Children Of Civil Rights Activist Seek Justice Decades Later

The children of civil rights activist Marion T. King are asking the city of Camilla to seek justice for their mother and others who experienced state violence in the city years ago.

Representatives from the Albany NAACP chapter joined Dr. Edward Dubois King, Dr. Johnathan King, and Abena King at the Camilla city council meeting Monday.

Johnathan King said police attacked his pregnant mother in July 1962, causing her to miscarry, in an incident of violence that parallels the Camilla Massacre in the 1860s.

During that tragedy, protesters were targeted and killed after they marched from Albany to Camilla in 1868 protesting the removal of Black elected officials. King said it’s especially important they take action now that most of the city and the city council are Black.

“Because there were people basically who suffered and died to get Black folk, who are now the majority on the city council, in place,” King said.

The family is demanding an apology and a monument describing the massacre and Marion King’s story. Sept. 19 will be the 153rd anniversary of the Camilla Massacre. Marion King died in 2007.

Dr. DuBois King says justice won’t be served until the city recognizes its history.

“I want to request that the city leaders right all of these wrongs by building a peace and reconciliation monument for all of the African Americans and people of color who were harmed in some way since the inception of the city of Camilla’s existence,” he said.

Councilman Corey B. Morgan apologized to the family and said he will work with them to recognize the history of the city.