The King family and the Martin Luther King Jr. Center have announced the death of Christine King Farris, the last-living sibling of Civil Rights Movement activist Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., Thursday (June 29). She was 95.
Dr. King's son, Martin Luther King III, said his aunt embodied what it meant to be a public servant. "Like my dad, she spent her life fighting for equality and against racism in America," he added.
Dr. Christine King Farris.
— Be A King (@BerniceKing) June 29, 2023
An extraordinary educator.
My father’s sister.
One of the co-laborers with my mother in founding The King Center.
Phenomenal Woman.
Inspiring Human.
She survived and thrived.
I love you, Aunt Christine.
I will always cherish you.
I will miss you. pic.twitter.com/Xdt3Ot0pCy
Meanwhile, his sister and CEO of the King Center, Bernice King, called her aunt an "extraordinary educator," "phenomenal woman," and "inspiring human."
The King Center Mourns the Loss of Dr. #ChristineKingFarris, Founding Board Member, Esteemed Educator, Author, Activist, and Sister of #MLK pic.twitter.com/jvf38iJk1U
— The Martin Luther King, Jr. Center (@TheKingCenter) June 29, 2023
Who is Christine King Farris?
Called the "delicate one" by family patriarch "Daddy" Martin Luther King Sr., she turned out to be the most resilient member of the King family after her brothers and their mother, Alberta King, was murdered in the 1960s and 1970s.
"So many things have happened," Farris recalled in a 2007 interview with The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. "You don't question anything, but I wonder why am I the one that is left. God must have me here for something."
The King family has been the most prominent figure in Atlanta's Ebenezer Baptist Church, the church where Farris's father and brothers were pastors.
Christine was married to Issac Newton Farris Sr. from 1960 to his death in 2017 at the age of 83.
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