Rev bernice king biography

Dr. Bernice A. King is a global thought leader, strategist, solutionist, orator, peace advocate, and CEO of the Martin Luther King, Jr. Center For Nonviolent Social Change (The King Center), which was founded by her mother as the official living memorial to the life, work, and legacy of her father. In this position, Bernice continues to advance her parents’ legacy of nonviolent social change through policy, advocacy, research, as well as education & training through the Kingian philosophy of nonviolence, which she re-branded Nonviolence365.

Through her work at The King Center, she educates youth and adults around the world about the nonviolent principles and strategies modeled by her parents. Under her leadership, the Center has implemented numerous initiatives reaching over 500,000 people around the world, including the Beloved Community Leadership Academy, Students with King, Nonviolence365 Education & Training, and The Beloved Community Talks, a courageous conversations platform about the difficult racial and social justice issues impacting our world. Dr. King led the development of an Nonviolence365 certification program for trainers, which provides individuals with the opportunity to teach the Nonviolence365 curriculum on behalf of The King Center. She is an instructor for the program and a trainer.

Dr. King holds a Doctorate of Law from Emory University, A Master of Divinity Degree from Candler School of Theology at Emory University, and a Bachelor’s Degree in Psychology from Spellman College. She also received an honorary Doctor of Divinity from Wesley College and Clinton College. From 1990 -1992 she served as a law clerk for Judge Glenda Hatchett, the Chief Judge of The Fulton County Juvenile Detention Court. She served for seven years as an Assistant Pastor of Greater Rising Star Baptist Church in Atlanta where she organized and developed several new ministries. In 2007, she established the Be A King Scholarship

Lebanon Valley College welcomed Dr. Bernice A. King, daughter of the late Martin Luther King Jr. and Coretta Scott King, for a Social Justice Lecture Series presentation on Friday, Sept. 15, in Frederic K. Miller Chapel.

The event, sponsored by the Pennsylvania Human Relations Commission (PHRC), served as the fall kickoff to LVC’s Symposium on Inclusive Excellence and this year’s theme of Belonging.

At a special reception before her talk, Dr. King was awarded PHRC’s highest honor, the Social Justice Award.

Dr. King is a global thought leader, strategist, solutionist, orator, peace advocate, and CEO of the Martin Luther King Jr. Center For Nonviolent Social Change (The King Center), which was founded by her mother as the official living memorial to the life, work, and legacy of her father.

In a moderated conversation with PHRC Executive Director Chad Lassiter, Dr. King spoke about her path to becoming an activist and her family’s influence on her journey.

“I was born into a family that understood the importance of serving humanity,” she said. “I come from three generations of activists. My family has this long lineage of fighting for what’s just and right.”

Despite this, Dr. King admits to running from her “calling” for a while when she was younger, not wanting to live in her father’s shadow. To pave her path as “just Bernice,” she earned a degree in psychology and later attended Law School and Divinity School earning a dual degree (Master of Divinity and Doctorate of Law).

Eventually, however, the calling was too strong to ignore. Dr King picked up the torch from her parents to continue championing the message of creating a beloved community—a community that is not without conflict but addresses this conflict in a manner that leaves one’s dignity and humanity intact.

“Evil is always going to be present as you seek to do good. But no matter who people are, they are part of your family,” Dr. King said

Bernice Albertine King carried on her family’s legacy by advancing the Kingian philosophy of nonviolent social change. She is an African-American minister, author, and CEO of the King Center.

Born on March 28, 1963, in Atlanta, Georgia, King was the youngest child of Martin Luther King Jr. and Coretta Scott King. Growing up, she dealt with many obstacles, including the losses of her father at age five, her uncle at age six, and her grandmother at age 11. Bernice graduated from Douglass High School in 1981 and went on to Spelman College in 1985 to earn a Bachelor of Arts in Psychology and a Doctorate of Law and Master’s of Divinity from Emory University in 1990. Later on, she also received an honorary Doctorate of Divinity degree from Wesley College. To honor her mother, Coretta Scott King, Bernice returned to Spelman College to announce the establishment of the Be A King Scholarship.

At the age of 17, King was inducted into the church and shared a love for it as her father had when he was young; she was the only child in the King family to take up ministry as a profession. In 1988, Bernice preached a trial sermon at Ebenezer Baptist Church, where her father, grandfather, and great-grandfather had served as pastors. In 1990, she was ordained as senior pastor of the Greater Rising Star Baptist Church in Cascade, Georgia, after assisting at the pulpit in Ebenezer Baptist Church for many years. Later on, she served as an elder pastor at New Birth Missionary Baptist Church in Lithonia. With all of her success at a fairly young age, she published a collection of her addresses the year after, titled, “Hard Questions, Heart Answers: Sermons and Speeches.” She also published a book in 2003 named “The Father I Never Knew.” The book discusses the emotional events and trauma that Bernice King felt after her father’s death, which then led her on a journey toward personal fulfillment and continuing her father’s legacy.

Around the same time King was inducted

(1963-)

Who Is Bernice King?

Reverend Bernice A. King (born March 28, 1963) is the youngest child of Martin Luther King Jr. and Coretta Scott King. After her father was assassinated in Memphis, Tennessee, in 1968, a picture of King curled up on her mother's lap at the funeral became an iconic image. King was the only one of the family's four children to follow her father into the ministry; her preaching style is seen as similar to his. She is chief executive officer of the Martin Luther King Jr. Center for Nonviolent Social Change in Atlanta, Georgia.

Family Deaths and Funerals

When she was 5, Bernice King had to attend father Martin Luther King Jr.'s funeral at Atlanta's Ebenezer Baptist Church, where her father and grandfather had served as pastors.

In 2006, after ovarian cancer led to Coretta Scott King's death, King organized and delivered the eulogy at her mother's funeral. Despite her family's ties to Ebenezer, it was held at New Birth Missionary Baptist Church in Lithonia, Georgia, where King was then an elder. (The larger church was also able to welcome more mourners.)

The year following her mother's death, King's sister Yolanda died in Santa Monica, California, after suffering a heart attack.

Growing up, King experienced the loss of other family members: A.D. King, her uncle, was found dead in his pool in 1969 (despite being a strong swimmer). And in 1974, her grandmother, Alberta King, was shot and killed while playing the organ at Ebenezer.

Education

In Atlanta, King was a student at The Galloway School before going on to graduate from Douglass High in 1981. She initially attended Grinnell College in Iowa, but soon transferred to Spelman College. There, she received a B.A. in psychology in 1985.

Having felt a call to the ministry, but also wanting to forge her own path, King obtained a Master of Divinity and a Doctorate of Law from Emory University in 1990. She became a member of the Georgia bar and was later g