Original subtitles

Downloaded from YTS.MX

Welcome to "Unsolved History."

Official YIFY movies site: YTS.MX

On the doorstep of MLK 50,

we are taking a look back at the deaths

of Martin Luther King Jr.

and his brother Alfred Daniel King.

While the life of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

is well documented,

a spiritual leader and public negotiator

for the 1960s civil rights movement,

little is known about his brother AD King,

who apparently, depressed with grief,

drank himself to death and drowned in his own swimming pool,

or at least that's the story we've come to know.

Was his death an accident or murder? I'm Ed Gordon.

We'll tackle that question on this edition

of "Unsolved History: Life of a King."

On January 6th, 2018,

the family gathered for the burial

of Isaac Newton Farris Sr.,

founding member of the King Center

and the brother-in-law of Martin Luther King Jr.

and Alfred Daniel King.

My mother's generation in her family was robbed.

You all know 1968, Uncle ML's assassination.

One year later, not as well known, her other brother,

Uncle AD, was taken from us, and he was taken from us.

We don't talk about it much, but he was taken from us.

Moments Following the funeral,

we were able to sit down with AD's oldest daughter,

Alveda King, who is still haunted by her father's death.

So we kind of expected that they could go at any time,

and I believe Daddy and Uncle ML knew that.

Like anybody, I would like to live a long life.

Longevity has its place,

but I'm not concerned about that now.

I just wanna do God's will.

And he's allowed me to go up to the mountain,

and I've looked over, and I've seen the Promised Land.

I may not get there with you,

but I want you to know the night

that we as will get to the Promised Land!

In 2018 and moving forward into the next decades

and generations for the young people, truth has to be told,

and as painful as truth can be, when we have the answers,

then we know how to move forward.

From a young age,

the King brothers were groomed for ministry and leadership

by their father, Martin Luther King Sr.,

and their grandfather Alfred Daniel Williams,

who AD was named after.

Growing up, the two brothers were always side by side,

even in Memphis on April 4th, 1968,

the day of Martin Luther King Jr.'s assassination.

The last afternoon before Dr. King was killed,

he and AD were having a fish luncheon together.

So we were all clowning and playing around,

and it was one of the happiest times in the movement for me

because they started beating me up with a pillow,

and I made the mistake of throwing the pillow back at 'em,

and then everybody just got the pillows

and piled on top of me in between the two beds

in the Lorraine Motel.

But it was just a fun time.

And then somebody knocked on the door and said,

"You know, you all are due for dinner at six o'clock,"

and Martin went upstairs to put on his shirt

and tie to go to dinner,

and next thing we knew, a shot was ringing out.

Reverend AD was in the room directly

below Martin Luther King, Jr. when the fatal shot went off.

My husband was there, right there in Memphis, Tennessee,

right there right by his side as he always was.

He was right there near his side, and the next day,

you had all of these figures was mentioned.

Everybody there was there but him.

Now, why, you know?

How could you overlook his brother, his only brother?

How could you call everybody else's name, everybody,

and overlook his only brother?

That is very painful to me, and I would imagine this,

you know, was very painful for him.

In the spring of 1965, at that time,

at a meeting of the executive board in Baltimore, Maryland,

Dr. King and the members of the board unanimously agreed

that in the event of Dr. King's death,

Dr. Abernathy would become the president.

There was speculation that AD

might become president of the SCLC.

However, AD made no attempts to assume the role,

instead focusing on finding the truth

about the assassination of his brother.

Have you gentleman had any progress report

or any late information on the search for the assassin?

No, nothing more than what we have read in the papers.

AD was determined to get to the bottom

of who killed his brother.

He knew more than perhaps he should've known

about his brother's death and was determined

to try to keep the issue alive,

and maybe he was simply too close

to the target and he was too much online.

July 21st, 1969,

Alfred Daniel King would be discovered dead

in his own swimming pool.

His daughter Alveda remembers seeing him the night before.

When I came home,

my young husband and I had been out to dinner,

and we walked up on the porch, and, at that time,

the windows were open, the screens were there,

but the windows were up to let the breeze in.

And I heard my father on the phone, and he says,

"I don't care what you say, you killed my brother,

and I'm not gonna rest until that is proven."

So we went on into the house and I said,

"Daddy, what was that?

Who was that?"

