King’s daughter to lead civil rights group

(RNS) The Rev. Bernice King, the youngest daughter of the late Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., has been elected as the next president of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC), the civil rights organization announced Friday (Oct. 30). King will be the first woman president of the organization, which was co-founded by her father, and […]

(RNS) The Rev. Bernice King, the youngest daughter of the late Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., has been elected as the next president of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC), the civil rights organization announced Friday (Oct. 30).

King will be the first woman president of the organization, which was co-founded by her father, and one of the first female leaders of groups known for civil rights work. Her brother, Martin Luther King III, led the SCLC from 1998-2003.

The Rev. Cheryl Townsend Gilkes, professor of African-American studies at Colby College in Maine, said King’s heritage played an important role in her gaining the post, but she has been known for her preaching and leadership.


“The historic relationship between the King family and SCLC cannot be overlooked,” said Gilkes. “However, she does have a substantial history of activism and also travel in terms of public speaking at colleges and universities.”

The Rev. Teresa Fry Brown, director of the Black Church Studies program at Emory University’s Candler School of Theology, said the election of King marks a significant change in the role of women in the SCLC.

“Women were there at the founding of the organization and worked in the office and arranged many things but, at that point in history, women were not acknowledged as someone who could be a leader, not even a field leader,” she said. “I think that it’s exciting.”

King, a minister at New Birth Missionary Baptist Church outside Atlanta, defeated the other candidate for president, the Rev. Wendell Griffen, an Arkansas pastor and former appellate judge.

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