Bernice King

Infobox Person
name = Bernice Albertine King


caption = Bernice King at Martin Luther King, Jr. National Memorial groundbreaking in 2006. Photo by Mark Blacknell.
birth_date = March 28, 1963 (age 45)
birth_place = Atlanta, Georgia, United States
death_date =
death_place =

Bernice Albertine King (born March 28, 1963 in Atlanta, Georgia, United States) is the second daughter and youngest child of civil rights leaders Martin Luther King, Jr and Coretta Scott King. Her older siblings are Martin Luther King III, and Dexter Scott King. She is also the sister of the late Yolanda Denise King. Bernice is the only King child to become a minister.

Due to her profile and skill in public speaking, King has been asked to speak around the world. Ebony magazine named her as one of their "Ten of Tomorrow" future leaders of the black community. She is also a member of the Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Incorporated.

Bernice was only five years old when her father died. At 17, she was invited to speak at the United Nations in the absence of her mother. She is a graduate of Douglass High School in Atlanta and she graduated from Spelman College with a degree in psychology.

King says she once considered suicide before God intervened. At the age of 24, she decided to become a minister and completed a Master's degree in Divinity from the Candler School of Theology.

With her brother Martin Luther King III, she has played an active part in reforming the Southern Christian Leadership Conference once led by their father.

In 1996, King published a collection of her sermons and speeches called "Hard Questions, Heart Answers" which received a positive review from "USA Today".

In 2000, she narrated the "Lincoln Portrait" at the Schleswig-Holstein Musik Festival in Kiel.

In 2004, Bernice King participated in a march against same-sex marriage in Atlanta. This action was in contrast to the advocacy of her mother, Coretta Scott King, a long-time supporter of gays.

In 2006, King was with her mother when she died in a hospital in Mexico. King is attributed with influencing her siblings to hold their mother's funeral at New Birth Missionary Baptist Church in Lithonia, Georgia, instead of Coretta's church home, Ebenezer Baptist Church. The King children allowed Coretta's body to lie in state at Ebenezer, where the funerals of their father and grandparents were held.

She is currently an elder at New Birth, a licensed attorney and member of the Georgia Bar, and works as a .

On January 30, 2007, one year after the death of her mother Coretta Scott King, Bernice King founded the Be A King Scholarship at Spelman College (Atlanta, GA) in honor of her mother's legacy. Bernice King donated $100,000 of her personal funds, while $75,000 was donated from Home Depot and $15,000 from New Birth Missionary Baptist Church. The scholarship will be awarded to two rising seniors at Spelman college who are majoring in music, education or psychology. Bernice King is unmarried and does not have any children.

On December 14, 2007, at the State Bar of Georgia Headquarters, Bernice King was honored by the Georgia Alliance of African American Attorneys [http://www.gaaaa.net/index1.htm] by being presented with the "Commitment to Community" award for her work as an attorney and community leader.

Bernice King and her brother Martin Luther King III are in the midst of suing their brother Dexter, who in turn is counter suing them over mismanagement of funds from the King Center. [ [http://www.ajc.com/metro/content/metro/stories/2008/08/19/dexter_king_lawsuit.html]

References

* [http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/race_relations/jan-june97/king_1-15.html PBS Newshour profile]
* [http://www.ctlibrary.com/ct/1997/june16/7t7034.html "Christianity Today" profile]
* [http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/2004/12/14/EDGEBAB7KB1.DTL "San Francisco Chronicle" article on King's anti-gay marriage protest December 14 2004]
* [http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/6699763/ Associated Press article on gay marriage march published on MSNBC December 11 2004]
* [http://www.guardian.co.uk/worldlatest/story/0,1280,-5178068,00.html Associated Press article on Southern Christian Leadership Council rebuilding 30 July 2005]