"Oh baby, don't worry about it. We'll talk again later."

And that was the last conversation I had with my dad.

With Martin's assassination

rocking the civil rights movement to its core,

many did not accept the lone gunman theory,

and no one was more interested in discovering the truth

than Martin's brother AD.

Now, 50 years later, we will reexamine the journey

of these two brothers and the mysterious death of AD King.

Was it an unfortunate accident

or a murder intended to obstruct justice?

More "Unsolved History: Life of a King" when we return.

He said, "They tried to choke me to death

in that jail with my neck tie."

I said, "Oh, ML," I said,

"I'm so glad that they did not choke you to death,"

I said, "because we'd have so great loss."

Welcome back to "Unsolved History: Life of a King."

When we left our story, it was 1968,

just after Martin Luther King Jr.

was assassinated in Memphis.

But what led to that faithful moment started long

before the trip to Tennessee,

long before the nation knew the King name.

Martin and Alfred were born into a family with a legacy

of leadership in the advancement of colored people.

January 15th, 1929,

Martin Luther King Jr. is born in Atlanta, Georgia.

Just one year later, July 30th, 1930,

his brother Alfred Daniel Williams King is born.

The two boys spent their early years

in the now historic family home at 501 Auburn Avenue

with their oldest sister, Christine.

Well, we had the rather normal childhood

like sisters and brothers.

We stayed together, played together,

got into trouble together.

AD and I met in junior high at David T. Howard.

He probably was recognized more.

His daddy was a very famous minister,

you know, at that time.

We just do what, you know,

teenage kids would do at that age.

Well, we used to like the girl, used to run at the girl.

So we met at the YWCA party when we was like 12 and 13.

Now I think it was 1947 when my mom and I joined the church.

So at that time, we sort of, you know,

developed a serious relationship, and we became,

you know, like serious girlfriend and boyfriend.

February 25th, 1948,

Martin is ordained at Ebenezer Baptist Church just

before graduating from Morehouse College.

Meanwhile, AD, still attending Morehouse,

discovers his longtime girlfriend, Naomi Barber,

is pregnant with their first child.

So we went and had a talk with Daddy King.

He said, "There will be no abortion.

There won't be none of that."

He said, "I know you in school.

It is your first year in college, and AD is in college,"

he said, "but it won't be none of that."

He said, "We gonna have this baby."

Naomi and AD would marry on June 17th, 1950,

and their daughter was born just seven months later,

the first of five children. I was the oldest of five,

the first born in my generation,

and so Daddy, he was a great father.

He was just a great dad and very protective,

a wonderful provider. September 1st, 1954,

Martin Luther King Jr. and Coretta Scott King marry

and move to Montgomery, Alabama,

just one year before the historic Montgomery bus boycott.

To me, it happened so fast when the movement started.

I can remember when it started in '55.

AD and the family visited Martin

after he was arrested in Montgomery.

And he said, "You know what?" I said, "What?"

You know what he said?

"They tried to choke me to death with my neck tie."

I said, "What'd you say?"

He said, "They tried to choke me to death

in that jail with my neck tie."

I said, "Oh, ML," I said,

"I'm so glad that they did not choke you to death,"

I said, "because we'd have such a great loss.

You know, I just don't even wanna think about that."

So I think, in that moment,

that's when I begin to have my first thoughts

about civil rights movement and where we go.

In 1959, AD graduates from Morehouse College

and finally embraces the ministry and the movement,

even knowing the danger involved.

The student movement here in Atlanta

was well integrated with SCLC,

probably more so than anywhere else in the country.

But AD was the lead of the group, and there were five of us.

I think all everybody was student except AD,

but one of the rules, of course,

is that you don't never take any weapons with you.

So when we were arrested, he said, "Get rid of everything,"

and I did not get rid of my little knife

that I used to sharpen pencils.

So when we got to the prison and they searched us

and they found this little knife, they said,

"Okay, we gonna put you in the hole."

The hole was that place where they put the worst prisoners,

and it was AD, strangely enough,

who had advised us not to have anything on us.

He's the one that really pleaded with them not

to put me in the hole, and they listened and they didn't,

so I ended up going in with everybody else.

So that was my first memorable experience with AD.

For years, AD worked in his brother's shadow

as an organizer and a detail man.

AD King had as much commitment,

maybe even more commitment than his brother Martin.

