James Albert King
James Albert King (December 1864 – November 17, 1933) was the father of Martin Luther King Sr. and paternal grandfather of civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr. and Christine King Farris.
James Albert King was born in 1864 and was of Irish and African descent.[1] His father, Nathan King's, birthplace has been speculated variously as several places outside of the South, including Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Ireland.[2] King married Delia Linsey (1875-1924) in 1895, and they both worked as sharecroppers, in Henry County and Clayton County in Georgia and then Stockbridge, Georgia where they settled and where their son, Martin Luther King Sr. was born in 1899.
King struggled with alcoholism, and disapproved of his son and wife attending church. When his son Martin became involved in an altercation with a white property owner the family went into hiding for a period. King died in 1933.[3][4]
References[]
- ^ The Papers of Martin Luther King, Jr., Volume I (1992), p. 19
- ^ Jonathan deBurca Butler, "We had a dream ... he’s one of us" Irish Examiner, https://www.irishexaminer.com/lifestyle/we-had-a-dream-hes-one-of-us-219916.html
- ^ Clayborne Carson, Ralph Luker & Penny Russell, eds., The Papers of Martin Luther King, Jr. Volume I: Called to Serve, January 1929–June 1951 (University of California Press , 1992)
- ^ Martin Luther King, Sr., Daddy King: An Autobiography (New York: William Morrow & Co., 1980)
- Martin Luther King family
- 1864 births
- 1933 deaths
- American people of Irish descent
- People from Stockbridge, Georgia