WHAT MARTIN LUTHER KING JR TAUGHT HIS
SON
Martin Luther King III shares crucial life lessons from the iconic civil rights leader he called 'Dad'
What translates as Martin Luther King III shares
memories of his father, Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., is the gentle intimacy and admiration between a child and his parent. When we speak in late December, he brings stories of a man whose teachings I’ve studied since I was a young girl, but who I have only known in a scholarly sense. It is both shocking and endearing to hear someone refer to the iconic civil rights leader as “Dad.”
On our Zoom call, King speaks warmly of playing baseball in the front yard with “Dad” and two of his
siblings. He talks about traveling with his father as a boy in 1967 to organize for the Poor People's Campaign in the fight for fair wages. He recalls the family’s nightly routine, the “kissing spot,” where each child was given a designated place on Dr. King’s face for their bedtime kiss. These intimate moments of parental love formed the basic principles for Dr. King’s culture-shifting speeches and groundbreaking organizing work...read more
