Get browser notifications for breaking news, live events, and exclusive reporting. [3] Yolanda and her mother were not harmed. Martin Luther King Jr., has died, said Steve Klein, a spokesman for the King Center. [32] After the funeral, she was visited by classmates from Spring Street Middle School with flowers and cards. And that's how we can effectively commemorate the life of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.". "[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. Oliver Lang/AFP/Getty Images Death 15 May 2007 (aged 51) Santa Monica, Los Angeles County, California, USA. Her mother tried to debunk this, insisting that they would still get it. In 1958, Dr. King narrowly escaped death when he was stabbed in a bookstore in Harlem. Yolanda King is survived by her sister, the Rev. She was 12 when her father was assassinated in Memphis, Tenn., in 1968. She took classes taught by Manning Marable and Johnnella Butler, and became satisfied with her choice of a college. She ran out of the room, screamed "I don't want to hear it,"[24] and prayed that he would not die. King was also an author and advocate for peace and nonviolence, and held memberships in the Southern Christian Leadership Conference which her father co-founded in 1957 and the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People. 2007 CBS Interactive Inc. All Rights Reserved. ", "Yolanda never wavered from a commitment to nonviolent social change and justice for all," he said. An important early memory was that she wanted to go to Funtown, a local amusement park, with the rest of her class, but was barred from doing so due to her race. King was an ardent activist for gay rights,[123][124] as was her mother; Coretta Scott protested many times over gay rights. She appeared in numerous films and played Rosa Parks in the 1978 miniseries King. None of them have children, and there will be no third generation of Kings to carry on Martin Luther King's legacy. Staff writer Kevin Moran contributed to this report. Bernice King, Yolanda King and Martin Luther King III. She founded a dramatic group with Atallah Shabazz, daughter of Malcolm X, the slain civil rights leader, and started a theatrical production company, Higher Ground Productions, dedicated to what she called personal empowerment. She also was diagnosed with ovarian cancer. Yolanda King was the most visible and outspoken among the Kings' four children during activities honoring this year's Martin Luther King Day in January, the first since Coretta Scott King's death. One of her father's close aides in the civil rights movement, the Rev. Born on Nov. 17, 1955, in Montgomery, Alabama, King was just an infant when her home was bombed during the turbulent civil rights era. Death photos of Yolanda King Seeing Spots May 24, 2007 1 2 Next Seeing Spots Joyful Woman! Yolanda King was born on November 17, 1955 in Montgomery, Alabama, USA. We had cups of tea because it was so frigid that night, and then they were gone. "[100] While in Dallas in March 2004, King related; "It's only in the past half-dozen years or so that I have felt comfortable in my own skin. On May 15, 2007, she told her brother Dexter that she was tired. 683 Yolanda King Photos and Premium High Res Pictures - Getty Images CREATIVE EDITORIAL VIDEO All Sports Entertainment News Archival Browse 683 yolanda king stock photos and images available, or start a new search to explore more stock photos and images. Arrangements were to be announced later, the family said in a statement. I don't have to try and prove anything to anyone anymore. Leading up to her death, she was still active in the public eye. She died on May 15, 2007 in Santa Monica, California, USA. At her father's Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta, she performed a series of solo skits that told stories including a girl's first ride on a desegregated bus and a college student's recollection of the 1963 campaign to desegregate Birmingham, Ala. She also urged the audience to be a force for peace and love, and to use the King holiday each year to ask tough questions about their own beliefs about prejudice. [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. [103] King was having a conversation with her mother in her home when she stopped talking. [95] She, her brother Martin Luther King III and Al Sharpton sang We Shall Overcome in front of "The Sphere", which stood atop the World Trade Center prior to the September 11 attacks.[96]. [15], On November 22, 1963, when U.S. President John F. Kennedy was assassinated, she learned of his death at school. Image Credit Birthday: November 17, 1955 ( Scorpio) Born In: Montgomery, Alabama, United States 26 15 Civil Rights Activists #23 Human Rights Activists #11 Voice Actresses #17 Quick Facts Also Known As: Yolanda Denise King Died At Age: 51 Family: father: Martin Luther King Jr. In January 2004, King referred to her father as a king, but not as one who "sat on a throne, but one who sat in a dark Birmingham jail. Martin Luther King Jr., has died, said Steve Klein, a spokesman for the King Center. Martin Luther King Jr. was killed on a hotel balcony in Memphis. Bernice King at Yolanda King Memorial May 24, 2007 DryerBuzz An Original Digital 2.67K subscribers 309K views 15 years ago When Bernice brings the word, let's just say the word is delivered.. Before her death, she led a production company called Higher Ground Productions an organization whose mission is to provide a "gateway for inner peace, unity, and global transformation," as per NPR. But after finishing her sophomore year and returning home so she could work over the summer, her grandmother Alberta Williams King was killed on June 30, 1974. She was 12 years old when Martin Luther King Jr. died. In response, she pushed for "the goal" to be "color acceptance. An alumna of Smith College after graduating in 1976, she was the subject of an essay among the "remarkable women" during a celebration during the college's one hundred and twenty-fifth year[56] and she was a member of the board of directors of the Martin Luther King Jr. Center for Nonviolent Social Change, Inc. (the official national memorial to her father) and was founding Director of the King Center's Cultural Affairs Program. She stated that her father had a "magnificent dream", but admitted that "it still is only a dream. She held membership at the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, which her father helped found in 1957, and she was a notable advocate for non-violence. "She was the first daughter of the civil rights movement and never shamed her parents or her co-activists.". / CBS/AP. Information about the death of Yolanda King; Cause of death: Heart Attack: Age of death: 51 years: Profession: Civil Rights Leader: Birthday: November 17, 1955: Death date: March 15, 2007: Place of death: N/A: Place of burial: N/A: Quotes. "[88] She honored her father in 1995 by performing in the Chicago Sinfonietta in the play "A Lincoln Portrait", in which she was the narrator. 