Christine King Farris: Last surviving sibling of Martin Luther King Jr., dies at 95

Willie Christine King Farris was an American teacher and civil rights activist, the eldest sibling of Martin Luther King Jr. She taught at Spelman College and is the author of several books, and was a public speaker on various topics, including the King family, multicultural education, and teaching.

Christine King Farris: The last surviving sibling of Martin Luther King Jr., dies at 95

Christine King Farris, the last living sibling of Martin Luther King Jr, has died. Her niece, Reverand Bernice King, tweeted that her “beloved aunt” had died on Thursday. She was 95.

For decades after her brother’s assassination in 1968, Farris worked along with his widow, Coretta Scott King, to preserve and promote his legacy. But unlike her high-profile sister-in-law, Farris’ activism – and grief – was often behind the scenes.

“She may not have always been on the line of the march, but that was true with a lot of the heroes of the civil rights movement,” Marcellus Barksdale, a history professor at Morehouse College, said of Farris in a 2009 interview. “Because of the luminescence of Dr. King and Coretta Scott King, Christine kind of got dimmed by that, but she was no less important.”