WOW signed photo Martin Luther King Jr\'s parents civil rights African American
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WOW signed photo Martin Luther King Jr\'s parents civil rights African American :
$5000.00
An exceedingly rare signed photo measuring 7x9 1/2 inches of the Martin Luther King Jr. family on board the FRENCH LINETheCompagnie Générale Transatlantique(shortened to \"CIE. GLE. TRANSATLANTIQUE\", orCGT, and commonly named \"Transat\"). Obtained from Woodie King Brown estate who was MLK Jr\'s aunt from Detroit. Signed by Alberta King who was tragically killed while playing the piano at her church in the 70\'s. I have never seen her signature / autograph for sale anywhere.
Additionally signed by Martin Luther KIng Sr. , Woodie K (King) Brown - Martin Luther King Jr. aunt and Martin Luther King Sr\'s sister from Detroit. Signed by Christine KIng who is now Christine King Farris and is the eldest and only living sibling of the late Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. George W. Dudley, pastor of Liberty Baptist Church in Atlanta was great friends of the King family and a pioneer in the civil rights movement. \"On July 14, Reverend George W. Dudley, president of the Rocky Mount Voters and Improvement League spoke at First Baptist Church on Moore Street and stated that “the demonstrations must continue until we have our full and complete rights and we’re not going to stop until that day comes.” After Dudley’s speech, about six hundred blacks marched to City Hall for a brief hymn-singing\" George W. Dudley, quoted in Irving Long, “1,100 Present for Negroes’ Church Rally,” The Fayetteville Observer, 15 July 1963, 1B
Robert Smith was heavily involved in the civil rights movement and keeping MLK Jr\'s dream alive and was involved in assisting editors on the papers of of MLK Jr.
Additionally signed by cabin crew and captain . Stamped on back of photoCIE. GLE. TRANSATLANTIQUE FRENCH LINE Photos Georges Gratiet s/s/ FLANDRE
Alberta Christine Williams King (September 13, 1904 – June 30, 1974) was Martin Luther King, Jr.\'s mother and the wife of Martin Luther King, Sr. She played a significant role in the affairs of the Ebenezer Baptist Church. She was shot and killed in the church six years after the assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr.[1]
Contents [hide]1 Life and career2 Family tragedies, 1968–19743 Death4 Notes5 References6 External linksLife and career[edit]Alberta Christine Williams was born on September 13, 1904, to Reverend Adam Daniel Williams, at the time pastor of the Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta, Georgia, and Jennie Celeste (Parks) Williams.[2] Alberta Williams graduated from high school at the Spelman Seminary, and earned a teaching certificate at the Hampton Normal and Industrial Institute (now Hampton University) in 1924.
Williams met Martin L. King (then known as Michael King), whose sister Woodie was boarding with her parents, shortly before she left for Hampton. After graduating, she announced her engagement to King at the Ebenezer Baptist Church. She taught for a short time before their Thanksgiving Day 1926 wedding, but she had to quit because married female teachers were not then allowed.
Their first child, daughter Willie Christine King, was born on September 11, 1927. Michael Luther King Jr. followed on January 15, 1929, then Alfred Daniel Williams King I, named after his grandfather, on July 30, 1930. About this time, Michael King changed his name to Martin Luther King, Sr.
Alberta King worked hard to instill self-respect into her children. In an essay he wrote at Crozer Seminary, Martin Luther King Jr., who was always close to her, wrote that she \"was behind the scenes setting forth those motherly cares, the lack of which leaves a missing link in life.\"
Alberta King\'s mother died on May 18, 1941, of a heart attack. The King family later moved to a large yellow brick house three blocks away. Alberta would serve as the organizer and president of the Ebenezer Women\'s Committee from 1950 to 1962. She was also a talented musician who served as the choir organist and director at Ebenezer, which may have contributed to the respect her son had for the Black arts.[3] By the end of this period, Martin Luther King Sr. and Jr. were joint pastors of the church.
Family tragedies, 1968–1974[edit]Martin Luther King, Jr. was assassinated by a gunman named James Earl Ray on April 4, 1968, while standing on the balcony of the Lorraine Motel in Memphis. King was in Memphis to lead a march in support of the local sanitation workers\' union. He was pronounced dead one hour later. Mrs. King, a source of strength after her son\'s assassination, faced fresh tragedy the next year when her younger son and last-born child, Alfred Daniel Williams King I, who had become the assistant pastor at the Ebenezer Baptist Church, drowned in his pool.