He was willing to work with us on the committee.

He was very actively involved. He was at ITC at the time.

He was on the first sit-in. He was there on the committee.

He participated, worked hard, picketed, you name it.

By 1963, AD was living in Birmingham,

pastoring the First Street Baptist Church in Ensley,

putting him center stage for the biggest battle

in the civil rights movement thus far, Project C.

He was one of about four preachers that,

along with Fred Shuttlesworth,

invited us to come into Birmingham.

Out of 400 churches,

there were only about 14 churches that would let us meet,

and his church was one of them.

Ensley also produced a lot of the high school students

that ended up creating the movement that changed America.

With Martin's previous success in Montgomery

with the bus boycott, joining forces with his brother AD

for Project C in Birmingham could prove

to be a powerful recipe for a big national change,

a change that much of the country

would not be prepared to face,

turning the small city of Birmingham

to the crime-riddled town of Bombingham.

More "Unsolved History: Life of a King" when we return.

He said, "Naomi, it's too quiet here.

Something is not right."

And he picked up and started running through the house.

"Get out, get out, it's a bomb."

And when we looked back,

the whole front of the house was gone.

Welcome back to "Unsolved History: Life of a King."

It's now spring of 1963.

Martin and the leadership of the SCLC knew a victory

in Birmingham could bring a much needed jolt

for the civil rights movement.

They would call the plan Project C, C for confrontation.

AD King, he was one of about four preachers that,

along with Fred Shuttlesworth,

invited us to come into Birmingham.

He went to jail in Birmingham with his brother.

Seeing AD as one of the leaders in the movement

by being the brother of my Luther King Jr.

but really being his own.

It would begin on April 3rd, 1963.

It would build in waves.

First a boycott of downtown businesses,

then waves of sit-ins at white-only establishments

to fill the jails, and finally,

non-violent protest marches on a daily basis.

And it was AD's members

who basically came the height of the movement there

in Birmingham because he was able

to get there and give leadership.

It was great.

I served here under him as the finance chairman,

and then I served as the youth director.

He would get me to stay in the house

inside while the others guys guard the house,

but that was in case if something happened,

I would be able to help get them out, you know.

My main role was bonding people outta jail.

I bonded as many over 50 people at one time.

On April 12th, 1963, AD was arrested,

along with his brother and Ralph Abernathy.

They was determined to get the Kings out, I know that.

Ensley also produced a lot of the high school students

that ended up creating the movement that changed America,

and that was AD's leadership.

The police also arrested over 600 young people,

but 1,500 more stood in the shadows,

ready to march the next day.

With the jails filled and the economy hurting,

Police Chief Bull Connor used excessive force

to clear the streets.

♪ The only one come

♪ from just holdin' on

♪ A bullet is on its way

♪ And tell the whole world that I'm comin' home ♪

♪ Someone's gonna need a grave

This would set the perfect trap

to bring the heavy-handed reactions

from police face to face with the national media.

With the United States under the global spotlight,

President John F. Kennedy sends in federal negotiators

on May 5th, 1963.

Just five days later,

Martin AD and Fred Shuttlesworth sign a truce known

as the Birmingham Truce Agreement.

In exchange for halting the protests,

white business owners promised to desegregate their shops,

lunch counters, and drinking fountains.

Food facilities, lunch counters, and fitting rooms.

But with this victory

came immediate retaliation.

May the 11th, 1963,

my husband came up to the front of the home,

and he said to me, he said, "Naomi, it is too quiet here.

Something is not right."

And he picked her up

and started running through the house.

"Get out, get out, it's a bomb."

My brother jumps up off the couch,

and the rest of us were in the back.

First explosion, the concussion knocked out the window.

The concussion was so forceful.

I saw my mom and dad fly by my bedroom.

The stuff they do on TV ain't nothing like the real thing.

And we get out of the house,

and then we run out through the garage.

And when we looked back, there was a second bomb,

and the whole front of the house was gone.

That night in the street, the street, this whole street,

all this area was full of people,

I mean, in every direction, and they just came.

I don't know if it flashed on the news.

I don't know how people found out so fast.

That same night,

dynamite explosions had ravished the Gaston Motel,

a black-owned establishment

where Martin Luther King Jr. had been staying.

Fortunately, he had already left town and no one was hurt.

