Black True Crime Podcast · iHeartPodcasts

The King Family Tragedies (Episode 212) BONUS

·42 min·2 clips

A man rushed Ebenezer Baptist Church and opened fire during Alberta King’s organ playing.

1. Black True Crime Podcast uses a King family bonus episode to trace Alberta Williams King, Martin Luther King Jr., and A.D. King through church life, activism, and violence. 2. Kayla and Nikki host the episode, and they matter because they narrate the family history, react to the details, and keep the tone conversational. 3. The episode asks what the King family’s losses reveal about Atlanta, Ebenezer Baptist Church, and the pressure around civil-rights leadership. 4. Alberta Williams King was born on September 13, 1903, to A.D. Williams and Ginny Celeste Williams in Atlanta. 5. Her father served as pastor at Ebenezer Baptist Church, helped form the Atlanta NAACP chapter, and left Alberta with a chauffeur during childhood. 6. Alberta attended Spelman Seminary, Hampton Normal and Industrial Institute, and later earned a bachelor’s degree from Morris Brown College in 1938. 7. She married Michael King in 1926 on Thanksgiving Day and later raised Willie Christine, Alfred Daniel, and Michael King Jr. in her parents’ home on Auburn Avenue. 8. After Michael King Sr. became pastor, Alberta became first lady of Ebenezer Baptist Church and founded the Ebenezer Choir. 9. She played the organ at Ebenezer Baptist Church for 40 years and at the National Baptist Convention for 12 years. 10. The hosts note that Alberta also belonged to the NAACP, the YWCA, and the Women’s International League of Peace and Freedom. 11. They quote Martin Luther King Jr. describing Alberta as the “best mother in the world” and crediting her with “motherly cares.” 12. The episode says Michael King Sr. changed his name to Martin Luther King after a trip to Germany and a meeting with a man named Martin Luther. 13. The hosts stress that Martin Luther King Jr. was still called Mike by family members and that his legal name change was not completed until 1957. 14. On April 4, 1968, Martin Luther King Jr. was in Memphis, Tennessee, supporting a sanitation worker strike before being shot once in the neck at the Lorraine Motel. 15. The episode says many people believed his speech at Mason Temple Church foreshadowed his death when he said, “I may not get there with you.” 16. Kayla and Nikki discuss James Earl Ray, a rifle with a scope, his guilty plea in March 1969, and his later claim that he had been framed. 17. They also say the King family suspected a conspiracy, while Alberta continued playing organ at Ebenezer despite her grief. 18. A.D. King’s death on July 21, 1969 is presented as suspicious because he was a strong swimmer, yet he was found floating in his pool and officially ruled drowned. 19. The tone is conversational, memorial-driven, and periodically reactive, with the hosts interrupting each other to question dates, names, and motives. 20. People interested in Black history, civil-rights families, and Atlanta church history will get the most from it, while listeners avoiding violent historical detail may skip it.

As heard by us

A skeptical, conversational review of James Earl Ray's plea, recantation, and the suspicion that Martin's killing involved more than one man.

The episode centers on Martin's killing, the charge against James Earl Ray, and the police account that shaped the case. It tracks the claim that Ray was seen running from the Lorraine Motel with a bundle, that officers said they recovered a scoped rifle with his fingerprints,…

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Why you'd press play

Press play if James Earl Ray's guilty plea, recanted confession, and conspiracy claim leave you wanting the official story tugged at from the edges.

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