Mel King facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Mel King
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King speaking in 2010
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| Member of the Massachusetts House of Representatives from the 9th Suffolk district |
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| In office January 3, 1973 – January 2, 1983 |
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| Preceded by | Doris Bunte |
| Succeeded by | Byron Rushing |
| Personal details | |
| Born |
Melvin Herbert King
October 20, 1928 Boston, Massachusetts, U.S. |
| Died | March 28, 2023 (aged 94) Boston, Massachusetts, U.S. |
| Political party | Democratic |
| Spouse | Joyce King (m. 1951) |
| Children | 6 |
| Education | Claflin College Boston State College |
Melvin Herbert King (born October 20, 1928 – died March 28, 2023) was an important American leader. He was a politician, someone who helped organize communities, and a teacher. In 1973, King was chosen to be a member of the Massachusetts House of Representatives, which is like a state parliament. He held this job until 1983. Later, in 1983, King ran for mayor of Boston and came in second place.
Mel King lived his whole life in the South End area of Boston. He worked hard to create programs and places for people with lower incomes in the city. He also started the South End Technology Center. When he passed away, he was a respected Senior Lecturer Emeritus at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), teaching about city planning.
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Mel King's Early Life and Education
Mel King's mother, Ursula, was from Guyana, and his father, Watts King, was from Barbados. They met and got married in Nova Scotia before moving to Boston in the early 1920s. Mel was born in the South End neighborhood and was one of eleven children, though only nine lived past infancy.
He finished high school at Boston Technical High School in 1946. Then, in 1950, he earned a science degree in mathematics from Claflin College in Orangeburg, South Carolina. In 1951, he got a master's degree in education from Boston State College. After that, he taught math at Boston Trade High School and his old high school, Boston Technical High School.
Helping the Community
In 1953, Mel King stopped teaching in classrooms to work with young people who needed extra support. He became the Director of Boy's Work at Lincoln House, which was a "settlement house" in the South End. A settlement house was a place that offered help and services to people in a neighborhood.
He continued his community work, focusing on street gangs as the Youth Director at United South End Settlements (USES). King was also an activist, working to improve neighborhoods and fight poverty. He had a disagreement with USES because he believed local communities should have more control over their own areas, rather than the government. USES let him go, but after many community members protested, he was rehired. He was then given the job of community organizer. King then started the Community Assembly for a United South End (C.A.U.S.E.) to make sure tenants and residents had a voice in their neighborhood's future.
Mel King's Political Journey
Community Activism and Protests
In 1967, King became the director of the New Urban League of Greater Boston. This organization helped unemployed people get job training. It also brought the community together to work on issues like public schools, jobs, and social services. In 2003, King created "The New Majority." This group aimed to unite Boston's different communities of color, including Black, Hispanic, Asian, and Native American people, to support candidates for public office.
The Tent City Protest
In 1968, Mel King helped organize a protest at the Boston Redevelopment Authority (BRA) office. This was on April 25, and people were protesting a plan to build a parking garage where homes used to be in the South End. The very next morning, King led people to take over the empty lot.
For three days, between 100 and 400 people stayed on the lot, even though police were there. They built tents and small wooden shelters. They put up a big sign welcoming the media and visitors to "Tent City." Celtics basketball star Bill Russell, who owned a restaurant nearby, even brought food for the protestors. News about the protest was everywhere in the local media.
To honor this important protest, a housing complex built on that site was named "Tent City" when it opened in 1988. King told reporters that the most important part of the project was showing regular Bostonians that they needed to be involved in developing their own neighborhoods.
Running for School Committee
Mel King ran for a spot on the Boston School Committee three times, in 1961, 1963, and 1965. He was not successful in winning a seat during these attempts.
Serving as State Representative
In 1973, King was elected to the Massachusetts House of Representatives. He represented the 4th Suffolk district until 1982. In 1978, his district changed to the 9th Suffolk district.
Running for Mayor of Boston in 1983
In 1983, the current Mayor of Boston, Kevin White, decided not to run again after 16 years. Mel King then ran for mayor. He was the first African-American person to run in the final election for mayor of Boston. He ran against Raymond Flynn.
Mel King received a lot of support from African-American voters and also from other groups. However, he lost to Flynn, who was Irish-Catholic and had strong ties to South Boston. Both King and Flynn were seen as "underdogs" at the beginning of the election. King's campaign relied a lot on volunteers, just like Flynn's. King's mayoral campaign happened in a year when Black candidates in other cities, like Harold Washington in Chicago, were also winning elections.
The Rainbow Coalition and Green-Rainbow Party
In 1997, King started the Rainbow Coalition Party in Massachusetts. He had used the term "rainbow coalition" during his 1983 mayoral campaign to describe how he brought together many different groups of people, including various ethnic backgrounds, into a political team. This was even before Jesse Jackson used the term for his presidential campaign the next year.
In 2002, the Rainbow Coalition Party joined with the Massachusetts Green Party. They became the Green-Rainbow Party, which is connected to the national Green Party.
In 2002, King supported Jill Stein, who was running for governor of Massachusetts for the Green-Rainbow Party. He said that Jill Stein was the only candidate who would "speak truth to power" and that she made issues of racism and social justice a key part of her campaign.
King continued to be an active member of the Green-Rainbow Party. In 2014, he managed the campaign for M. K. Merelice, who was running for Massachusetts State Auditor. He also supported other Green-Rainbow Party candidates, including Danny Factor for Secretary of the Commonwealth and Ian Jackson for Treasurer.
Supporting Other Candidates
During the 2000 presidential election, Mel King supported Ralph Nader's campaign for president.
On August 10, 2009, King supported Boston City Council member Sam Yoon for mayor. King praised Yoon's ideas, his ability to work with others, and his focus on making Boston's education system better.
King also gave a last-minute endorsement to acting mayor Kim Janey before the main election for mayor of Boston in 2021.
The Mel King Institute
The Mel King Institute for Community Building was created in 2009. It was started by the Massachusetts Association of Community Development Corporations (MACDC) and Local Initiatives Support Corporation (LISC) Boston. LISC Boston is a non-profit group that helps create affordable housing and improve communities. The Mel King Institute is a place where people can get training and information to help them with community development work.
Academic Work and Writings
In 1970, Mel King started the Community Fellows Program (CFP) at MIT in the Department of Urban Studies and Planning. He worked there for 25 years until 1996, as a professor and director of the program. The CFP was a nine-month program that brought community organizers and leaders from all over America to study and think about city politics, money, social life, education, housing, and media.
In 1981, King's book, Chain of Change: Struggles for Black Community Development, was published. It talked about how housing, education, jobs, and politics developed in Boston from the 1950s to the 1970s. Young activists inspired King to reprint his book in 2018. Besides writing his book and articles, King also used poetry to share his important messages.
Later Years and Legacy
After he retired from MIT, Mel King started the South End Technology Center. This center, located near the "Tent City" area, provides computer training for people with lower incomes.
In 2021, a street intersection in Boston's South End was named "Melvin H. 'Mel' King Square" in his honor.
Mel King passed away at his home in Boston's South End on March 28, 2023, when he was 94 years old. He was survived by his wife, Joyce Kenion, whom he married in 1951.
Images for kids
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King speaking in 2010
