2007 CBS Interactive Inc. All Rights Reserved. Information about the death of Yolanda King; Cause of death: Heart Attack: Age of death: 51 years: Profession: Civil Rights Leader: Birthday: November 17, 1955: Death date: March 15, 2007: Place of death: N/A: Place of burial: N/A: Quotes. [24] In February 1982, King was a speaker during the centennial of Anne Spencer's birth. She was an actress and writer, known for King (1978), JAG (1995) and Death of a Prophet (1981). Young said she was going to her brother Dexter's home when she collapsed in the doorway and "they were not able to revive her.". [61] Both were worried that they would not like each other due to their fathers' legacies. King died late Tuesday in Santa Monica, Calif., said Steve Klein, a spokesman for the King Center. "[72] However, her father reassured her as she began to cry that she was "just as good" as anyone who went to Funtown, and that, one day in the "not too distant future", she was going to be able to go to "any town" along with "all of God's children". [36], When asked about what pressures emerged from being a daughter of Martin Luther King Jr., King stated that "as soon as people heard me speak, they would compare me to my father My siblings had the same kind of pressure. She ran out of the room, screamed "I don't want to hear it,"[24] and prayed that he would not die. "She was an actress, author, producer, advocate for peace and nonviolence, who was known and loved for her motivational and inspirational contributions to society," the King family said in a statement. Market data provided by Factset. Early on, she was aware of racism in her surroundings, especially when her father had to explain to her why she wasn't allowed to go to the amusement park known as "Funtown." "[109] She found her mother's personal papers in her home. Bernice King, Martin Luther King III and Yolanda King participate in a musical tribute to their mother at the new Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta. One of her father's close aides in the civil rights movement, the Rev. Al Sharpton , U.S.. [21] At the age of eight after writing her first play,[22][23] she also enrolled in the only integrated drama school of that time. Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot loses reelection bid, Fiery train crash in Greece kills dozens, many of them students. She allowed me to give myself permission to be me." She complimented her mother on her achievements and her mother spoke of her in a positive light, as well. Garrow says his first inclination when he heard of Yolanda's death was: This is it. Maybe when I'm older I won't be able to stand Yoki, but Yolanda sounds so formal!" On December 9, 1990, she canceled a planned appearance in a play in Tucson, Arizona[75] and ignored a boycott going on at the time by civil rights groups and other activists for Arizona voters rejecting the proposal of Martin Luther King Jr. Day being celebrated there. It's often hard for young people to understand the fear and terror so many people felt and how bold they were to get involved in the marches. Born on Nov. 17, 1955, in Montgomery, Ala., King was just an infant when her home was bombed during the turbulent civil rights era. "Hey, hope you don't mind, but I brought Yoki and Marty with me," he apologized as the three swept up the stairs of my DuPont Circle townhouse. Her death came less than a year and a half after her mother, Coretta Scott King, died in January 2006. Yolanda Denise King, daughter and eldest child of civil rights leader the Rev. Jesse Jackson stated that King "lived with a lot of the trauma of our struggle. A young cousin who lived in Atlanta and had worked on the Carter campaign had stopped by during inauguration week. She was closest to my age, so while the adults worried aloud about what King's assassination would mean for the future of the civil rights movement, I wondered about the future of Yolanda and her siblings. And that's how we can now commemorate his daughter. Yolanda, King's nine-year-old granddaughter, made headlines just last month with her rousing speech at the March for Our Lives rally in Washington. Her death came less than a year and a half after her mother, Coretta Scott King, died in January 2006. ", during a celebration that marked what would have been her father's sixty-fourth birthday. For a nation that prides itself on liberty, justice and equality for all, this is totally unacceptable. Yolanda has mostly been portrayed in films that revolve around her parents. The cause of death was believed to be heart disease. Her brother Martin III was born in 1957; brother Dexter in 1961; and sister Bernice in 1963. She went to drama school, where was active in student counsels, and in 1976, she graduated from Smith College with a Bachelor of Arts in Drama and African American Studies. [78] She joined her mother in placing a wreath around her father's crypt. I was just someone who loved someone, and I knew he had done great things and now people didn't appreciate it." The head of the school was Walt Roberts, father of the actors Eric and Julia Roberts. "I'm Yoki," Yolanda King said, smiling. [80] That same year, she also spoke at Indiana University. In the Fall of 1968, King attended Henry Grady Highschool, in Midtown Atlanta, Georgia, she was president of her sophomore and junior class, and vice president of her senior class. Yolanda King: 'Open My Eyes, Open My Soul'. She was 7 when her father mentioned her and her siblings in his 1963 speech at the