Martin Luther King Jr. was a Younger and Older Brother!

I don’t think I have to tell you who Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. is or his legacy. I’m also sure I don’t have to tell you what today is. But, did you know Martin Luther King Jr. was a little brother and a big brother? He had an older sister Christine King Farris and a younger brother Alfred Daniel "A.D." King. Much like Little Brother and Big Brother in Oh Brother, Little Brother, I’m sure King experienced the best of both worlds as both a younger and older brother. In Martin Luther King Jr.’s autobiography he recounts a memory he had with his older sister when they were younger:

“I joined the church at the age of five. I well remember how this event occurred. Our church was in the midst of the spring revival, and a guest evangelist had come down from Virginia. On Sunday morning the evangelist came into our Sunday school to talk to us about salvation, and after a short talk on this point, he extended an invitation to any of us who wanted to join the church. My sister was the first one to join the church that morning, and after seeing her join I decided that I would not let her get ahead of me, so I was the next. I had never given this matter a thought, and even at the time of my baptism, I was unaware of what was taking place. From this, it seems quite clear that I joined the church not out of any dynamic conviction, but out of a childhood desire to keep up with my sister.”

It's funny to know the sibling dynamic is somewhat universal and that even the great Dr. King followed behind his big sister when they were younger. His sister Christine King Farris wrote a picture about her very famous brother called, My Brother Martin: A Sister Remembers Growing Up with the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. (by Christine King Farris Illustrated by Chris Soentpiet) that I think would be fun to share with siblings when talking about Martin Luther King Jr. this month.