Farris participated in historic events of the civil rights
movement, including the 1965 march from Selma to Montgomery,
Alabama, and the "March Against Fear" in Mississippi in 1966.
"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," U.S.
President Joe Biden said in a written statement. "Jill and I are
saddened to learn of her peaceful passing today in Atlanta."
Martin Luther King Jr was assassinated in Memphis, Tennessee, in
1968 by avowed segregationist James Earl Ray. That year, Farris
and his widow Coretta Scott King formed the King Center.
Farris joined a delegation to Washington in 2011 when Martin
Luther King Jr's monument was erected on the National Mall and
was present for the 2017 unveiling of a statue of her brother at
the state Capitol.
Willie Christine King was born on September 11, 1927, in
Atlanta. She earned a bachelor's degree in economics from
Spelman College in 1948 and later attended New York's Columbia
University, where she earned two master's degrees in education.
She went on to become an educator, and director of the Learning
Resources Center at Spelman until her retirement in 2014.
She was married to Isaac Newton Farris Sr for 57 years until his
death in 2017. The couple had two children, Isaac Newton Farris
Jr and Angela Farris Watkins.
In 2003, she published a memoir on her childhood and upbringing
with her brother.
(Reporting by Kanishka Singh in Washington, additional reporting
by Dan Whitcomb in Los Angeles; Editing by Rosalba O'Brien and
Michael Perry)
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