March on Washington: "I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.". Though her mother kept her nave to the controversies so she could "fulfill [her] objective, which was to do the play", that did not stop her from learning of the negativity implemented from her role years later. With Yolanda King, she also founded a group named Nucleus, Inc. in 1977. Yolanda King, the Rev. King recalled that her mother had been the main parent and dominant figure in their home, while her father was often away. She was also on the student council. [33] Bill Cosby flew to Atlanta after the funeral and entertained King and her siblings. She died on May 15, 2007 in Santa Monica, California, USA. [24] She began speaking publicly at the age of ten and even filled in for her parents on occasion. An alumna of Smith College after graduating in 1976, she was the subject of an essay among the "remarkable women" during a celebration during the college's one hundred and twenty-fifth year[56] and she was a member of the board of directors of the Martin Luther King Jr. Center for Nonviolent Social Change, Inc. (the official national memorial to her father) and was founding Director of the King Center's Cultural Affairs Program. She was also subject to some harassment by her classmates, describing it as the "era when students were making demands and many black students were closer to the teachings of Malcolm X, or what they thought were his teachings." She proceeded to read his books, and started to believe that her father had been correct all along. Al Sharpton, a black political leader, said he expressed his condolences to her brother Martin Luther King III on Wednesday. When she returned home, she rushed to confront her mother about his death and even ignored her grandfather, Martin Luther King, Sr., to tell her mother what she had heard and that they would not get their "freedom now." Yolanda died due to a chronic heart condition in 2007. [51], After graduating from high school, she went to Smith College. Four days later, she and her brothers accompanied their mother to appear at Memphis City Hall. She was 12 years old when Martin Luther King Jr. died. "[126] Like her parents and siblings, King did not publicly affiliate with a political party. Not long after, she collapsed in the Santa Monica . 1894 shipwreck found in Lake Huron, confirming "powerful, tragic story" Dexter King said of his sister, "She gave me permission. Yolanda King was the most visible of the four children during this year's Martin Luther King Day in January, the first since her mother's death. She was just 10 weeks old when the King family home was bombed in Jan. 30, 1956, as her father attended a boycott rally. As she said during an interview, "I prefer Yoki. King joined her mother and siblings in marches and was lauded by such figures as Harry Belafonte, who established a trust fund for her and her siblings. [104] She was hospitalized on August 16, 2005,[105] and was set to come home as well. At her father's Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta, she performed a series of solo skits that told stories including a girl's first ride on a desegregated bus and a college student's recollection of the 1963 campaign to desegregate Birmingham, Ala. She also urged the audience to be a force for peace and love, and to use the King holiday each year to ask tough questions about their own beliefs about prejudice. Martin Luther King Jr., and a friend of the gay community, died on May 15. Rest in peace Yoki! Bernice A. Heart Attack caused Yolanda King's death in 2007. In the interview with the magazine, she related how people expected her to be "stuck up" and referred to it as one of the "handicaps" of being Martin Luther King's child. She mentioned the possibility that the event could have been a calling for Americans to put their loyalty towards "their race, tribe and nation", as her father once said. Yolanda King was born on November 17, 1955 in Montgomery, Alabama, USA. She took classes taught by Manning Marable and Johnnella Butler, and became satisfied with her choice of a college. Her childhood experience was greatly influenced by her father's highly public activism. [30] Four days later, she and her family accompanied their mother to Memphis City Hall on her own terms, as she and her brothers had wanted to come. The children of Martin Luther King and Coretta Scott King Yolanda Denise, Martin Luther III, Dexter Scott, and Bernice Albertine have each in their own way worked to carry on their parents' work fighting for racial equality and social justice. CDC warns drug-resistant stomach bug a "serious public health threat" Death 15 May 2007 (aged 51) Santa Monica, Los Angeles County, California, USA. [34] King and her siblings were assured an education thanks to the help of Harry Belafonte, who set up a trust fund for them years prior to their father's death. The two were the same age. Bernice King, Yolanda King and Martin Luther King III. At her father's former Atlanta church, Ebenezer Baptist, she performed a series of one-actor skits that told stories including a girl's first ride on a desegregated bus and a college student's recollection of the 1963 desegregation of Birmingham, Alabama. Martin Luther King Jr.'s eldest child who pursued her father's dream of racial harmony through drama and motivational speaking, collapsed and died after making a speech . [12] After having not seen her father for five weeks while he was in jail, she finally was able to meet with him alongside