Alveda Celeste King (born January 22, 1951) is an American Christian minister, political conservative, pro-life activist, and author. She is a niece of the civil rights leader Martin Luther King, Jr. and daughter of the late civil rights activist Rev. A.D. William King, Sr. and his wife Naomi Barber King. She is the full-time Pastoral Associate of African-American Outreach for the Roman Catholic pro-life group, Priests for Life. She is currently a Senior Fellow at the Alexis de Tocqueville Institution, a conservative Washington, D.C. think-tank. She is a former member of the Georgia House of Representatives and the founder of King for America. She is the mother of six, and a grandmother.
Alveda King was born in Birmingham, Alabama. She was the first of five children of A. D. King, the younger brother of Martin Luther King Jr., and Naomi Barber King.She says her mother wanted to abort her so she could continue college but her Grandfather vetoed it
When she was 12, her father became a leader of the Birmingham campaign while serving as pastor at the First Baptist Church of Ensley in Birmingham, Alabama. Later that same year, King’s house was bombed by opponents to the civil rights movement. In 1969, Ms. King married. Only a week later, her father, A.D. King, was found dead in the pool at his home after a long bout with alcoholism and depression.The cause of death was listed as an accidental drowning. When she got pregnant, she claims her doctor, without the family's knowledge, gave her an abortion . She was divorced soon after that. When she was pregnant in 1973, she went to Planned Parenthood and got a second abortion. Later, she wanted to get a 3rd abortion, but neither the father nor her grandfather would pay for it.
King studied journalism and sociology as an undergraduate, and she received a Master of Arts degree in business management from Central Michigan University. She received an honorary doctorate from Saint Anselm College. In Salon.com, King explained her honorary degree: "I guess for my stand on the support of marriage, and family, and education, and life."
From 1979 to 1981, King represented the 28th District in the Georgia House of Representatives. The district included Fulton County, and King served as a Democrat. In 1984, King ran for the seat of Georgia's 5th congressional district in the United States House of Representatives and supported the Rev. Jesse Jackson for president. The 5th Congressional seat, at the time of King's campaign was held by Wyche Fowler. Andrew Young, who held the seat prior to Fowler, endorsed Hosea Williams. Hosea Williams was a courageous civil rights hero perhaps best known for organizing and leading the first Selma March. Coretta Scott King did not endorse her niece. Young, who had given up the seat to serve as U.S. Ambassador to the UN, and Williams approached King and asked her to end her campaign for the seat so that she could dedicate more time to her family. Young later apologized for what he called "some blatantly chauvinistic remarks". She did not withdraw. With the black vote split, Fowler defeated both King and Williams in the primary. That was the last time she ran for elective office.
For the 2000 Republican presidential primary, Alveda King endorsed Steve Forbes.
Pro-life activism
King is a pro-life speaker and often speaks on college campuses about abortion issues. She joined the pro-life movement, crusading to offer women alternatives to abortion. Angela D. Dillard classifies King as among "prominent black members of the Religious Right". Alveda King is currently a board member of Georgia Right to Life.
Glenn Beck's "Restoring Honor" rally
On August 28, 2010, King spoke at Glenn Beck's "Restoring Honor" rally at the Lincoln Memorial. Before the rally King explained to the Christian Science Monitor that speaking at the rally was a chance to engage in freedom of speech and to praise the man, Lincoln, that "led this fledgling nation out of slavery, and made my people free." ABC News reported that in King's speech, she hoped that "white privilege will become human privilege and that America will soon repent of the sin of racism and return itself to honor."
Alveda King claims that "Mrs. Coretta Scott King knew that her husband, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., was pro-life", regarding Martin Luther King Jr. winning the Margaret Sanger Award from Planned Parenthood in 1966. In 1994, Alveda King wrote a letter condemning Coretta Scott King's support for abortion and gay rights. According to Fox News, Alveda King has "long argued" that Martin Luther King Jr. was a Republican. In contradiction to King's claim, however, University of Cambridge historian David Garrow stated in a Salon profile of Alveda King regarding Martin Luther King: "King was not only not a Republican, he was well to the left of the Democratic Party of the 1960s [....] It’s also well-documented that Dr. King was a strong supporter of Planned Parenthood."
After civil rights leader Rosa Parks died in 2005, King and Christian commentator Father Frank Pavone claimed that Parks was a symbol of the pro-life movement even though she had served on the Board of Advocates of the Planned Parenthood Federation of America.
Gay rights
King has spoken out against gay rights. At a 1997 rally in Sacramento protesting proposed state legislation to extend civil rights to gays and lesbians, King said: "To equate homosexuality with race is to give a death sentence to civil rights. No one is enslaving homosexuals...or making them sit in the back of the bus."
In a 1998 speech at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill: "Homosexuality cannot be elevated to the civil rights issue. The civil rights movement was born from the Bible. God hates homosexuality." King had been making public appearances throughout 1997 criticizing gay rights.
King is also noted for her opposition to same-sex marriage, and came under criticism for her August, 2010 remarks likening gay marriage to "genocide".
For generations to come: Poetry by Alveda King Beal (as Alveda King Beal) (1986)
The Arab Heart (as Alveda King Beal) (1986)
Sons of Thunder: The King Family Legacy (2003)
I Don't Want Your Man, I Want My Own (2001)
Who We Are In Christ Jesus (2008)
How Can the Dream Survive If We Murder the Children?: ABORTION IS NOT A CIVIL RIGHT! (2008)
She also released a CD called Let Freedom Ring in 2005, and she has appeared in film and television as both Alveda King and Alveda King Beal. The Human Experience, a 2010 documentary film, featured commentary from King.
