Martin Luther King, Jr. and Children

Object Details

Artist: Benedict J. Fernandez, 29 Apr 1936 - 31 Jan 2021
Sitter: Martin Luther King, Jr., 15 Jan 1929 - 4 Apr 1968; Yolanda Denise King, 17 Nov 1955 - 15 May 2007; Bernice Albertine King, born 1963; Martin Luther King, III, born 1957

Exhibition Label: On April 4, 1968, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was killed by an assassin's bullet in Memphis, Tennessee, where he had gone to organize a march in support that city's striking sanitation workers. The murder that deprived the nation and the world of an unparalleled champion for civil rights also deprived King's four children of a beloved father. When King lay in state in Atlanta at Sisters Chapel, Spelman College, thousands of mourners paid their respects as they passed his open casket. Photographer Benedict Fernandez was there to record the moment when five-year-old Bernice King, flanked by her older sister Yolanda and brother Martin Luther King III, first caught sight of her father's body. Bernice's shocked expression serves as a reminder that while King's death was a loss for the world, it was deeply personal tragedy for his young family.

Credit Line: National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution; gift of Eastman Kodak Professional Photography Division, the Engl Trust, and Benedict J. Fernandez

1968 (printed 1989)

Medium: Gelatin silver print
Dimensions: Image: 31 x 20.7 cm (12 3/16 x 8 1/8"); Sheet: 35.8 x 27.9 cm (14 1/8 x 11"); Mount: 45.6 x 35.5 cm (17 15/16 x 14"); Mat: 55.9 x 40.6 cm (22 x 16")

National Portrait Gallery

Topic: Nature & Environment\Plant\Flower\Bouquet; Interior\Church; Funereal\Coffin; Yolanda Denise King: Female; Yolanda Denise King: Literature\Writer; Yolanda Denise King: Performing Arts\Performer\Actor; Yolanda Denise King: Society and Social Change\Reformer\Activist\Civil rights activist; Yolanda Denise King: Literature\Writer\Playwright; Bernice Albertine King: Female; Martin Luther King, III: Male; Martin Luther King, Jr.: Male; Martin Luther King, Jr.: Society and Social Change\Reformer\Activist\Civil rights activist\Civil rights leader; Martin Luther King, Jr.: Religion and Spirituality\Clergy\Minister; Martin Luther King, Jr.: Nobel Prize; Martin Luther King, Jr.: Presidential Medal of Freedom; Martin Luther King, Jr.: Congressional Gold Medal; Portrait

GUID (Link to Original Record): http://n2t.net/ark:/65665/sm42f4f6409-883f-480f-b309-bdf2652a0668