Christine King Farris, the sister to Martin Luther King Jr. has died, according to an announcement provided by her family. She was 95.
“As the eldest sibling of my father, Martin Luther King, Jr., Aunt Christine embodied what it meant to be a public servant,” Martin Luther King III wrote on Twitter. “Like my dad, she spent her life fighting for equality and against racism in America.”
According to Farris’ family, she died Thursday morning.
Farris has long been known for her staunch advocacy in advancing the mission of her brother, most notably, as the founding board member of the nonprofit that Coretta Scott King launched at the height of the Civil Rights Movement.
Shortly after Scott King’s husband was assassinated, she served in numerous roles at the King Center, a social enterprise dedicated to research, education and training in the principles, philosophy and methods of nonviolence.
“I love you and will miss you, Aunt Christine,” Bernice King, Martin Luther King Jr.’s daughter and the King Center’s CEO, wrote on Twitter.
President Joe Biden also weighed in on Farris’ death, stating that “she lived as an example of America’s promise.”
“Shaping the history of the journey of America in the 20th and 21st centuries, she stood for peace, freedom, and justice—virtues that reflect the best of our nation,” President Biden said.
Born Willie Christine King on Sept. 11, 1927, Farris was the firstborn of Martin Luther King Sr. and Alberta Williams King. Her brothers Martin and Alfred Daniel King were born in 1929 and 1930 respectively.
According to the Martin Luther King Jr. Research and Education Institute at Stanford University, Farris was the motivation for a noteworthy moment in the civil rights leader’s life.
In an essay, Dr. King penned a heartfelt tribute about an evangelist who spoke at their Sunday School and invited children to become members of the church.
“My sister was the first one to join the church that morning, and after seeing her join I decided that I would not let her get ahead of me, so I was the next,” King wrote. “I had never given this matter a thought, and even at the time of {my} baptism I was unaware of what was taking place. From this it seems quite clear that I joined the church not out of any dynamic conviction, but out of a childhood desire to keep up with my sister.”
