Christine King Farris, the older sister of Martin Luther King Jr., and an esteemed educator and civil rights activist in her own right, died Thursday at age 95, the King Center announced.
"The King Center joins the King and Farris families, Civil Rights activists, the historic Ebenezer Baptist Church family, academic family, and people of goodwill worldwide in celebrating the life of our servant leader, founding board member, former Vice-Chair & Treasurer, activist educator, and family matriarch, the beloved Dr. Christine King Farris," the center posted on social media.
King Farris died peacefully and surrounded by family in Atlanta, FOX5 Atlanta reported. No further details were immediately provided.
King Farris leaves behind a legacy of education and civil rights activism, having helped King Jr.’s widow, Coretta Scott King, in establishing the King Center following her brother's assassination.
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In 1944, a 16-year-old King Farris followed in the footsteps of her mother, grandmother, and great-aunt by enrolling in Spelman College, a historically Black, women's liberal arts college in Atlanta.
She received a Bachelor's degree in economics and went on to earn a Master’s degree in Social Foundations of Education in 1950 at New York’s Columbia University after being unable to attend the University of Georgia because Black students weren’t admitted at the time.
King Farris received a second Master’s degree in special education and taught elementary school before returning to Spelman as an educator and director of the Learning Resources Center until her retirement in 2014 after 56 years.
According to a Spelman profile, Farris King described her and two younger brothers, Martin and Alfred, as "three peas in a pod."
King Farris played an active part in nonviolent demonstrations during the Civil Rights Movement, including the Selma to Montgomery March for Voting Rights in 1965 and the March Against Fear in Mississippi in 1966.
In 2003, she authored a children's book about her and her brother, titled "My Brother Martin: A Sister Remembers Growing Up with the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr."
Farris was married to Isaac Newton Farris Sr. for 57 years before his passing. They shared two children, Isaac Farris Jr. and Dr. Angela Farris-Watkins.