Death[edit]Alberta King was shot and killed on June 30, 1974, at age 69 by Marcus Wayne Chenault, a 23-year-old black man from Ohio, as she sat at the organ of the Ebenezer Baptist Church. Chenault stated that he shot King because \"all Christians are my enemies,\" and claimed that he had decided that black ministers were a menace to black people. He said his original target had been Martin Luther King, Sr., but he had decided to shoot his wife instead because she was close to him. One of the church\'s deacons, Edward Boykin, was also killed in the attack, and a woman was wounded. Alberta was interred at the South View Cemetery in Atlanta. Martin Luther King, Sr., died of a heart attack on November 11, 1984, at age 84 and was interred next to her.
Chenault was sentenced to death; although this sentence was upheld on appeal, he was later resentenced to life in prison, partially as a result of the King family\'s opposition to the death penalty. On August 3, 1995, he suffered a stroke, and was taken to a hospital, where he died of complications from his stroke on August 19, at age 44.[4][5]
The 70-year-old mother of the late Rev Martin Luther King, the civil rights leader who was assassinated six years ago, was herself shot and killed today as she played the organ for morning service in the Ebenezer Baptist Church in the centre of Atlanta, Georgia.
Her assailant, a young black man, who eye-witnesses said \"went berserk,\" and who was later reported to have said that \"all Christians\" were his enemies, was held by members of the church choir after he had wounded two other members of the congregation, one of them fatally.
Aware of the potential consequences of this latest tragedy, the Mayor of Atlanta, Mr Maynard Jackson, issued a statement beseeching the community to remain calm.
Mr Jackson, elected last year as the first black mayor of a major southern city, had returned abruptly to Atlanta from a West Coast conference last Wednesday after ominous civil disturbances had erupted in the streets following the police shooting of a young black man who had violated his parole. The mood in the city had been calming after the tense and uneasy week when this morning\'s tragic shootings took place.
Atlanta said later that a 21-year-old black man, Marcus Wayne Chenault, of Dayton, Ohio, had been charged with two counts of murder, one of assault, and one of carrying a concealed weapon.
According to witnesses Mrs Alberta King, whose husband, the Rev Martin Luther King Snr, is pastor of the church on Auburn Avenue, was playing the organ for the Lord\'s Prayer near the start of the service when the attack began. A young black man jumped and screamed: \"You must stop this! I am tired of all this! I\'m taking over this morning.\"
With that he drew two pistols and for the next 90 seconds fired wildly and continuously, hitting Mrs King, another elderly woman parishioner, and a 69-year-old church deacon, Mr Edward Boykin.
\'Delirious\'While members of the congregation dived beneath the pews, a few men from the choir jumped on the gunman, who was shouting: \" I’m going to kill everyone in here - they did it to me in the war.\"
Mrs King\'s grandson Derek, who said he helped to subdue the gunman as he tried to reload a pistol, added: \"He was delirious. He appeared to be in a fever. He said over and over, \'The war did this to me. It\'s the war.\'\"
Mrs King was taken to the nearby Grady Memorial Hospital, where officials said she was \"barely alive\" on arrival. She died shortly afterwards from a gunshot wound to the right of her head. Mr Boykin was pronounced dead on arrival.
The attack on Mrs King took place less than 100 yards from where her famous son, killed in 1968 at the age of 39, is buried.
On Sunday June 30 1974, Alberta Christine Williams King played “The Lord’s Prayer” on the organ of Ebenezer Baptist, the church where her father, A.D. Williams, her husband, Martin Luther King Sr., and son, Martin Luther King Jr., all had served as pastors.
The song finished, and most of the congregation had their eyes closed and heads bowed in preparation for prayer when they heard a shout: “I’m taking over here!”
Alberta King was shot and killed by Marcus Wayne Chenault in 1974They looked up to see a young black man standing on a pew near the front of the church. He jumped down, bolted to the pulpit, faced the choir, and pulled out a gun.
“It seemed like I was watching a scene from a bad movie play out,” Christine King Farris, Alberta’s daughter, would recall in her 2009 memoir Through It All.
The man—Marcus Wayne Chenault Jr.—fired every round in his gun, hitting Alberta King, church deacon, Edward Boykin, and congregation member Jimmie Mitchell. As the gunman sprinted out the side door leading to Jackson Street, the sanctuary was chaotic.
Farris eventually made her way outside. As she later described the scene:
There were people everywhere. There was a throng of onlookers. When I looked in their eyes I saw what is often described as “the thousand-yard stare.” It was a kind of blankness I’d never seen before. There were bewildered and in shock. Many were crying; most had their hands pressed to their mouths in disbelief.
Farris and other family members made it to Grady hospital, where they learned that dean Boykin and Mrs. King had died.
That Sunday was “without question the worst day of my life,” wrote Farris. Her brother Martin had been assassinated in Memphis six years earlier, her brother A.D. drowned a year after that. “I thought I had made it through the worst days of my life. I was wrong.”