There was a man by the name of Roosevelt Tatum.

He said that there was a police car parked right

in front of the home over here,

and he said he saw him toss the first bomb.

And when we got to Avenue H,

one policeman was standing in the yard

and where he went to after then, I do not know

when the people started yelling.

And as people were driving up and down the street,

the people honestly for a minute began to riot.

They began to pick up stones and debris

and throw at the cars, and my dad said,

"We are not violent, do not retaliate."

May 12th, 1963,

President Kennedy issued a statement.

Disturbed by the bombings in Birmingham,

he ordered 3,000 US troops to encircle the small community

to bring an end to the rioting

and gain some semblance of peace.

With the battle lines clearly drawn,

taking the fight for civil rights to Washington

was the only option left.

More "Unsolved History: Life of a King" when we return.

The integration of housing,

people could go live where they want, that was AD's baby,

but Dr. King pulled all of us into Louisville

to help with that open occupancy march.

Welcome back to "Unsolved History: Life of a King."

While the country is dealing

with the aftermath of Project C,

images of young black children being hosed down

in Birmingham are flooding the evening news

and the morning papers.

The civil rights movement gains even more momentum,

leading to the social, political,

and financial framework for the March on Washington.

Held on August 28th, 1963,

organized by A. Philip Randolph and Bayard Rustin.

It sets the stage

for Dr. Martin Luther King's most famous speech.

The speech would come to be known

as the "I Have a Dream" speech,

a speech aimed at the Emancipation Proclamation

signed 100 years earlier in 1863.

He called it, quote, "a bad check written

to America's black citizens."

And I think this march will go down

as one of the greatest,

if not the greatest demonstrations,

for freedom and human dignity

ever held in the United States.

Finally, less than one year later,

President John F. Kennedy

and the nation's Congress responded.

Now the time has come from this nation

to fulfill its promise.

The events in Birmingham and elsewhere

have so increased the cries for equality

that no city or state or legislative body

can prudently choose to ignore them.

Next week,

I shall ask the Congress of the United States to act.

Before this proposed legislation

would be signed into law,

President Kennedy was assassinated.

The greatest leader of our time has been struck down

by the foulest deed of our time.

July 2nd, 1964, AD was by his brother's side

as newly sworn in President Lyndon Baines Johnson

signs the Civil rights bill Keeping Kennedy's promise.

We must not approach the observance

and enforcement of this law in a vengeful spirit.

Its purpose is not to punish.

Its purpose is not to divide but to end divisions,

divisions which have lasted all too long.

1965, AD moves his family to Louisville,

Kentucky to pastor Zion Baptist Church.

In 1965, Reverend AD Williams King,

Dr. King Martin's brother,

he called a meeting of black preachers, and he invited me,

and that's when he asked us to organize,

to join SCLC, Southern Christian, Dr. King's group.

The focus of the new chapter

of SCLC would be open housing.

I know the housing efforts that we have here

in the country today, the integration of housing,

people could go live where they want, that was AD's baby.

After years of meeting

and negotiating with city leaders,

AD and members of the SCLC took to the streets,

protesting day and night

at government official homes and offices.

But AD started a movement on open housing in Louisville,

and that movement really is what set up the Chicagos

to do what they had to do on the Philadelphias

and the Clevelands.

More "Unsolved History: Life of a King" when we return.

April 13th, 197,

27 marchers were arrested for ignoring a court order

against demonstrating after dark.

In the scuffle,

AD was hit in the eye with a rock and beaten.

We plan to return tonight to the south end

and continue our march nonviolently.

With the story gaining national attention,

Martin Luther King Jr. and members

of the SCLC shifted its resources in support

of the open housing movement in Kentucky.

Dr. King pulled all of the staff outta Chicago.

I was in Chicago working on in the slums,

open housing stuff in Chicago,

but Dr. King pulled all of us into Louisville

to help with that open occupancy march

where we was able to get people that AD had befriended,

like Anne Braden and others there in Louisville, Kentucky,

whites who basically worked hand in hand

with us in the southern city.

AD, being a master strategist,

just needed one big moment

to push the open housing issue over the top,

and with the Kentucky Derby fast approaching,

they set their sights on a major disruption.

Dr. King, did you come to Louisville

to watch the horses run on Saturday?

Well, that has to be determined.