1894 shipwreck found in Lake Huron, confirming "powerful, tragic story" [130] During a 2009 reunion at her alma mater Smith College, a walk was done in her memory by fellow alumnae.[131]. He added she was "thoroughly committed to the movement and found her own means of expressing that commitment through drama. [12] After having not seen her father for five weeks while he was in jail, she finally was able to meet with him alongside both of her brothers for less than half an hour. He may be dead physically, and one day I am going to see him again".[43]. #inline-recirc-item--id-93e66a4a-8c88-11e2-b06b-024c619f5c3d, #right-rail-recirc-item--id-93e66a4a-8c88-11e2-b06b-024c619f5c3d { [11] When she was 6 years old, she was saddened by classmates' remarks that her father was a "jailbird". The event marked 57 years since King Jr delivered. Yolanda King was born November 17, 1955, shortly before the Montgomery Bus Boycott. We must cease our premature celebration [about civil rights already achieved] and get back to the struggle. It seems we've stood still and in many ways gone backward since Martin Luther King Jr. was alive. Martin Luther King Jr., and Coretta Scott King, Dexter Scott King, the Rev. Blame the Federal Reserve. People Photos Purpose. She held membership at the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, which her father helped found in 1957, and she was a notable advocate for non-violence. She and her mother, at the time of the bomb's detonation, were in the rear section of their home. There, in my living room, shaking off snow and laughing, were the kids in the picture two of them, anyway. Yolanda died due to a chronic heart condition in 2007. Yolanda Denise King, daughter and eldest child of the Rev. By the time she was an adult, she had grown to become a supporter of gay rights and an ally to the LGBT community, as was her mother. Yolanda at that same ceremony used her craft as an actress to deliver a tribute to her parents, performing a series of skits telling stories including a girl's first ride on a desegregated bus and a college student's recollection of the 1963 desegregation of Birmingham, Ala. Yolanda was an advocate for racial and social justice, workers' rights, LGBTQIA+ rights, and general nonviolence. Yolanda King, the eldest child of the Rev. Her educational accomplishments continued when she earned a Master of Fine Arts from New York University in 1979 (via Stanford). 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. She called for Americans to memorialize those who gave their lives for "the struggle for peace and justice. King and Kelly starred in three films together, HBO's "America's Dream" starring Danny Glover and Wesley Snipes, award-winning period film "Odessa," that deals with racial unrest in which King gives a stellar performance as a nanny who lost her son to racial violence, and in Rob Reiner's film "Ghosts of Mississippi" about the assassination of civil rights leader Medgar Evers starring Whoopi Goldberg and Alec Baldwin, King and Kelly played the adult and child versions of Reena Evers. King died late Tuesday in Santa Monica, Calif., at age 51. From left: Dexter King, the Rev. "[117], To the time of her death, King continued to deny that her father's dreams and ideals would be fulfilled during her lifetime. 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.". Powered and implemented by FactSet Digital Solutions. Copyright 2023 CBS Interactive Inc. All rights reserved. Her deepest memories were the love of her father, who taught her to swim and playfully pummeled her but never spanked her. Ric Feld/AFP/Getty Images Born on Nov. 17, 1955, in Montgomery, Ala., Yolanda Denise King was just an infant when her home was bombed amid the turbulent civil rights era. Martin Luther King Jr. , Rev. [28] On her company's Web site, she described her mission as encouraging personal growth and positive social change. ATLANTA Yolanda Denise King, the Rev. ", The Rev. [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. Yolanda, King's nine-year-old granddaughter, made headlines just last month with her rousing speech at the March for Our Lives rally in Washington. She was a reserved and quiet person who loved acting. King; two brothers, Martin Luther King III and Dexter Scott King; and an extended family. At that time, she was also called by Andrea Young, whose own father had insisted that she should. "[94] Following the September 11 attacks, King spoke in North Chicago in 2002 and related that her father's wisdom during the crisis would have been of great aid to her. Yolanda King's bio. He had come up for the festivities, and he had two friends with him. The four children of the civil rights activist noticed "something was happening". (That moment would be captured for posterity by Moneta Sleet Jr., who photographed the funeral for Ebony and Jet; he would later be awarded a Pulitzer Prize for the mother-daughter portrait of grief.) I was just someone who loved someone, and I knew he had done great things and now people didn't appreciate it." She stated, "It is entirely appropriate that you would choose to focus on multiculturalism as the opening activity of Black History Month. 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