Although Chenault’s lawyers pleaded insanity—the young man repeatedly said he was on a mission to kill all Christians—he was given a death sentence. This was later reduced to life in prison, in part at the insistence of King family members who opposed the death penalty. He died in prison of a stroke in 1995.
Martin Luther King Sr.(bornMichael King; December 19, 1899– November 11, 1984), was an AmericanBaptistpastor,missionary, and an early figure in theAmerican Civil Rights Movement. He was the father of civil rights leaderMartin Luther King Jr.
Contents[hide]- 1Early life
- 2Ebenezer Baptist Church
- 3Murder of wife
- 4Later life and death
- 5In film
- 6See also
- 7References
- 7.1Footnotes
- 7.2Further reading
King was born Michael King inStockbridge, Georgia, the son of Delia (née Linsey) and James Albert King.[1]He led theEbenezer Baptist ChurchinAtlanta, Georgia, and became a leader of theCivil Rights Movement, as the head of theNAACPchapter in Atlanta and of the Civic and Political League. He encouraged his son to become active in the movement.
Ebenezer Baptist Church[edit]King was a member of the Baptist Church and decided to become a preacher after being inspired by ministers who were prepared to stand up forracial equality. He left Stockbridge for Atlanta, where his sister Woodie was boarding with Reverend A.D. Williams, then pastor of theFirst Baptist Church (Atlanta, Georgia). He attendedDillard Universityfor a two-year degree. After King started courting Williams\' daughter,Alberta, her family encouraged him to finish his education and to become a preacher. King completed hishigh schooleducation at Bryant Preparatory School, and began to preach in several black churches inAtlanta.
In 1926, King started his ministerial degree at theMorehouse School of Religion. OnThanksgiving Dayin 1926, after eight years of courtship, he married Alberta in the Ebenezer Church. The couple had three children in four years: a daughter,Willie Christine King(born 1927),Martin Luther King Jr.(born Michael King Jr., 1929–1968), and a second son,Alfred Daniel Williams King(1930–1969).
King became leader of the Ebenezer Baptist Church in March 1931 after the death of Williams. With the country in the midst of the Great Depression, church finances were struggling, but King organized membership and fundraising drives that restored these to health. By 1934, King had become a widely respected leader of the local church. That year, he also changed his name (and that of his eldest son) from Michael King to Martin Luther King after becoming inspired during a trip to Germany by the life ofMartin Luther(1483–1546), the German theologian who initiated the Protestant Reformation (though he never changed his name legally).[2][unreliable source?]
King was the pastor of the Ebenezer Baptist Church for four decades, wielding great influence in the black community and earning some degree of respect from the white community. He also broadcast onWAEC, a religious radio station in Atlanta.
In his 1950 essayAn Autobiography of Religious Development, King Jr. wrote that his father was a major influence on his entering the ministry. He said, \"I guess the influence of my father also had a great deal to do with my going in the ministry. This is not to say that he ever spoke to me in terms of being a minister, but that my admiration for him was the great moving factor; He set forth a noble example that I didn\'t mind following.\"
King Jr. often recounted that his father frequently sent him to work in the fields. He said that in this way he would gain a healthier respect for his forefathers.
In his autobiography, King Jr. remembered his father leaving a shoe shop because he and his son were asked to change seats. He said, \"This was the first time I had seen Dad so furious. That experience revealed to me at a very early age that my father had not adjusted to the system, and he played a great part in shaping myconscience. I still remember walking down the street beside him as he muttered, \'I don\'t care how long I have to live with this system, I will never accept it.\'\"[3]
Another story related by King Jr. was that once the car his father was driving was stopped by a police officer, and the officer addressed the senior King as \"boy\". King pointed to his son, saying, \"This is a boy, I\'m a man; until you call me one, I will not listen to you.\"
King Jr. became an associate pastor at Ebenezer in 1948, and his father wrote a letter of recommendation for him toCrozer Theological Seminary. Despitetheologicaldifferences, father and son would later serve together as joint pastors at the church.
King was a major figure in the Civil Rights Movement inGeorgia, where he rose to become the head of theNAACPin Atlanta and the Civic and Political League. He led the fight for equal teachers\' salaries in Atlanta. He also played an instrumental role in endingJim Crow lawsin the state. King had refused to ride on Atlanta\'s bus system since the 1920s after a vicious attack on black passengers with no action against those responsible. King stressed the need for an educated, politically active black ministry.
In October 1960, when King Jr., was arrested at a peaceful sit-in in Atlanta,Robert Kennedytelephoned the judge and helped secure his release. Although King Sr. had previously opposed Kennedy because he was a Catholic,[citation needed]he expressed his appreciation for these calls and switched his support to Kennedy. At this time, King had been a lifelong registered Republican, and had endorsed RepublicanRichard Nixon.[citation needed]
King Jr. soon became a popular civil rights activist. Taking inspiration fromMohandas Gandhiof India, he led nonviolent protests in order to win greater rights for African Americans.
