The Weekend File - January 16, 2021

Weekend Notes

On MLK Day, we should also remember his mother, Alberta King

This Monday is MLK Day.  And as we celebrate his life and work, we should also remember his mother, Alberta King, who made her own contributions to civil rights.

Although Alberta King’s life was crucial to the civil rights movement and it remains relevant for all of us today, like so many other significant Black women, she has largely been erased from history. When we learn her story, however, we not only pay honor where it is due, we also learn about how we arrived where we are as a nation.

Alberta King committed her life to the uplift of others, including her family members, church members and larger community. She was a trained educator and musician who attended Spelman Seminary, the Hampton Normal and Industrial Institute, and Morris Brown College. She used her skills to tutor her husband through college, guide her children on their own educational journeys and teach hundreds of instrumentalists and singers. Although she was not allowed to teach in schools as a result of a marriage bar that prohibited some women from working after they got married, she dedicated her time outside of church and raising her family to organizations like the NAACP, the YWCA, and the International League for Justice and Freedom. Her commitments fulfilled the mission her parents passed on to her and that she knew she needed to pass on to her children.

From the very first times Martin Luther King Jr. was exposed to racism to his rise as one of the most celebrated people in world history, he always sought his mother’s wisdom and comfort.  Alberta worried about her son, but she knew he was meant to bring change the world had never seen before and she could not stand in his way. Even after she tragically lost not only Martin Luther King Jr. but her second son as well, she continued to dedicate her life to the liberation of the most marginalized.

Martin Luther King Jr. was a product of his parents’, and most obviously, his mothers’ teachings and experiences. Through knowing Alberta King’s story we see how beautifully he built on the foundation that was laid for him; we better understand the power of generational knowledge and the longevity of a movement that was here long before his time and will continue long after. This MLK Day, as we celebrate the birth of one of our beloved civil rights heroes, we should also celebrate the woman who birthed him.

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