‘Mother’ King dies at 82 after decades of activism
Georgia King, a longtime activist known in Memphis as “Mother Georgia King,” has died.
King died Tuesday at the age of 82. She was known for her decades of organizing work for Memphis’ poor and her leadership in the civil rights movement. She long pushed for equitable public transportation, and in 2011, she formed a Transportation Task Force, which became the Memphis Bus Riders Union in early 2012.
“Mother King made Memphis and our nation a more humane place though her tireless advocacy on behalf of homeless people and public transit riders,” U.S. Rep. Steve Cohen said in an emailed statement. “Mother King was universally loved and was a constant presence at community events. Her work and the hope she inspired will long be remembered. I extend my condolences to her family, her many friends, and her colleagues and supporters.”
King advocated for the safety of bus riders, herself a longtime rider. In 2014 and 2015, while speaking with The Commercial Appeal, King said she was concerned about dirty seats on buses, overcrowding and drivers moving their buses before people sat down. She said she hoped the Memphis Bus Riders Union could bring more routes and stops in underserved areas, improve access for handicapped riders and increase security on buses.
“I’m just glad God has left me here this long to do what I can,” King said in 2015. “I just want to leave a legacy.”
In an emailed statement, Shelby County Assessor Melvin Burgess sent his condolences to the family and friends of King.
“Mother King is known for her remarkable achievements and 30 years of activism, such as her involvement with the Sanitation Workers’ Strike and Poor People’s Campaign which made her a social justice icon to Memphis and Shelby County,” the statement reads.
King was also an advocate for the homeless community and in 1994 was named a Memphis and Shelby County Woman of Achievement, in part because of that advocacy.
“Georgia Anna has been fighting on behalf of the homeless since 1960. That summer she went to New York and saw for the first time people trapped by homelessness,” her Woman of Achievement biography reads. “The daughter of a Union City, Tennessee entrepreneur, she had never seen people sleeping on the streets before. Driving through the Bowery with an old family friend, she kept questioning what she saw. And she didn’t like the answers she got.”
In 2015, then-memphis City Councilman Lee Harris read a resolution to name a portion of Poplar between Ayers and Orleans “Evangelist Georgia A. King Avenue.”
At the time, Harris said King took Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s words “Three hundred years of humiliation, abuse and deprivation cannot be expected to find voice in a whisper” and she “found her voice to rally people to the cause and effectuate positive change.”
King has “spent her life being a voice for the most vulnerable within our community and working for equal rights for all,” Harris said in 2015.
Serenity Funeral Home is handling arrangements.
Gina Butkovich covers Desoto County, storytelling and general news. She can be reached at 901-232-6714 or on Twitter, @gigibutko.