King Jr. was shot and killed in 1968. King Sr.\'s youngest son, Alfred Daniel Williams King, died of an accidental drowning on July 21, 1969, nine days before his 39th birthday.
In 1969, King was one of several members of theMorehouse Collegeboard of trustees held hostage on the campus by a group of students demanding reform in the school’s curriculum and governance. One of the students wasSamuel L. Jackson, who was suspended for his actions. Jackson subsequently became an actor andAcademy Awardnominee.[4]
King played a notable role in the nomination ofJimmy Carteras theDemocraticcandidate for President in the1976 election. After Carter\'s success in theIowa caucus, theNew Hampshire primaryand theFloridaprimary, someliberalDemocrats were worried about his success and began an \"ABC\" (\"Anyone But Carter\") movement to try to head off his nomination. King pointed to Carter\'s leadership in ending the era ofsegregationin Georgia, and helping to repeal laws restricting voting which especially disenfranchised African Americans. With King\'s support, Carter continued to build a coalition of black and white voters and win the nomination. King delivered the invocation at the 1976 and 1980Democratic National Conventions. King was also a member ofOmega Psi Phi.
Murder of wife[edit]King Sr.\'s wife and King Jr.\'s mother,Alberta, was murdered on Sunday, June 30, 1974 at the Ebenezer Baptist Church during Sunday services by Marcus Wayne Chenault. He was a black man from Ohio who stood up and yelled, \"You are serving a false God\", and began to fire from two pistols while Alberta was playing \"The Lord\'s Prayer\" on the church organ.[5]Upon capture, the assassin disclosed that his intended target was Martin Luther King Sr., who was elsewhere that Sunday. After failing to see Mr. King Sr., the killer instead fatally shot Alberta King and Rev. Edward Boykin.[6]Chenault stated that he was driven to murder after concluding that \"black ministers were a menace to black people\" and that \"all Christians are my enemies\".[7]
Later life and death[edit]With his son\'s widowCoretta Scott King, King was present when President Carter awarded aPresidential Medal of Freedomto King Jr.posthumouslyin 1977. In 1980, he published hisautobiographyin 1980. King died of aheart attackat theCrawford W. LongHospital in Atlanta on November 11, 1984, at age 84. He was interred next to his wife Alberta at the South View Cemetery inAtlanta.[8]
In film[edit]Civil Rights Activist. He was the prominent pastor of Ebenezer Baptist Church for over 40 years, but was most notably known as the father of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.. Known by family and friends as \"Daddy King\", he was an important civil rights leader in his own right. Few men could be as stubborn and domineering. He lacked intellectual depth and often noted he could be taken to court for his crimes against the English language. Despite suffering great personal insult and loss throughout his life, King, like his son, stuck rigidly to the code of nonviolence and forgiveness. In the 1930s, he built up the membership of Atlanta\'s Ebenezer Baptist Church to a congregation of several thousand. This gave him a base in the African-American community from where he could preach about civil rights and advocate progressive social action. In 1936, he led the first black voting-rights march in the history of Atlanta. In 1960, he played a key role in mobilizing black support to elect John F. Kennedy president. He also offered crucial support to his son at many times in his career even though they did not always agree. Born Michael King, he was the eldest son of nine children born to poor Georgia sharecroppers, James and Delia King. Growing up in the early part of the twentieth century, he saw firsthand the brutality of southern racism. In his early teens, he was beaten by a white mill owner. He also saw a black man hanged by a white mob. Yet his family continued to advocate nonviolence. When his mother was dying, he cursed white people, but his mother disagreed. \"Hatred makes nothin\' but more hatred...Don\'t you do it,\" she told him. As a member of Floyd Chapel Baptist Church, he was inspired by the few ministers who risked speaking out against racial injustice and decided to become a minister himself. In 1917, despite his educational deficiencies, he was trained and licensed by the ministers from his church. In the spring of 1918, he left Stockbridge to join his older sister Woodie in Atlanta. Woodie was boarding at the home of Rev. A. D. Williams, prominent minister of Ebenezer Baptist Church. King seized the opportunity to introduce himself to the minister\'s daughter, Alberta Williams. After the two began a courtship, he was quickly welcomed into the Williams household. Rev. and Mrs. Williams supported their future son-in-law\'s ministerial aspirations by encouraging him to continue his education. He worked a variety of jobs on the railroads, in an auto tire shop, loading bales of cotton, and driving a truck. He also went to school at night, graduating from high school in 1925. He then completed his studies at Bryant Preparatory School and served as pastor of several churches in Atlanta and nearby College Park before becoming assistant pastor of Ebenezer in 1926. He was able to convince the president of Atlanta\'s Morehouse College that he should be admitted to the three-year minister\'s degree program at the Morehouse School of religion in 1926 in spite of not fully meeting the school\'s educational requirements. On