Representatives.[19] The district included Fulton County,[20] and King served as a Democrat.[18] In 1984, King ran for the seat of Georgia's 5th congressional district in the United States House of Representatives and supported the Rev. Jesse Jackson for president.[21] The 5th Congressional seat, at the time of King's campaign was held by Wyche Fowler. Andrew Young, who held the seat prior to Fowler, endorsed Hosea Williams. Hosea Williams was one of Martin Luther King, Jr.'s most trusted lieutenants and perhaps best known for organizing and leading the first Selma March.[22] Coretta Scott King did not endorse her niece. Young, who had given up the seat to serve as U.S. Ambassador to the UN, and Williams approached King and asked her to end her campaign for the seat so that she could dedicate more time to her family. Young later apologized for what he called "some blatantly chauvinistic remarks."[23] She did not withdraw. With the black vote split, Fowler defeated both King and Williams in the primary. That was the last time she ran for elective office. However, since then, she has publicly stated that she is a Republican.[24]
Pro-life activism
King is a pro-life speaker and often speaks on college campuses about abortion issues.[25] She joined the pro-life movement, crusading to offer women alternatives to abortion.[26]Angela D. Dillard classifies King as among "prominent black members of the Religious Right".[27] Alveda King is currently a board member of Georgia Right to Life.[6]
Glenn Beck's "Restoring Honor" rally
On August 28, 2010, King spoke at Glenn Beck's "Restoring Honor" rally at the Lincoln Memorial.[28] Before the rally King explained to the Christian Science Monitor that speaking at the rally was a chance to engage in freedom of speech and to praise the man, Lincoln, that "led this fledgling nation out of slavery, and made my people free."[29] ABC Newsreported that in King's speech, she hoped that "white privilege will become human privilege and that America will soon repent of the sin of racism and return itself to honor."[30]
Herman Cain Support
King was a supporter of Herman Cain for President and defended him from sexual harassment claims, saying, "A woman knows a skirt-chaser" and "Herman Cain is no skirt-chaser."[31] She also founded the organization "Women for Cain."[32]
Views
Abortion
Alveda King says "Mrs. Coretta Scott King knew that her husband, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., was pro-life", regarding Martin Luther King Jr. winning the Margaret Sanger Awardfrom Planned Parenthood in 1966.[33] In 1994, According to Fox News, Alveda King has "long argued" that Martin Luther King Jr. was a Republican.[34] In contradiction to King's statement, however, University of Cambridge historian David Garrow stated in a Salon profile of Alveda King regarding Martin Luther King: "King was not only not a Republican, he was well to the left of the Democratic Party of the 1960s [....] It's also well-documented that Dr. King was a strong supporter of Planned Parenthood."[18] Also, after the Republicans nominated Barry Goldwater (who voted against the Civil Rights Act) and Strom Thurmond became a Republican, Dr. King actively campaigned against Goldwater.[35]
After civil rights leader Rosa Parks died in 2005, King said Parks was a symbol for the pro-life movement[36] (even though she had served on the Board of Advocates of the Planned Parenthood Federation of America).[37][38]
LGBT rights
King has spoken out against LGBT rights. At a 1997 rally in Sacramento protesting proposed state legislation to extend anti-discrimination laws relating to housing and employment to LGBT people, King said: "To equate homosexuality with race is to give a death sentence to civil rights. No one is enslaving homosexuals...or making them sit in the back of the bus."[39] Alveda King wrote a letter condemning her aunt Coretta Scott King's support for abortion and gay marriage.[18]
In a 1998 speech at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill: "Homosexuality cannot be elevated to the civil rights issue. The civil rights movement was born from the Bible. God hates homosexuality."[40] King made public appearances throughout 1997 criticizing gay rights.[41]
King is also noted for her opposition to same-sex marriage,[42] and received criticism for her August 2010 remarks likening gay marriage to "genocide".[43] In 2012, King said in reference to the NAACP support of same-sex marriages that "Neither my great-grandfather an NAACP founder, my grandfather Dr. Martin Luther King, Sr. an NAACP leader, my father Rev. A. D. Williams King, nor my uncle Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. embraced the homosexual agenda that the current NAACP is attempting to label as a civil rights agenda".[44]
Personal life
King has been married and divorced three times. She has six children.[6]
Works
King has written the following books:
- For generations to come: Poetry by Alveda King Beal (as Alveda King Beal) (1986)
- The Arab Heart (as Alveda King Beal) (1986)
- Sons of Thunder: The King Family Legacy (2003)
- I Don't Want Your Man, I Want My Own (2001)
- Who We Are In Christ Jesus (2008)
- How Can the Dream Survive If We Murder the Children?: Abortion is Not a Civil Right! (2008)
- King Rules: Ten Truths for You, Your Family, and Our Nation to Prosper (2014)
- She also released a CD called Let Freedom Ring in 2005,[45] and she has appeared in film and television as both Alveda King[46] and Alveda King Beal.[47] The Human Experience, a 2010 documentary film, featured commentary from King.
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