I have not had a chance, as my brother just said,

to meet with the leadership.

After the Ku Klux Klan promised

to combat any disruption of the derby with violence,

the Pegasus Parade traditionally held the day

before the race was canceled for the first time in 55 years.

So you're going ahead with plans for Saturday,

is that right?

This is not good enough to have you cool things off?

So we are continuing as we have planned, yes.

In other words,

physically you would intend to stop the running of the race.

Well, I'm not at liberty to reveal methods at this time.

The next day with the National Guard present,

AD and the SCLC opted for a smaller demonstration

on the day of the derby that did not disrupt the race.

With the two sides at a standoff,

the only way forward was through legislation.

The most important bill that year was time.

Half the Senate was for daylight savings time,

and Tom was for daylight savings time.

The other half was for Central Time, the rural legislators.

He'd asked me, "How you gonna vote on time?"

"Tom, I don't care what time it is."

I said, "You take this roll call sheet,

and everybody you got committed to vote

for daylight savings time,

you get 'em to vote for open housing

when it comes up for a vote."

He said, "What?" I said, "That's the deal."

He snatched it, went off.

About three hours later, he came back.

He said, "Here, here it is."

I said, "Now I'm gonna vote for daylight savings time."

The passage of the open housing ordinance

in Kentucky sparked other states to follow suit.

Next, AD, Martin, and the SCLC set their sights on labor.

Soon they were invited to Memphis

to help sanitation workers already on strike.

He was, you know, with my brother Martin

in Memphis when that tragedy took place.

Martin Luther King Jr.

was assassinated April 4th, 1968.

He was only 39 years old.

Certainly I am sad, saddened by it, but on the other hand,

I am very proud of what they did

because they stood up for what they believed in,

regardless of the outcome.

The nation reacted quickly to the assassination

of MLK and riots swept the United States.

As tension swelled,

the newly sworn in President Lyndon B. Johnson

faced some perilous choices,

as did Martin's brother AD King,

and those choices may have led him to his own demise.

More "Unsolved History: Life of a King" when we return.

He knew more than perhaps he should've known

about his brother's death. He knew what could be ahead,

but it never made him stop.

Welcome back to "Unsolved History: Life of a King."

After Martin's assassination at the Lorraine Motel,

there was a massive public outcry,

angry protests, tears, and riots.

The newly sworn in President LBJ reacted

to the black community by exercising his political capital,

urging Congress to pass the Fair Housing Act.

I signed a message to the Congress.

That message called for the enactment, and I quote,

"of the first effective federal law

against discrimination in the sale

and the rental of housing in the United States of America."

If civil rights and voting rights

were Martin Luther King's legacy,

housing rights would be the legacy of Alfred Daniel King.

Apparent victory for the Civil rights movement

while Martin's killer still roamed free.

June 8th, 1968, James Earl Rey is captured

in London after two months on the run.

How could James Earl Ray, who was an itinerant crook,

never had much money, could arrange to kill King

and then somehow or another have the resources

to get outta Memphis, get into Canada,

all the way over to Britain without any money

and help from anybody?

I mean, how do you get out of Memphis?

It had to be a private plane somewhere.

AD was not accepting of the lone gunman narrative

in Martin's murder.

Sensing a larger conspiracy at hand, AD began to dig,

and what he found may have gotten him killed.

AD was determined to get to the bottom

of who killed his brother, that he, one,

was unhappy what he had learned about his brother's death.

He knew more than perhaps he should've known

about his brother's death and was determined

to try to keep the issue alive.

My father loved his brother,

and he supported him fully in everything.

They did everything together,

and so I believe that my father knew, "I'm with my brother.

We started this together and it will end with us."

Do you have any indication

that you might take a more active role

in the Southern Christian Leadership Conference

since the death of MLK? Well, definitely yes.

Well, if both brothers look alike,

sound alike, have the same message,

if one is taken away, you can't leave the other.

That was exactly what happened

with President John Kennedy and Bobby Kennedy,

and he knew what could be ahead, but it never made him stop.

The Southern Christian Leadership Conference

was not just one man, my brother.

It is a group made up of many people.

August 26th, 1968,

AD's church, Zion Baptist, was bombed in Louisville.

Fortunately, no one was hurt.