Thanksgiving day of that same year, he and Alberta were joined in marriage at Ebenezer. The newlyweds then moved into the Williams family home, where they had three children, Willie Christine, Martin Luther, Jr., and Alfred Daniel, within their first four years of marriage. As he continued his education, he also took over some of the duties at the church. When his father-in-law suddenly died in the spring of 1931, he was voted pastor. Through membership and fundraising drives, he rescued the church from financial ruin brought by the Great Depression and preached his message of social action and nonviolence. In the 1930s, King joined the NAACP, the Atlanta Negro Voters League, and the Interracial Council of Atlanta. In addition to the voting-rights march, he worked at integrating the Ford Motor Company and ending segregation of the elevators in the Fulton County courthouse. By 1934, he was a well-respected pastor and traveled to the World Baptist Alliance in Berlin. Also at this time, he changed his name and that of his oldest son to Martin Luther King at the wish of his dying grandfather. Never hesitating to direct his influence as a pastor toward the cause of racial equality, he headed Atlanta\'s Civic and Political League and NAACP branch. But perhaps his most significant contribution to the civil rights movement was the influence he had on the development of Martin Luther King, Jr.\'s social consciousness. From 1956 to 1968 his son rose to be one of the major national leaders of the civil rights movement and throughout his son\'s career, he continued to advocate racial equality within his church and community. April of 1968 began a series of tragedies in the life of King with the assassination of his son which devastated him. Upon seeing his son\'s body in the casket, he was more a father trying to wake his son from a nap finally collapsing and sobbing. \"He never hated anybody,\" the old man softly cried. \"He never hated anybody.\" In 1969 his younger son A. D. drowned in a mysterious swimming pool accident and in 1974 his beloved wife who he called \"Bunch\" was shot while playing the organ at Ebenezer (The assassin later admitted that King had been his target). In spite of the spiritual strength provided by the Lord, he grieved deeply. He stepped into a public role after his son\'s death, attending events that honored his son and delivering the invocation at the 1976 and 1980 Democratic National Conventions. He continued to preach at Ebenezer until his resignation in 1975. In the fall of that same year he becomes the first African-American to address a joint session of the Alabama state legislature. In 1976, when presidential candidate Jimmy Carter made a remark about \"ethnic purity,\" many believed that would lose him the southern black vote. King played an instrumental role in preventing that. When King hugged Carter on a public platform, it symbolized Carter\'s acceptance by black civil rights leaders, and Carter went on to win 90 percent of the black vote. In August 1976, King found himself in a coronary care unit. The following year he was treated for congestive heart failure. Although his steps were slowing, and he needed a cane to use for balance, his spirit still sought usefulness and service. He spent the remainder of his life giving lectures and as a guest minister at churches. On the morning of November 11, 1984, he attended services at Atlanta\'s Salem Baptist Church. That afternoon, he suffered a heart attack and was rushed to Crawford W. Long Memorial Hospital and died that afternoon at 5:41 p.m. with his surviving child and a grandson at his side. Days later on November 16, 1984, nearly 3,000 blacks and whites stood side by side at his funeral at Ebenezer Baptist Church. One by one, leaders of the nation came to offer memories of and tributes to the man who had occupied the church\'s pulpit for 44 years and whose faith in God and compassion for his fellow man directed his life
mpoverished childhood in the violent backwoods of Georgia to become patriarch of one of the most famous – and tragedy-plagued – families in history.[9]
The documentary weaves strands of three stories into one. The underpinnings of the documentary are the events of the time — everything from the Atlanta Riots and the disenfranchisement of blacks throughout the South to the era of prohibition and war time. Over this background, there are two more stories — that of Daddy King and the story of Daddy’s influence on Martin Jr.[10]
Part one ofIn the Hour of Chaosaired on public television in early 2016 and the full film was released online July 1, 2016.[11][12]
In a speech expressing his views on ‘‘the true mission of the Church’’ Martin Luther King, Sr. told his fellow clergymen that they must not forget the words of God: ‘‘The spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the Gospel to the poor.… In this we find we are to do something about the brokenhearted, poor, unemployed, the captive, the blind, and the bruised’’ (King, Sr., 17 October 1940). Martin Luther King, Jr. credited his father with influencing his decision to join the ministry, saying: ‘‘He set forth a noble example that I didn’t [mind] following’’ (Papers 1:363).
King, Sr. was born Michael King on 19 December 1897, in Stockbridge, Georgia. The eldest son of James and Delia King, King, Sr. attended school from three to five months a year at the Stockbridge Colored School. ‘‘We had no books, no materials to write with, and no blackboard,’’ he wrote, ‘‘But I loved going’’ (King, Sr., 37).
