Martin Luther King’s last sister dies at 95

The oldest sister of black civil rights activist Martin Luther King, Christine King Farris, has died at the age of 95.

As the non-governmental organization King Center for Nonviolent Social Change and Farris’ niece Bernice King announced on Twitter, the civil rights activist and teacher passed away Thursday morning (local time). Farris lived in Atlanta, she was one of the founders of the non-profit organization.

“I love you and will miss you, Aunt Christine,” wrote Bernice King, daughter of Martin Luther King Jr. (1929-1968) and executive director of the King Center, on Twitter. “Our family mourns the loss of my aunt,” wrote her brother, Martin Luther King III. “Like my father, she has spent her life fighting for equality and against racism in the United States.”

US President Joe Biden (80) also reacted to Farris’s death: “She shaped the history of the US journey in the 20th and 21st centuries and stood for peace, freedom and justice – virtues that bring out the best of us.” reflect country”. , it said on Thursday.

Farris was born Willie Christine King on September 11, 1927 in Atlanta, Georgia, USA. She was the first child of Martin Luther King Sr. and Alberta Williams King, the King Center said in a statement. Her brothers Martin and Alfred Daniel King were born in 1929 and 1930 respectively.

Martin Luther King was an icon of the civil rights movement, nonviolence was his principle. In 1964 he received the Nobel Peace Prize. On the evening of April 4, 1968, the 39-year-old was shot dead on the balcony of a motel in Memphis (Tennessee) – the racist James Earl Ray was convicted as the murderer. (aeg/sda/dpa)