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Biography
MARTIN LUTHER KING, III
Martin Luther King, III, the second oldest child of Martin Luther King,
Jr. and Coretta Scott King, has been motivating audiences around
the world with his insightful message of hope and civility for nearly
twenty years. He has taken the torch lit by his father and continued
the quest for equality and justice for all people. From Mozambique
to Mississippi, Israel to Indiana, his message has touched thousands.
A moving and popular speaker, Martin Luther King, III is equally
comfortable in high school gymnasiums, corporate boardrooms, and
university lecture halls. Mr. King’s humble spirit and disarming
wit are universally embraced. His most popular message is “The
Dream Deferred,” an examination of the goals of Dr. Martin
Luther King, Jr. in today’s society.
A human rights advocate, community activist and a political leader,
Mr. King has been actively involved in significant policy initiatives
to maintain the fair and equitable treatment of all citizens, at
home and abroad. His missions have taken him to numerous nations
throughout Africa, Europe, and Asia. His messages and initiatives
are all rooted within the tenets of nonviolent conflict resolution.
In 1986, Mr. King was elected to political office as an at-large
representative of over 700,000 residents of Fulton County, Georgia.
His tenure on the Board of Commissioners was marked by legislation
regulating minority business participation in public contracting,
strong ethics legislation, purification of the county’s natural
water resources, and stringent hazardous waste disposal requirements.
Committed to the personal, educational and skill development of
youth, he has initiated several programs throughout the years to
support and nurture young people. Among them were the King Summer
Intern Program to provide employment opportunities for high
school students; Hoops for Health a charity basketball game
intended to increase public awareness of newborn babies who suffer
the effects of substance abuse; and A Call to Manhood, an
annual event designed to unite young African-American males with
positive adult role models. In addition to addressing many youth
groups and volunteering for several youth- and young adult-oriented
projects, one of Mr. King’s writing projects is directed to
young people. His current signature youth project is the annual
Kindness and Justice Challenge sponsored by Do Something.
In the spring of 2001, Mr. King will host a cable series on the
Wisdom Network entitled “The Wisdom of Dreams.”
The program will present the stories of individuals who were able
to achieve extraordinary feats by pursuing their dreams.
On November 1, 1997, Mr. King was unanimously elected the fourth
president of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, the organization
that his father co-founded in 1957. An active member of the Board
of Directors, Mr. King has devoted much of his adulthood to the
continuance of his father’s mission through the many programs
of the SCLC. His tenure began on January 15, 1998, the date of his
father’s birth.
Since assuming the helm of SCLC, Mr. King has aggressively fought
injustice on many fronts. SCLC was the first national organization
to pull its annual convention from the State of South Carolina to
protest the flying of the Confederate flag atop its state capitol.
He recently led the successful charge to bring down the “Stars
and Bars” on the flag of his home state of Georgia.
In 1999, SCLC convened police brutality hearings in 11 cities in
the U.S. to address police misconduct, brutality and racial profiling
based upon race, ethnicity, or socio-economic class. The culmination
of the hearings was an anniversary March on Washington in
August of 2000, which highlighted the issue for the nation. Other
signature programs under Mr. King’s guidance include the Stop
the Killing - End the Violence campaign that is anchored by
the Gun Buy-Back program. King and SCLC recently finalized
an agreement with the Department of Housing and Urban Development
to advise housing authorities in 15 U.S. cities on conducting gun
buy-backs. To date the organization has collected over 10,000 guns
across the U.S. in this unique approach.
Mr. King received his Bachelor of Arts degree from Morehouse College,
in Atlanta, Georgia, where he majored in Political Science. Martin
Luther King, III, was nurtured among individuals deeply committed
to the struggle for human rights and a nonviolent society. He has
assimilated and utilized those values in his personal and public
life.
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