The memorial service marking the life and passing of Dexter Scott King will be held, fittingly, at the place his family has called their spiritual home for more than a century.
Ebenezer Baptist Church will host what they are calling a “candlelight musical experience,” to honor King, who died Jan. 22 .
The service will be held on Feb. 10 at 6:30 p.m. The King family announced that the event will be open to the public and livestreamed through The King Center.
Update: The service will be broadcast on Fox 5 Atlanta in addition to the livestream.
If the video does not appear below, watch via this YouTube link.
Credit: Reann Huber
Credit: Reann Huber
The third of Coretta and Martin Luther King Jr.’s four children, Dexter Scott King was 62 years old when he died in his California home after a three-year battle with prostate cancer.
His youngest sister, Bernice King, said his body was also cremated “by his wishes.”
Although he retreated into the background over the last decade, at one time Dexter King was the highest-profile King heir, serving as both chairman of The King Center’s board of trustees and CEO of the King Estate.
At the King Estate, Dexter King navigated — sometimes amid controversy — the course of his father’s legacy, controlling his intellectual property and likeness.
It was quite a legacy, often tied to Ebenezer.
Founded in 1886 and located on Atlanta’s historic Auburn Avenue, Ebenezer, is one of the oldest and most important Black churches in America. And almost for as long as it has been in existence, King’s family has been deeply involved in its development and growth.
King’s maternal great-grandfather, the Rev. Adam D. Williams, became pastor in 1894 and saw the church experience its first significant growth. After moving to several locations in downtown Atlanta, Williams settled on the plot of land on Auburn Avenue and built the brick Late Gothic Revival-style church, which was completed in 1922.
King’s grandfather, Martin Luther King Sr., who would marry Williams’ daughter, Alberta, became the pastor in 1931 and immediately began campaigning for voting rights in Atlanta.
King’s father, Martin Luther King Jr. was baptized there at 5. He preached his first sermon there at 17 and his last one, “Drum Major Instinct,” on Feb. 4, 1968, exactly two months before he was assassinated in Memphis. That last sermon would also serve as his eulogy. His family played it at his funeral.
Credit: File photo
Credit: File photo
A member of the King family was pastor of the church for 81 years, from the day that Williams took the helm in 1894 to King Sr.’s retirement in 1975, a year after his wife was murdered in the church while playing “The Lord’s Prayer.”
King Jr. served as co-pastor of the church from 1960 until his death in 1968.
In 1999, the congregation, then led by the Rev. Joseph Roberts, moved 75 yards across the street to what is known as the Horizon Sanctuary.
The old church, with its iconic blue sign, has been completely renovated to look as it did in 1968, and it has since been incorporated into the National Historical Site and operated by the National Park Service.
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