King experienced a number of brutal incidents while growing up in the rural South, including witnessing the lynching of a black man. On another occasion he had to subdue his drunken father who was assaulting his mother. His mother took the children to Floyd Chapel Baptist Church to ‘‘ease the harsh tone of farm life’’ according to King (King, Sr., 26). Michael grew to respect the few black preachers who were willing to speak out against racial injustices, despite the risk of violent white retaliation. He gradually developed an interest in preaching, initially practicing eulogies on the family’s chickens. By the end of 1917, he had decided to become a minister.
In the spring of 1918, King left Stockbridge to join his sister, Woodie, in Atlanta. The following year, Woodie King boarded at the home of A. D. Williams, minister of Ebenezer Baptist Church. King seized the opportunity to introduce himself to the minister’s daughter, Alberta Williams. Her parents welcomed King into the family circle, eventually treating him as a son and encouraging the young minister to overcome his educational limitations.
In March 1924, the engagement of Alberta to Michael King was announced at Ebenezer’s Sunday services. Meanwhile, King served as pastor of several churches in nearby College Park, while studying at Bryant Preparatory School. He followed the urging of Alberta Williams and her father to seek admission to Morehouse College and was admitted in 1926. King found the work difficult; however, he relied on the help of classmate Melvin H. Watson, the son of a longtime clerk at Ebenezer Baptist Church, and Sandy Ray of Texas, a fellow seminarian. ‘‘We shared an awe of city life, of cars, of the mysteries of college scholarship, and, most of all, of our callings to the ministry,’’ King recalled (King, Sr., 77).
On Thanksgiving Day 1926, Michael Luther King and Alberta Christine Williams were married at Ebenezer. The newlyweds moved into an upstairs bedroom of the Williams’ house on Auburn Avenue. The King family quickly expanded, with the birth of Willie Christine in 1927, Michael Luther, Jr. in 1929, and Alfred Daniel Williams in 1930, a month after King, Sr. received his bachelor’s degree in Theology.
After the death of A. D. Williams in 1931, King, Sr. succeeded his father-in-law as pastor of Ebenezer. According to King’s recollections, A. D. Williams inspired him in many ways. Both men preached a social gospel Christianity that combined a belief in personal salvation with the need to apply the teachings of Jesus to the daily problems of their black congregations.
The Kings raised their children in what King, Jr. described as ‘‘a very congenial home situation,’’ with parents who ‘‘always lived together very intimately’’ (Papers 1:360). Hidden from view were his parents’ negotiations regarding their conflicting views on discipline. Although King, Sr. believed that the ‘‘switch was usually quicker and more persuasive’’ in disciplining his boys, he increasingly deferred to his wife’s less stern but effective approach to childrearing (King, Sr., 130).
In 1934, King, Sr. attended the World Baptist Alliance in Berlin. Traveling by ocean liner to France, he and 10 other ministers also toured historic sites in Palestine and the Holy Land. ‘‘In Jerusalem, when I saw with my own eyes the places where Jesus had lived and taught, a life spent in the ministry seemed to me even more compelling,’’ King recalled (King, Sr., 97). A story appearing in the Atlanta Daily World upon King’s return to Atlanta in August 1934 increased his prominence and relative affluence among Atlanta’s elite. This was also reflected in the final transformation of his name from Michael King to Michael Luther King and finally Martin Luther King (although close friends and relatives continued to refer to him and his son as Mike or M. L.).
In Atlanta, King, Sr. not only engaged in personal acts of political dissent, such as riding the ‘‘whites only’’ City Hall elevator to reach the voter registrar’s office, but was also a local leader of organizations such as the Atlanta Civic and Political League and the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP). In 1939, he proposed, to the unopposition to more cautious clergy and lay leaders, a massive voter registration drive to be initiated by a march to City Hall. At a rally at Ebenezer of more than 1,000 activists, King referred to his own past and urged black people toward greater militancy. ‘‘I ain’t gonna plow no more mules,’’ he shouted. ‘‘I’ll never step off the road again to let white folks pass’’ (King, Sr., 100). A year later, King, Sr. braved racist threats when he became chairman of the Committee on the Equalization of Teachers’ Salaries, which was organized to protest discriminatory policies in teachers’ pay. With the legal assistance of the NAACP, the movement resulted in significant gains for black teachers.
