Does anyone else find it odd that the King children never married?

[CatWoman]

The oldest, Yolonda, died yesterday - we were the exact same age (51).

Her siblings must be in their 30's - 40's.

I wonder if the trauma of their father's death has something to do with them not marrying?

That may be far fetched, because the same is not true for other children of slain heros.

[supernova]

1. None of them married?

:shrug: That's odd. I wouldn't have thought that.

[CatWoman]

2. nope, none of them

and it appears that Yolonda was the only one who had a "real job".

[supernova]

5. *sheer speculation not worth the pixels*

Makes me wonder


If their Dad's legacy completely overshadowed even their personal lives?

Coretta wouldn't tolerate anybody else in the family circle?

In any event it is very sad. At 51, she was very young to die. :-(

[sheerjoy]

3. mmmmmmmmmmmmmm

maybe they is smarter than the rest of us???? <g>

[juajen]

4. Sad. I had noticed.

Such a shame, as there are no King grandchildren to be proud of their Grandpa and to carry on his legacy.

[malaise]

6. Don't the sons have kids? n/t

[CatWoman]

8. nope

none of them have children.

[Sequoia]

15. She had two children, one is 11 years old.

[CatWoman]

20. this is the first I've heard of this

:shrug:

She is survived by her sister, the Rev. Bernice King; two brothers, Martin Luther King III and Dexter Scott King; and an extended family.


http://www.ajc.com/metro/content/metro/atlanta/stories/2007/05/16/0516king.html

[Sequoia]

22. Maybe I'm confusing her with someone else who just died.

[Virginia Dare]

7. That is a little odd...

they all had quite a burden to bear in life, the keeping of their father's legacy, maybe that consumed all of them? Or perhaps they were so sheltered and protected, they became insular?

[Solly Mack]

9. I always thought it was just that - their father's death

maybe they just never wanted to bring a child into the world that might one day have to see their parent assassinated - or bring a child into the world that would be assassinated - just because of who they were...they didn't want to do to a child what was done to them...Yeah, it's not rational but there was nothing rational about what happened to their father.

It could not have been easy being the children of MLK growing up...they saw so much and then after their father was murdered, the world turned their expectations and hopes on the children..can you imagine that weight?

Whenever I would see MLK's children, I always wondered about the unspoken pain they carried inside them...you could see it on their faces....pain not spoken..but there.

[CatWoman]

10. great post, SM

:hi:

[Solly Mack]

13. Hi CatWoman

We'll never really know - those children learned early how to hide their pain.

[johnnie]

11. You can be married and not have children

Of course, that would be something that could prevent a marriage too.

[Solly Mack]

12. True... and I think maybe it did

CSK was a great woman, no denying that - but let's not kid ourselves, being the spouse of MLK couldn't have been easy either. (being the spouse of any great person for that matter) The constant worry, the constant sacrificing, the constant fear...and then he's murdered.

Maybe their pain prevented them from getting close.

When MLK was murdered people wanted comfort and assurances...and they wanted that comfort from the King family - a symbol of the man. Imagine that...your father, your husband is murdered, and instead of dealing with your own pain, your responsibility was to deal with the pain of others....to give them comfort when you needed it so desperately.

[EFerrari]

14. Marriage is also a rite of passage and maybe they weren't ready

to move forward and away from the moment they still had their father.

[Solly Mack]

18. Frozen in time....yes. The bullet that killed MLK didn't just

stop with him. Other lives were in the balance.

:(

Just so tragic

[shanti]

16. catwoman!!!

you were born on 11/17/55 too? that's also my birthday! :hi:

[CatWoman]

17. nope

11/4/55

:hi:

[Breeze54]

19. I do not find it odd at all.

A lot of children from large families do not marry or have kids.
I think it's more a BB phenomena.

[gauguin57]

21. I believe their parents had a complicated marriage, too.

MLK was a great, great man, but was also very human, and strayed quite a bit. That might have dimmed the kids' view of marriage.

They also may have grown up with such a strong sense of themselves, given them by their parents, that they didn't feel the need for partners in life.

It may have been a mix of factors, such as the trauma of MLK's death and the massive weight of his legacy.

Or they may have just been four people who weren't the "marrying kind."

[Clark2008]

23. That's what I was about to post.

His infidelities (caught on tape because the FBI was spying on him) probably had more to do with their judgment of their father from a personal level than his assassination.