both of her brothers for less than half an hour. Yolanda Denise King was an African-American activist, actress and first-born child of civil rights leaders Martin Luther King Jr. and Coretta Scott King. Yolanda at that same ceremony used her craft as an actress to deliver a tribute to her parents, performing a series of skits telling stories including a girl's first ride on a desegregated bus and a college student's recollection of the 1963 desegregation of Birmingham, Ala. [103] King was having a conversation with her mother in her home when she stopped talking. Coretta had a blood clot move from her heart and lodge in an artery in her brain. After she suggested that he would most likely give it all away, King laughed with her mother. King; two brothers, Martin Luther King III and Dexter Scott King; and an extended family. Trending News But after finishing her sophomore year and returning home so she could work over the summer, her grandmother Alberta Williams King was killed on June 30, 1974. King, Malcolm X Tour With Play That Boosts Self Improvement", Women's International League for Peace and Freedom, "Yolanda King's Stage Direction; Using Theater to Fulfill Her Mission-and Her Father's Mission", "Coretta Scott King biography on Achievement.org", "King's Daughter Urges Cultures To Blend Talents", "Dr. King's 3 Children Visit Him; He Is Allowed Out of Jail Cell; Wife Says They 'Accept' His Absence From Home as in Aid of Negroes", "Dr. MLK speaks to his daughter abt Racism "Fun Town", "JFK's Still-Vibrant Example Continues to Inspire Millions", "Nobel's $$$ and Cents Interest King's Daughter", "Yolanda King, actor and Dr. Martin Luther King's Daughter, dies at 51", "Yolanda King helps others live their dreams", "Yoda King, 51; Child of Civil Rights Leader", "King's Daughter Says Poverty, War Top Issues", "Mrs. Kennedy Visits Mrs. King And 4 Children Before Funeral", "King's Kids Assured Education by Belafonte", "Dr. King's Father Leads Silent Prayer at Rights Leader's Grave", "The Vision Marches On With Martin Luther King Jr.'s Children", "Yolanda King, 51; Child of Civil Rights Leader", "King's Daughter Tells What His Famous Name is Doing to Her Life", "Yolanda King Uses Spotlight As Tool For Change", "Dr. King's Family Observes 7th Anniversary of Slaying", "Actress, Producer, Author Yolanda King '76 Dies", "Yolanda King, daughter of MLK, dies at age 51", "King, Malcom X kin get their act together", "King, Malcolm X Daughters' Play Will Be Staged", "Malcolm X's, King Children Are Soul Mates", "NEW YORK DAY BY DAY; Dr. King's Daughter Assails Her Generation", "Yolanda King, Harold Washington on Achievement Awards", "REAGAN TELLS PUPILS OF STRUGGLE WON BY DR. KING", "Black History Parade, King Speech Draw Thousands", "Daughters of King, Malcolm X Also Have a Message", "Son Dexter To Take Reign of The King Center in Atlanta", "2 Black Leaders' Daughters May Ignore Arizona Boycott", "Yolanda King Cancels Appearance in Arizona", "U.S. Yolanda King, who lived in California, was an actress, ran a production company and appeared in numerous films, including "Ghosts of Mississippi." She played Rosa Parks in the 1978 miniseries "King." [102] During the fall of 2004 she played Mama in "A Raisin in the Sun" at the Schwartz Center for the Performing Arts at Cornell University. This, and other experiences, prompted a 7-year-old Yolanda to tell her friends (via Stanford), "Look, all I want is to just be treated like a normal child.". Yolanda King was born on November 17, 1955 and died on May 15, 2007. "She was the first daughter of the civil rights movement and never shamed her parents or her co-activists.". Historian David Garrow, who won a Pulitzer for his biography of King and who remains friends with many King intimates, says it's not so surprising that none of the King children married. It began on Jan. 30, 1956, when Yolanda, nicknamed Yoki, was 2 months old and the familys house was bombed in the Montgomery bus boycott. To Yolanda, it seemed as if adults naturally went to jail occasionally, because all those she knew seemed to do that. It was the first time she had ever been arrested. Joseph Lowery, one of her father's close aides in the civil rights movement. Speaking last January in Atlanta at Ebenezer Baptist Church where her father preached for many years Yolanda exhorted those observing the national holiday that bears his name to remember that America has not yet achieved peace and racial equality. She was 51. When he did, she would play and swim with him. [112] On May 12, 2007,[107] days before her death, she spoke at St. Mary Medical Center, on behalf of the American Stroke Association. During the play, she changed costume numerous times and adjusted her voice and body language when changing roles. Yolanda King was born on November 17, 1955 in Montgomery, Alabama, USA. King's mother, Coretta Scott King, suffered a stroke before her death from cancer in 2006. [86], On February 1, 1994, King attempted to speak before a diverse class of students at North Central College. "While Mrs. King was alive, the standards to which she would hold any potential life partner of any of her children would be so high as to be almost unmeetable," he speculates. "[100] While in Dallas in March 2004, King related; "It's only in the past half-dozen years or so that I have felt comfortable in my own skin. Father's death: 1968 Teenage years and high school: 1968-1972 Early adulthood College: 1972-1976 . 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