Naomi Barber King was a civil rights activist who married Rev. Alfred Daniel Williams King (1930–1969), brother of Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. (1929–1968).
- Died: March 7, 2024 (Who else died on March 7?)
- Details of death: Died in Atlanta at the age of 92.
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Naomi Barber King’s legacy
Born in Dothan, Alabama, King moved to Atlanta with her mother, Bessie Barber, where they attended Ebenezer Baptist Church and heard the teachings of Rev. Martin Luther King Sr. She later went to Spelman College and the University of Alabama, where she studied interior design. In 1950, she met Rev. Alfred Daniel Williams King, the youngest son of King Sr., and the pair married.
King and her husband worked alongside his brother, Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., during the Civil Rights Movement of the 1950s and ‘60s, where they took part in marches supporting Rosa Parks (1913–2005), the marches at Selma, and many other historic events. She was on hand for the 1963 March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom, during which MLK delivered his “I Have a Dream” speech. That same year, her house was bombed and destroyed. Then, in 1969, not long after the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr., her husband was found dead in their pool. Her mother-in-law was murdered five years later.
In 2008, King formed the A.D. King Foundation, which is devoted to helping youth achieve nonviolent change in their communities. She is the author of “AD and ML King: Two Brothers Who Dared to Dream” and was featured in the AARP documentary “Voices of Civil Rights.” King has received the Hope Worldwide Living Legend Award, SCLC Rosa Parks Freedom Award, Global Citizens Award, and many others. She spent much of her later life as a public speaker.
On the bombing that destroyed her home:
“By the time we got to the center of our home that was when the first bomb went off and then a second bomb exploded and the front of the house was blown away … By God’s grace all 7 of us were able to go out of the back of the home, and that no one was hurt. God has a time planned for everybody and a purpose for everybody. It was our time at that time to bring focus to the world on what was happening in Birmingham.”—from a 2017 interview for Patch interview
Tributes to Naomi Barber King
Full obituary: ABC News