Although too young to fully understand his father’s activism, King, Jr. later wrote that dinner discussions in the King household often touched on political matters, as King, Sr. expressed his views about ‘‘the ridiculous nature of segregation in the South’’ (Papers 1:33). King, Jr. remembered witnessing his father standing up to a policeman who stopped the elder King for a traffic violation and referred to him as a ‘‘boy.’’ According to King, Jr., his indignant father responded by pointing to his son and asserting: ‘‘This is a boy. I’m a man, and until you call me one, I will not listen to you.’’ The shocked policeman ‘‘wrote the ticket up nervously, and left the scene as quickly as possible’’ (King, Stride, 20).
King, Sr. was generally supportive of his son’s participation in the civil rights movement; however, during the Montgomery bus boycott, he and his wife were very concerned about the safety of King, Jr. and his family. King, Sr. asked a number of prominent Atlantans, such as Benjamin Mays, to try to convince King, Jr. not to return to Montgomery; but they were unsuccessful. King, Sr. later wrote, ‘‘I could only be deeply impressed with his determination. There was no hesitancy for him in this journey’’ (King, Sr., 172). King, Sr. traveled with the delegation to Oslo in 1964 to see his son accept the Nobel Peace Prize. In his autobiography, King, Sr. recalled, ‘‘As M. L. stood receiving the Nobel Prize, and the tears just streamed down my face, I gave thanks that out of that tiny Georgia town I’d been spared to see this and so much else’’ (King, Sr., 183).
Throughout his life, King, Sr. was a prominent civic leader in Atlanta, serving on the boards of Atlanta University, Morehouse College, and the National Baptist Convention. After the assassination of King, Jr., he spoke at numerous events honoring his son. A strong supporter of Jimmy Carter, he delivered invocations to the Democratic National Convention in 1976 and 1980. After serving Ebenezer for 44 years, he died in Atlanta in 1984.
SOURCES
Introduction in Papers 3:14.
King, ‘‘An Autobiography of Religious Development,’’ 12 September–22 November 1950, in Papers 1:359–363.
King, Stride Toward Freedom, 1958.
King, Sr., ‘‘Moderator’s Annual Address,’’ 17 October 1940, CSKC.
King, Sr., with Riley, Daddy King, 1980.
‘‘Rev. King Is Royally Welcomed on Return From Europe,’’ Atlanta Daily World, 28 August 1934.
The Compagnie Générale Transatlantique (shortened to \"CIE. GLE. TRANSATLANTIQUE\", or CGT, and commonly named \"Transat\"), typically known overseas as the French Line, was a shipping company established in 1861 as an attempt to revive the French merchant marine, the poor state of which was self-evident during the Crimean War of 1856. The company\'s first vessel, the SS Washington, had its maiden voyage on 15 June 1864. Other than operating ocean liners, the company also had a significant fleet of freighters. The company survived both World Wars, but the development of jet travel doomed its mainstay passenger liner business. In 1977, the company merged with the Compagnie des Messageries Maritimes to form the Compagnie Générale Maritime. Then, in 1996, the company Compagnie Générale Maritime merged to form the CMA CGM.
Contents [hide]1 History2 Vessels3 References4 Further reading5 External linksHistory[edit]
Travel brochure: Century of Progress International Exposition at Chicago in 1933In 1855, the Péreire brothers, Emile and Isaac, created the Compagnie Générale Maritime, which later became the Compagnie Générale Transatlantique. They were already the owners of the Société Générale de Crédit Mobilier, which became the main shareholder. Five years later they signed an agreement with the French government. The company contracted to create a fleet and to provide liner service and carry mail for 20 years on the following routes: Le Havre - New York with calls at Brest, Saint-Nazaire, and the Isthmus of Panama, with 3 additional services for Guadeloupe, Cayenne, and Mexico and. In return, the government would provide the company with an annual subsidy.
In 1861 Compagnie Générale Maritime changed its name to the Compagnie Générale Transatlantique. The Pereire brothers also established a shipyard at Penhoët, near Saint-Nazaire. The next year the first trip to the West Indies and Mexico was made by the ship Louisiane. Two years later the New York - Le Havre line service was begun, with the paddle-steamer Washington providing postal service. In 1867 the company switched from using paddle wheels to using propellers for its vessels, partly because they were more fuel efficient.
An economic and financial crisis in 1868 forced the Pereire brothers to file a petition of bankruptcy and to resign from the company\'s board. However, the company survived.
Technical progress continued and the company modified its vessels to transport more goods. Still, in 1873 the line suffered its first major accident. The Ville du Havre collided with the sailing ship Loch Earn, with a loss of life of about 226 people.
In 1879 the French government awarded the company the concession for postal services for the Mediterranean. That same year the company incorporated. Between 1882 and 1884 the government renewed the earlier fleet and postal agreements.
In 1886, SS La Bourgogne traveled the le Havre - New York transit in a little more than 7 days. This gave the company first place in the New York postal service, and ignited a competition for the record in the trans-Atlantic run. In 1894 the company offered the first cruise for American passengers when La Touraine initiated service from New York to Constantinople.
