PHOTOS: Martin Luther King Jr.’s Family Life

Courtney Kueppers •
Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., seen with his wife, Coretta, is at a Harlem hospital in New York City during a news conference on Sept. 30, 1958.
Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., seen with his wife, Coretta, is at a Harlem hospital in New York City during a news conference on Sept. 30, 1958.
Credit AP Photo
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    Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., seen with his wife, Coretta, is at a Harlem hospital in New York City during a news conference on Sept. 30, 1958.

    AP PHOTO / PBA
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    The Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. waves to the nearly 500 people waiting outside Harlem hospital in New York City on Oct. 3, 1958.

    AP PHOTO / PBA
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    Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. arrives in Atlanta from Reedsville Prison in Oct. 1960. He is greeted by his wife, Coretta Scott King, and his children. Others are unidentified.

    AP PHOTO / PBA
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    Dr. Martin Luther King is given a welcome home kiss by his wife Coretta, upon his return to Atlanta following his release from Reidsville State Prison on bond, on October 27, 1960. King’s children, Yolanda, 5, and Martin Luther III, 3, join the welcome celebration.

    AP PHOTO / PBA
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    The Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. is accompanied by his wife, Coretta Scott King, as he appears at a press conference on the occasion of the release of his book “Why We Can’t Wait,” in New York , on June 8, 1964.

    AP PHOTO / PBA
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    Dr. Martin Luther King and his wife Coretta discuss his condition with newsmen at his downtown hotel room in Jackson, Mississippi on August 12, 1966. King, who was there for the annual meeting of his Southern Christian Leadership Conference, missed key activities because of a virus ailment.

    AP PHOTO / PBA
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    Civil rights leader Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and his wife Coretta are shown renovating a building in Chicago, Feb. 24, 1966.

    HARRY L. HALL / Associated Press
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    Rev. Martin Luther King with his wife Coretta participate in march from Montgomery, Ala., to the state capitol on March 19, 1965.

    AP PHOTO / PBA
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    Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., president of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, chats with his wife, Coretta, left, and civil rights champion Constance Baker Motley before the start of an S.C.L.C. banquet August 9, 1965, in Birmingham, Ala.

    AP PHOTO / PBA
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    Singer Harry Belafonte escorts Mrs. Coretta King , and three of her children to his private plane in Atlanta April 8, 1968. The children are, from left, Dexter, Martin III and Yolanda. Rest of people are unidentified.

    AP PHOTO / PBA
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    Family members and friends of the assassinated civil rights leader Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., follow his casket into an Atlanta funeral home after the body arrived from Memphis, on April 5, 1968. From left are: King’s brother, the Rev. A.D. Williams King; Dr. Ralph Abernathy, King’s close associate and new head of the SCLC, Coretta Scott King and her two sons, Martin Luther III, 10, and Dexter, 7.

    BILL HUDSON / Associated Press
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    Coretta Scott King, widow of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., with two of her children sit in front of her husband’s casket during funeral services at Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta, April 9, 1968. At left is daughter Yolanda, at center is Bernice King. Others unidentified.

    AP PHOTO / PBA
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    Mrs. Alberta King Sr., mother of Martin Luther King.

    AP PHOTO / PBA
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    The Rev. Martin Luther King Sr., and Coretta Scott King, right, stand outside the house in Atlanta, Ga. where the civil right leader was born. This is a 1984 photo.

    AP PHOTO / PBA
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    Then President Jimmy Carter stands with Coretta Scott King and Dr. King’s father, Martin Luther King, Sr., as he visited Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta, in this Sept. 16, 1980 file photo. At right in background is Atlanta Mayor Maynard Jackson.

    CHARLES TASNADI / Associated Press
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    King family members following their mother Coretta Scott King’s funeral ceremony at the New Birth Missionary Baptist Church in Lithonia, Ga. Tuesday, Feb. 7, 2006. From left: Rev. Bernice King, Dexter Scott King, Yolanda King and Martin King III.

    RIC FELD / Associated Press
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    In this file photo taken Nov. 20, 2006 the children of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. and Coretta Scott King from left, Martin Luther King III, Dexter King, the late Yolanda King and Bernice King stand next to a new crypt dedicated to their parents in Atlanta.

    W.A. HAREWOOD / Associated Press
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Martin Luther King Jr. was born Jan. 15, 1929 as the child of Martin Luther King, Sr. and Alberta Williams King, according to the King Center.

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In 1953, King married Coretta Scott at her family’s home in Marion, Alabama. King, Sr. performed the ceremony, according to the King Center.

The couple had four children together: Yolanda, Martin Luther III, Dexter and Bernice. Yolanda died in 2007.

The Rev. Bernice A. King is now the chief executive officer of the King Center, which Coretta Scott King founded after her husband’s assassination.

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