Well, I've talked with the officers of my church

and also the director of safety of the City of Louisville,

and I understand that it was some pretty bad damage.

By the fall of 1968,

AD would leave Louisville to return

to co-pastor Ebenezer Baptist Church

with his father Martin Luther King Sr.

I think AD really never quite got over his brother's death

and neither did his father,

and even though AD came on to be the associate pastor

at Ebenezer and was a very good preacher,

it was hard for them to get over the death of Martin.

And then shortly after that,

his mother was killed while she

was playing the Lord's Prayer in church on Sunday morning.

So the tragedy of the family is just overwhelming.

On July 1969, AD would walk his daughter

down the aisle on her wedding day,

unaware that this family gathering would be his last.

I had been married for almost a week.

My dad walked me down the aisle as a young bride,

and it was a special time because it was in the midst

of the tumult of the civil rights movement.

And I heard my father on the phone and he says,

"I don't care what you say.

You killed my brother,

and I'm not gonna rest until that is proven."

It was that type of conversation.

He was talking on the phone.

Now we have become accustomed

in our family to the phone ringing,

and we were having death threats and all of that.

Our home had been bombed even in 1963 in Birmingham,

Alabama, so I was accustomed to rough telephone calls,

but that one was a little different

because Daddy was very confrontational with that person,

is, "You killed my brother,

and I won't rest until the truth is told."

The evening of July the 20th,

we was laughing and watching TV, and I went to sleep.

Don't remember what time it was, late in the evening.

More "Unsolved History: Life of a King" when we return.

July 21st, 1969 as the nation awoke

to the news of the Apollo 11 moon landing.

It's one small step for man,

one giant leap for mankind. I woke up the next morning,

he was in the bottom of a swimming pool.

Alfred Daniel King was pronounced dead

in the backyard of his Atlanta home.

I was there on the scene

when they pulled him outta the pool.

He was doubled up in the fetal position

with some bruises around his abdomen.

I heard the EMT said, "There's no water in his lungs.

This man was dead before he hit the water."

I know what I saw and I know what I heard.

At the time, his wife, Naomi King,

was on vacation with Coretta Scott.

We were in Jamaica at the time on vacation

with Coretta and two of her children,

and my husband and two of our children were there.

So he had to leave to come back

to Atlanta for church participation.

Family friends

and SCLC President Ralph Abernathy came

to support the family.

Ah, it's just tragic that this family has had

to undergo so much within the last few months.

Along with Dr. Ralph Abernathy,

Reverend AD King was carrying on the work

of Martin Luther King Jr.

AD King was behind the scenes for the most part,

but he was important to the movement,

partly as a symbol of continuity.

Now he is gone and there are no more sons

of Martin Luther King Sr. to carry on his work.

As news spread of AD's death,

all official reports stated he drowned in his swimming pool

and that there was no foul play.

It certainly was suspicious circumstances

around him when you consider that the next door neighbors

who at that time were white suddenly disappeared.

I tend to not think that my uncle drowned

on his own in his own pool.

I mean, he was a very good swimmer.

The state of AD's body

would become the only evidence to counter that theory.

Unfortunately, no autopsy was ever done.

I met an investigative reporter, Jeff Prue,

and Jeff was outta California at the time,

but he came to Atlanta after the funeral,

after Daddy passed away,

and we tried to get the records of the death,

the records from the coroner,

and we tried for months to get him and we got the runaround.

"Oh, the coroner didn't have time to write everything down.

He was used to keeping things

in his mind and now he's dead," or,

"It should be on microfiche, but we can't find it."

We had just a runaround for months,

and so we were never able to get the records.

I think that people didn't wanna know the truth

as they didn't want to know the truth

about Martin Luther King.

There was a investigation in the Martin's passing really

was never much of an investigation.

Questions that have been unanswered

to this day that most people have forgotten,

but I will always have that suspicion in the back of my mind

that AD went to the Lord just like his mom

and just like his brother, with somebody else's involvement.

When you get farther away from it,

you begin to ask questions,

but we don't have any definitive answers

and perhaps never will.

It sounds to me as though it requires some looking into

and some investigation because the man

was all of a sudden found dead lying in the swimming pool.

That whole thing is very, very strange.

I would urge AD Williams' family to think

about seriously exhuming the body

and trying to get the truth out of it.

The technology today is such that I think a lot

of information can still be made available.