Between 1897 and 1904, European competition intensified and the company suffered two major maritime disasters. The Ville de Saint-Nazaire had to be abandoned at sea in 1897 and La Bourgogne sank with 568 passengers in 1898. Furthermore, labor strife developed as strikes came to affect all ports and all staff. The strikes continued until 1923.
In 1904, Jules Charles-Roux became president and instituted a reorganization. The company re-oriented its strategy to emphasize the quality of life aboard ship rather than racing against time. The next year it initiated Le Havre - New York cargo service.
The company did not become a major participant of the trans-Atlantic ocean liner trade until after World War I. During 1907 and 1908, when immigration to the United States was greatest, the company\'s share of the market was a mere 10%. In line with its strategy, the company did not have ships of either great speed or size, but instead became renowned during the early 20th century for its luxuriously appointed liners. The most notable of these early ships was the SS France, which began service in 1912.
During World War I, the company transformed its vessels into warships, hospital vessels and troopships. By the end of the war, the company had lost a third of the fleet. Still, the company recovered during the post-war period, with several famous ships beginning service. In 1927, the SS Ile de France, the first ship to be styled in Art Deco, had its maiden voyage.
The company also diversified. In 1919, it introduced the first tourist motor car circuit in North Africa and in 1925 it created the Société des Voyages et Hôtels Nord-Africains (S.V.H.N.A.).
One of the minor vessels of the CGT - the s/s \"Kentucky\" - made history of the Polish newly built deep-sea harbour of Gdynia, entering it on Aug. 13, 1923 as the first foreign ship ever to call at Gdynia, still before raising the status of the locality to a town (which occurred on the 10th of Feb. 1926).Advertisement, circa 1937The Great Depression caused the company to suffer a significant decrease of profits as costs increased and passenger numbers plummeted The company responded by decommissioning vessels and discontinuing unprofitable routes. A generous government subsidy enabled the company, in 1935, to finance the construction its most famous vessel, the SS Normandie. At the time of completion, the ship was the largest in the world and also the fastest, winning the Blue Riband from the Italian liner, the SS Rex. Its Art Deco interior and streamlined hull design were famous. It won the Blue Ribbon trophy for its first voyage with a speed of 30 knots. However, it was never a commercial success and a fire in 1942 ended its career.
In 1939-1940, at the beginning of World War II, the company was subject to mobilization of more than a third of the staff. The Department of Shipping & Maritime Transport chartered or requisitioned the company\'s ships. The company also received 95 vessels to manage for the war effort. By 1946, the loss of several vessels due to the war had diminished the company\'s fleet, though the company was able to acquire several Liberty ships. The company also acquired Liberté, the former German liner SS Europa (1928), which France had claimed as reparations.
In 1950 the company acquired the Compagnie générale transsaharienne, which operated land and air transport across the Sahara.[1] Passenger traffic grew post-war, but the advent of commercial jet air travel in 1958 was the beginning of the end for the French Line\'s passenger ships. Despite the launch of a new Flagship, the 66,000 ton SS France in 1961, passenger demand decreased as no ship could match the convenience of airplane flights that could transport passengers in a matter of hours over a distance that by ship would take several days. The ocean liner fleet became dependent on government subsidies, which were finally ended in 1974. The fleet was subsequently hulked.
France was laid up until 1979 when the Norwegian Cruise Line bought it and renamed it Norway. In 2008, Norway was beached at Alang, India and broken up for scrap.
In 1977, the company merged with the Compagnie des Messageries Maritimes to form the Compagnie Générale Maritime.
Vessels[edit]For a more comprehensive list, see List of ships of the Compagnie Générale Transatlantique.CGT Ships included:
SS Mont-Blanc (1899), munitions ship that exploded in the December 1917 Halifax ExplosionSS France (1910), one of the least famous \"Four stackers\"SS Illinois (1917), formerly the SS Farnworth, bought and renamed in 1926, sold in 1934 and torpedoed in 1940 as the SS Empire ConveyorSS Pensylvanie (1917), sold to Counties Ship Management in 1934 and renamed SS Bury Hill, wrecked off the Senegalese coast in 1936SS De Grasse (1924–1953), renamed the RMS Empress of Australia by Canadian Pacific SteamshipsSS Normandie (1932–1942), renamed USS Lafayette by the US Navy; damaged beyond repair by fire in New YorkSS Ingénieur Général Haarbleicher (1945), ran aground 1945, scrapped 1947SS Liberté, acquired 1946, formerly the SS Europa of North German LloydSS Antilles (1953), hit a reef near Mustique in January 1971, caught fire and sankSS France (1961), later sold to Norwegian Cruise Line and renamed the SS Norway
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