The king: nobody knows - Brief Article

The private King (left) demonstrates his pool skills to Chicago youth during his Chicago open-housing campaign in the late 1960s. During a rare three-week Jamaica vacation (top), King cools off in a swimming pool and (below) works on his last book, Where Do We Go Front Here.

We see him large--in the spotlight, on the platform, moving and motivating millions. Few, outside family and close friends, saw and knew the family man, who loved a good joke and a good swim, and who considered himself something of a pool shark. Here, from the extensive EBONY files, is the private man who should also be celebrated and remembered.

Young Martin (left, front, r.) poses with his mother and father, the Rev. and Mrs. Martin Luther King Sr., grandmother, Mrs. Jennie C. Williams (r.), brother A.D. and sister Christine. King and his sister (below) graduated from college on the same day in 1948. Christine King Farris received a B.A. in economics from Spelman College and King received a B.A. in sociology from Morehouse College, where he is shown (bottom) in chapel.

First child Yolanda Denise (left and below, right) is shown in portrait with parents, Dr. and Mrs. King, and is pushed in stroller near their Montgomery home. After King's release from Reidsville State Prison in October 1960 (below, left), he is greeted warmly by his wife and children.

Popular with children, Dr. King interacts with students and gets a hug from a young admirer in 1965.

Dressed to the hilt,

King shares spotlight with wife, Coretta, in 1964 after Nobel Peace Prize presentation in Oslo, Norway. In a moment of stillness and quiet, he relaxes on the beach with his wife, who is leading the national celebration of his birth.

COPYRIGHT 2004 Johnson Publishing Co.
COPYRIGHT 2004 Gale Group