With all the mysteries surrounding AD's death,

will his family seek to open an investigation

or leave the puzzle of his passing unfinished?

More "Unsolved History: Life of a King" when we return.

And that I'd have to have somebody

who was willing to do work on my behalf,

somebody who was willing to stand up to the horses

and the teargas in the Billy Clubs!

Welcome back to "Unsolved History: Life of a King."

When Alfred Daniel King died,

the same media and press the movement used so effectively

to get attention for their civil rights movement

in the past barely covered the story.

Was this by design or pure coincidence?

AD would die on the same day of the moon landing,

the one day that all Americans were looking to the stars

and nothing on earth would make a blip in the news,

making the King family's greatest weapon,

freedom of the press,

powerless on a day they needed it most,

crushing the legacy of AD King in the process.

My heart bleeds

because my illustrious husband is not here,

and all of the causes that he gave his life for,

his belief, his hard work that he indulged in,

and not to be able to have any acclaim

to all of the hard work that he has done and put forth

and to be back at this point now without him,

I feel a terrible injustice that he

is not here to get his dues, his props.

What happened to AD is not unusual.

We lived in a symbolist society, okay? Symbols.

Martin King punched all the buttons until he was shot.

That made him immortal.

People unfortunately try to compare one with another,

and that's unfair.

AD made great contribution in his own way,

and he should not be compared to his brother.

Although the contributions of AD King

are not as well known as his brother Martin,

his legacy will not be forgotten.

Well, I think the most important thing

is the housing piece that we have today, integration.

Folk can live where they wanna live.

Had that not ever been an AD doing that in Louisville,

Kentucky, leading that movement, getting beat up,

we wouldn't have open housing today,

and other pieces, the Breadbasket movement

that Dr. King started here in Atlanta,

had it not been for AD and Fred Bennett,

all of those preachers from across the world

wouldn't have never got together

to integrate a lot of these businesses.

Coca-Cola wouldn't be what it is today

had it not been for people like AD and Fred Bennett.

Operation Breadbasket was one

of many departments formed by the board members of SCLC.

While operated by Fred Bennett,

AD was behind much of the strategy.

We boycotted a lot.

So if you couldn't buy from a colored vendor,

you bought no gifts, no presents.

There were seasons when if you could not buy your food

from a colored vendor, then you bought no food.

Those guys went to A& and told A&P,

"If you don't give us jobs,

then we gonna go somewhere else and start shopping."

These companies didn't just get kind and good.

It was folk like AD and Bennett

and those other preachers who brought that together,

and that's the best thing that folk need to know.

I think about AD.

The SCLC is now made up

of chapters and affiliate programs all over the nation,

expanding on the life's work of Martin Luther King Jr.

and his brother, Alfred Daniel Williams King.

The work of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference

will never be over.

In my book, I was saying that I hope that,

because I got beat up and went to jail once or twice,

that my children wouldn't have to,

and then I stopped and I said, "No, that's wrong."

I said, "I hope they don't have to go to jail

for the same things I did, but I hope they

will always find something for which to fight."

You know, I was down in Selma, Alabama,

celebrating the 42nd anniversary of the march

across the Edmund Pettus Bridge,

and I was surrounded by folks whose names

aren't always in the history books.

Amen!

I was reminded that they had marched for me.

They didn't know me.

I was only four years old at the time.

They didn't know who I was individually,

but they understood that there would be somebody

like me coming along,

that I might wanna do something with my life,

that I might wanna be a lawyer,

that I might wanna be a law professor,

that I might wanna run for the United States Senate.

I might even wanna run for president,

and that I'd have to have somebody

who was willing to do work on my behalf,

somebody who was willing to stand up

to the horses and the teargas and the Billy Clubs!

Although AD's death is still a mystery

and Martin Luther King's assassination

is shrouded in conspiracy,

their contributions to this nation will never be forgotten.

I'm Ed Gordon,

and that's all for this edition of "Unsolved History."

As we pledge ourselves to eternal vigilance

of our just cause, let us establish the militancy

in Martin Luther King's words, and I quote,

"Some of you have knives, some of you have guns,

and I ask you to put them up.

Some of you have arms, and I ask you to put them up.

Get the weapon of nonviolence,

the breast plates through righteousness,

the armor of truth, and just keep marching."