Civil rights activist, last of MLK’s generation of Kings
ATLANTA — Naomi Barber King, a civil rights activist who was married to the younger brother of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., died March 7. She was 92.
She died in Atlanta, according to family members who issued a statement through the A.D. King Foundation.
“Our beloved and cherished Butterfly has taken flight,” her daughter Alveda King said. “Words cannot express our joy and sorrow. Thank you for your love and prayers.”
Her passing marks the close of a generational chapter for the King family.
Each sibling of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. and their spouses have died.
Naomi King’s husband, A.D. King, drowned in 1969.
Martin Luther King Jr.’s sister, Christine King Farris, died in June 2023. Her husband, Isaac Newton Farris Sr., died in 2017.
A statement by the King Center noted that Naomi King was a strong supporter of the family and its work. For years, she worked in the King Center’s bookstore and regularly traveled with Coretta Scott King.
“She continued her work with youth at The King Center, serving 10 years as a consistent panelist for Students with King,” the King Center wrote. “The students were often intrigued by her presence and were always eager to ask her personal questions about the King family and her relationship with Dr. and Mrs. King.”
Naomi Ruth Barber was born on Nov. 17, 1931, in Dothan, Ala. She was raised by her mother, Bessie Barber.
In 1944, when she was 13, she and her mother moved to Atlanta.
She met A.D. King at a YMCA dance.
“I saw a charming young man in him,” she said in 2014. “He was very lovable and outgoing, and he had a wonderful personality.”
After graduating from Washington High School in 1949, she enrolled at Spelman College. She and A.D. married in June 1950. Spelman at the time had a rule that pregnant students were not allowed. When Naomi was pregnant with Alveda, who was born in 1951, she had to drop out.
A.D. worked a string of jobs, and his family settled into the King family home, now known as “The Birth Home.” Four more children — Alfred, Derek, Esther and
Vernon — followed.
In 1961, A.D. took over as pastor of First Baptist Church of Ensley, just outside Birmingham, Ala.
Before Birmingham, his civil rights activities had been limited. But he and his church would play a key role in Birmingham, where he was arrested several times. In 1963, their Birmingham home was bombed.
The family moved to Kentucky in 1965 after A.D. took a job as pastor of Zion Baptist Church in Louisville. There, he formed the Kentucky Christian Leadership Conference and fought for fair housing. On occasion, he would travelwith his brother, and he was with Martin in Memphis on April 4, 1968.
“She bravely endured the bombings of their Birmingham home and one of the churches her husband pastored in Louisville,” the King Center wrote in a statement. “She continued to support Rev. A.D. King until his untimely death in 1969, which she publicly labeled a murder.”
On July 21, 1969, 15 months after Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated, A.D.’s body was discovered in the bottom of the family’s swimming pool.
Although the death was ruled accidental, his family has long believed that A.D. was murdered. Three of Naomi King’s children also died before her.
“Losing my husband was one degree of sadness,” Naomi King said in 2014. “But losing three children was even more heartbreaking. You never get over it.”
In 2008, Naomi created the A.D. King Foundation. It is dedicated to the empowerment of youth and women and the advancement of strategies for nonviolent social change.
“Mrs. King set an example of courage, resilience and grace in the face of injustice, uncertainty and heartache,” the A.D. King Foundation wrote in a statement. In 2022, the foundation released a documentary about her that built on those themes,” The Butterfly Queen: From Tragedy to Peace.”
“As we grieve her departure from this life, we do so with hope and gratitude. We thank God for the blessing of our beloved Naomi King who modeled Jesus’ love, serving as an anchor of our community and an inspiration to many around the world.”
Ms. King is survived by Alveda King; a son, Derek King; 10 grandchildren and 14 great-grandchildren.
“I know she is in a better place. When I look at pictures of her from the good days, I know she is rejoicing,” said granddaughter Celeste Beal. “Knowing that she is not in pain, I am not sad. I don’t feel like I lost her, she gained a body that matches her spirit.”
Instead of gifts and flowers, the family is asking that donations, as well as condolences, be sent to the A.D. King Foundation.