Christine King Farris, Martin Luther King Jr.’s sister and civil rights activist, dies at 95

ATLANTA (WANF/Gray News) - Dr. Christine King Farris, the eldest sister of Martin Luther King Jr., died Thursday morning. She was 95.

The King Center posted a statement to social media announcing her death and mourning her loss. Farris stood alongside her brother during the Civil Rights Movement and was an esteemed educator and author who made a big impact at Spelman College, her alma mater.

“She taught students to be teachers, to be educators,” her son Isaac Newton Farris Jr. previously said.

Martin Luther King III said in a statement that his family is mourning the loss of the woman who “spent her life fighting for equality and against racism in America.”

“She defied the odds that held back too many marginalized communities – going on to become a civil rights leader and acclaimed author,” King III wrote. “No stranger to adversity, Aunt Christine used the tragedies of the assassinations of her mother and brother to fight for change in America.”

Bernice King shared a photo of her and her aunt on social media saying “I love you and will miss you, Aunt Christine.”

Willie Christine King was born Sept. 11, 1927, the first child of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Sr., and Alberta Williams King and the sister of King Jr. and the Rev. Alfred Daniel Williams King.

Following the footsteps of her mother and grandmother, she attended Spelman College, earning a bachelor’s degree in economics in 1948. Two years later, she earned a master’s degree in the social foundations of education from Columbia University and a second master’s degree in special education in 1958.

She began her teaching career in the Atlanta Public Schools System at W.H. Crogman Elementary School. After serving eight years, she returned to her alma mater, Spelman, and became one of Spelman College’s longest-serving tenured professors, from 1958 to 2014.

During her tenure, she was also appointed as an adjunct professor at Morehouse College and Atlanta University. On August 19, 1960, she married Isaac Newton Farris, Sr. He died on Dec. 30, 2017.

Farris worked to help build The King Center, founded by her sister-in-law, Coretta Scott King, in June 1968. As a founding board member and long-time volunteer, she served as vice president, treasurer, and chief financial officer; later becoming senior vice president and ultimately vice chair and treasurer. She also wrote the first intermediate-level textbook on her brother, and served as the first director of The Martin Luther King Jr. Early Learning Center.

She chaired the planning committees for The King Center’s Salute to Greatness Dinner and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Ecumenical Service, which later became The Martin Luther King, Jr, Commemorative Service held in honor of her brother’s birthday and national holiday.

Farris received numerous awards and commendations including Spelman’s first Fannie Lou Hamer Outstanding Community Service Award, the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People Image Award for Outstanding Literary Work, the International Reading Association Teachers’ Choice Award, The Southern Christian Leadership Conference Septima Clark Award, and the Hyatt Hotels Heritage Community Service Award.

The Christine King Farris Legacy Foundation was established in 2022 to honor her 95th birthday. The foundation raises funds to support Leadership Development and the Christine King Farris Scholarship at Spelman College.

Farris is survived by her children Isaac Newton Farris, Jr. and Dr. Angela Farris Watkins and her granddaughter, Farris Christine Watkins. The family will announce funeral arrangements at a later date.

King Farris was the longest-serving member of the historic Ebenezer Baptist Church, where she was a trustee and where her grandfather, Rev. Adam Daniel Williams, father, and brothers all served as senior pastors and co-pastors, respectively. King Farris became one of Ebenezer’s soloists, as Ebenezer was one of the first Atlanta churches to televise worship services in the 1970s. She also served as one of the producers of the televised service.