By AFRO Staff
Bernice King, second daughter of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., was chosen as The Southern Christian Leadership Conference's next president. (Courtesy Photo)
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(October 31, 2009) - The Southern Christian Leadership Conference on Oct. 30 chose Bernice King as its next president.
King is the daughter of the group’s founder Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and the first woman to head the SCLC, which led the civil rights movement of the 1960s.
Press listened as SCLC interim President Byron Clay announced the results to King, according to The Associated Press.
“In the spirit of your father, Martin Luther King Jr., we look forward with anticipation to your leadership,” Clay told King.
The SCLC was formed in 1957 by the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., who served as its president until his assassination in 1968. His son, Martin Luther King III, was president from 1998 to 2003.
The SCLC chose King over Wendell Griffen, a former Arkansas judge who would have been the first lawyer and judge to head the organization. Griffen said he wanted to head the organization to continue the SCLC’s history of advocacy.
“I have been blessed throughout my life, because of the work the people have done in the civil rights community,” Griffen told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution before the Oct. 29 vote. “This is my opportunity to pay them back by contributing my experiences and legal training to some of the most important work that has ever been done.”
The 40-member board of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference met behind closed doors on Oct. 29 to select the new president. The board’s ballots were tallied by an outside organization, the AP reported, then sealed and locked. They were opened Oct. 30 to make the announcement of a winner.
The SCLC has 10,000 members and 80 chapters in 17 states across the country. While the organization’s 50-year history is rich with service, in recent years the SCLC has floundered, Atlanta historian Ralph Luker, who co-edited two volumes of King Jr.’s papers, told the Journal-Constitution.
“I am afraid it is still difficult to take it seriously as an important organization,” Luker said. “It has been a long time since the SCLC has had a substantial and sustained record of accomplishment as a civil rights organization.
No date has been announced for Clay to step down and King to take over, according to the AP.