"Clennon Washington King Jr."(July 18,1920-February12,2000)

Was the first African America man to run for the office of President of the United States,and whose attempts at civil rights actions running for office as a perennial candidate caused him to be nicknamed "The Black Don Quixote."He was the eldest son of seven.His father Clennon Washington King,Sr.,was a civil rights activist,Tuskegee Institute student and chauffeur of Booker T. Washington.His mother was Allegra Slater.His brother,lawyer Chevenne Bowers King,posthumously had a United States Courthouse in Albany,George named after him,his brother Slate King was a successful real estate broker,and his younger brother Dr. Preston King received a pardon from President Bill Clinton,both actions related to the civil rights activism.In 1957,he served as a history professor at Alcorn State University,but controversial letters to the editor and articles by him on the subject of racial integration led to students first boycotting the classes then treating to boycott the school.School was President J.R. Otis was fired as a consequence.In 1958,he tried to have one of his children integrate an all-white elementary school in Mississippi,which would have been a first, but his wife and children fled.That year he also applied to the all-white University of Mississippi and was committed to an asylum for trying to attend it;his brother C.B. King was able to help free him.Additionally,Clennon King sought the support of Martin Luther King Jr;they met and MLK wrote Governor James P.Coleman on behalf of Clennon King.Just two years later,James Meredith became the first student at that University.In 1960,Clennon ran for President as candidate of the Independent Afro-American Party with Reginald Carter as running mate,winning 1,485 votes in Alabama,making him (by some accounts) the first African-American candidate for President.He was followed in 1964 by Clifton DeBerry of the established Socialist Workers Party,which had been running presidential candidates since 1948.It's noted he came in eleventh place of twelve candidates,well John F. Kennedy  34,220,984 votes.It was the Constitution Party ticket of Merritt Curtis an B.N. Miller that he beat,but that same party different ticket of Charles L. Sullivan and Merritt Curtis soley in Texas came in seventh,and the Tax Cut Party ticket of Lars Daly and Merritt Curtis was tenth.He made two additional attempts for high offices.In 1970 he attempted to join the Republican primary for the 1970 gubernatorial election in Georgia,a race which his brother C.B. ran and lost to Jimmy Carter in the Democratic primary.Clennon wished to have the fee to be a candidate waived,which was not,and so sought recourse in a lawsuit and then appeal (ultimately unsuccessful).He stayed in the race as write-in candidate.He received relatively few votes for Governor and then began a new campaign,trying to run once more for President.This time the candidate of his vote for Jesus Party,he again turned to a lawsuit in an attempt to waive ballot eligibility requirements this time for Delaware,which was again unsuccessful.While pastor of the Divine Mission Church in Albany,the night before the 1976 presidential election,He tried to integrate the all-white Baptist church of candidate Jimmy Carter in Plains, Georgia.Rev. Bruce Edwards wished to admit him,but the deacons of the church wanted to uphold the 1965 regulating barring "all Negroes and civil rights agitators,";they closed the church to services and recommended Edwards be fired.Eventually,Rev Edwards resigned.Newspapers stories about the case also reported on Clennon having been convicted for failure to provide child support,something he been required to pay since 1960 but had not consistently done.He ran for County Commissoner,City Commissoner and the House of Representatives of the Georgia General Assembly simultaneously in 1979.He was prosecuted for an advertisment placed in the Albany Journal offering "to pay within 30 days after his election $100 in 538 to each  August 8 voter who punches for him 3 times.In 1996,he ran for mayor of Miami Florida. Where he had moved in `1979 as the candidate for god.Following a career as "Rev Rabbi" of the non-denominational Church of the Divine Mission he had founded in 1981 in Miami,Florida where he called himself "His Divine Blackness," he died after being hospitalized for prostate cancer,leaving a dispute over ownership of the church.