By: Jordan Meadows | Staff Writer
The story of Martin Luther King Jr. is widely known, but the influences of the pioneers who came before him are still unfamiliar to many. The spirit of justice and activism that King Jr. embodied was not something he created on his own; it was passed down to him through generations of religious and civic leaders in his own family.
MLK Jr.’s maternal side traces back to Willis Williams, his great-grandfather, who was born into slavery on the Williams Plantation in Greene County, Georgia. Born in 1810, Willis was an “old slavery-time preacher” and an “exhorter.” Though he could not actively preach due to his status as a slave, his religious devotion played a role in shaping the family’s enduring religious identity.
In 1846, Willis joined Shiloh Baptist Church, a small yet active congregation that included Black and white members. By the 1850s, Willis had married Lucrecia Daniel, and together, they had five children, including A.D. Williams, King Jr.’s grandfather. The Williams family faced significant challenges following the Civil War, particularly when Shiloh Baptist Church split along racial lines.
A.D. Williams, together with his wife Jennie Celeste Parks, left a significant imprint on the Black community in Georgia. Jennie, born in 1873, was one of thirteen children and had a strong educational thirst. As a deeply religious woman, she became a key figure in Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta. There, she helped transform a struggling congregation into one of the most prominent Black churches in the city.
Jennie was affectionately known as “Mama” by her grandchildren, including Martin Luther King Jr., and she had a profound influence on his upbringing. King Jr. recalled her as a source of love, guidance, and inspiration, and acknowledged her considerable impact on his childhood: “She was very dear to each of us, but especially to me… I sometimes think that I was [her] favorite grandchild. I can remember very vividly how she spent many evenings telling us interesting stories.”
King Jr.’s paternal side is where things get interesting: his paternal great-grandfather, Nathan King, is tied to an unexpected connection to Irish heritage. Though we do not know much about the first King on record, DNA testing in 2010 confirmed the family’s Y-chromosome lineage from Ireland. This unexpected link adds another layer to the complex identity of the King family.
King Jr.’s other paternal great-grandfather, Jim Long, was born in 1842 and had been forced into breeding slaves, and fathering children with multiple women. After the Civil War, Long maintained at least two families in Henry County, Georgia, where he became politically active during Reconstruction— registering to vote and contributing to the fight for Black rights.
Long’s daughter, Delia, married James Albert King, Nathan’s son, in 1895. Together, they had nine children, including Michael King, who would later become Martin Luther King Jr.
Martin Luther King Sr.’s upbringing was one of poverty and hardship. His father worked as a sharecropper, and the family struggled to make ends meet. King Sr. faced the harsh realities of racial discrimination, which compounded his frustration with the inequities in the system.
Despite his initial cynicism, King Sr. found his calling in religion and became a respected leader within his community, despite his father’s dissent. In 1934, King Sr. changed his name and that of his eldest son from Michael King to Martin Luther King, inspired by a visit to Germany and a newfound admiration for the Protestant Reformation leader, Martin Luther.
King Sr. played a significant part in the civil rights movement in Georgia. He worked as the head of the NAACP chapter in Atlanta, and he was actively involved in the Civic and Political League. King was also known for his strong stance on the treatment of African Americans, particularly refusing to ride on the city’s buses in the 1920s after a violent attack on Black passengers went unpunished.
Despite their theological differences, the father-son duo later served together as joint pastors at Ebenezer Baptist Church. King Sr. was instrumental in shaping King Jr.’s activism, encouraging him to respect his ancestors’ struggles and pursue a future of equality and justice. King Sr. even encouraged King Jr. to work in the fields to better understand the hardships faced by Black families, including those in his family history.
In 1960, when King Jr. was arrested at a peaceful sit-in in Atlanta, Robert F. Kennedy telephoned the judge and helped secure his release. Although King Sr. had previously opposed John Kennedy because he was a Catholic, he expressed his appreciation for these calls and switched his support to Kennedy. Until this time, King Sr. had been a lifelong registered Republican and had endorsed Republican Richard Nixon before switching to endorse Kennedy.
King Jr.’s mother was also quite influential in his life’s work. Alberta Williams King was born in Atlanta in 1903, the only surviving child of Jennie Celeste Williams and Adam Daniel Williams, pastor of Atlanta’s Ebenezer Baptist Church. King often spoke of the positive influence his mother had on his moral development, deeming her “the best mother in the world” and “behind the scene setting forth those motherly cares, the lack of which leaves a missing link in life.”
Martin Luther King Jr.’s familial history, rooted in the painful experiences of slavery, the endurance of struggle, and the pursuit of justice, represents generations of resilience and faith that led to his rise as a leader. His family’s legacy of activism and religious devotion laid the foundation for the man who would go on to inspire millions – and eventually billions– through his dream of a more just and equitable society.
