MLK's niece to speak at 2018 Lincoln Day dinner

Alveda C. King, the niece of late civil-rights activist the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., will speak at the annual Lincoln Day dinner April 6 in Cape Girardeau.

The Cape Girardeau County Republican Women’s Club, which hosts the event, announced the keynote speaker in a news release.

The 49th annual Lincoln Day Dinner & Celebration will be at the Arena Building.

Lori Trump, who chairs the Lincoln Day celebration and is no relation to President Donald Trump, said King is “a figure of unity” at a time when our nation is politically divided.

Adrienne Ross, an author, editor, columnist and speaker, will serve as emcee. The theme of the dinner will be “America: Return to God.”

“We are just so excited,” Trump said of the featured speaker.

King is a civil-rights advocate with a “conservative bent,” Trump said.

“There just seems to be a lot of interest in her coming,” she said.

Tickets have not gone on sale. More details will be announced later, Trump said.

King, the daughter of the late civil-rights activist the Rev. A.D. King, grew up in the civil-rights movement led by her uncle.

Her family home in Birmingham, Alabama, was bombed, as was her father’s church office in Louisville, Kentucky, during the struggle for civil rights.

She also was jailed during a civil-rights campaign against housing policies that restricted where black people could live.

King, who lives in Atlanta, is active in the anti-abortion movement, which she sees as a continuation of the struggle for civil rights, according to the news release.

King, an evangelist, directs African-American outreach for Priests for Life and has a leadership role with other groups, including Civil Rights for the Unborn and Gospel of Life Ministries.

A former college professor, she served in the Georgia House of Representatives.

She also is a songwriter and best-selling author.

In 2011, King received the Civil Rights Award from the Congress of Racial Equality and the Cardinal John O’Connor Pro-Life Hall of Fame Award.

mbliss@semissourian.com

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