Reverend Edwin King (’61, ’63)
The following obituary was originally published by United Methodist News and can be found here.
Rev. Ralph Edwin “Ed” King Jr., beloved father, United Methodist minister, educator, and lifelong champion for justice, passed away on July 4, 2026, the 250th birthday of the USA. An iconic figure in the civil rights movement of the 1960’s, Ed King was born on September 20, 1936, in Vicksburg, Mississippi, a state deeply divided by segregation and injustice.
As a young man, his Christian faith and an unwavering belief in the dignity of all people led him to reject the injustices of racism and become one of the most prominent white activists of the Civil Rights Movement in Mississippi. As Chaplain of Students at Tougaloo College during the pivotal years of the 1960s, he stood shoulder to shoulder with students, clergy, and activists. leaders who risked everything to transform the South.
Ed King worked closely with iconic black leaders that included Medgar Evers, Bob Moses, Fannie Lou Hamer, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., as well as John Salter and others who put their lives on the line to deliver on the promises made by the authors of the Constitution. He was also one of the organizers of the historic sit-in at Woolworth’s counter in downtown Jackson and a co-founder of the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party that played a vital role in the Freedom Summer of 1964.
Ed’s convictions came at great personal cost. Through years of arrests, beatings, threats, and even assault by automobile, Rev. King never wavered in his commitment to justice, reconciliation, and non-violence. A much beloved figure in Jackson, Ed was a devoted father, an insightful teacher, and a man of generosity and wit. In the classroom, or at the dinner table, he challenged you to think critically and act with compassion.
Following the Civil Rights Movement, he continued a life of service through ministry, education, public speaking, and writing. Ed King was a natural story teller. And the one story he never tired of sharing was the story of Mississippi’s struggle for justice. He believed that even the darkest days of history must be disclosed truthfully, without sugar coating. Future generations would demand nothing less.
Rev. King’s memoir, Ed King’s Mississippi: Behind the Scenes of Freedom Summer, and Opening of the Closed Society (to be published in 2027) provide a valuable history of the people who fought the system and won. Ed leaves behind a family who loved him dearly and cherished his wisdom, wit, and unwavering moral compass.
His legacy is woven into the history of the Civil Rights movement in Mississippi and lives on in the lives of his family, friends, students, and the many others he has inspired over the years. Ed’s faith reminds us that justice and love must travel hand in hand. He will be deeply missed, lovingly remembered, and forever honored.