SPOTSYLVANIA, VA, September 05, 2024 /24-7PressRelease/ — Mary Elizabeth King, PhD has been included in Marquis Who’s Who. As in all Marquis Who’s Who biographical volumes, individuals profiled are selected on the basis of current reference value. Factors such as position, noteworthy accomplishments, visibility, and prominence in a field are all taken into account during the selection process.
Renowned as a prominent scholar on Mohandas K. Gandhi and Martin Luther King, Jr., Dr. King embarked upon her professional journey at Ohio Wesleyan University, from which she initially earned a Bachelor of Arts in English literature in 1962. She subsequently began her career as a human relations intern with a grant from The Field Foundation for The National Student Young Women’s Christian Association between 1962 and 1963. Working as a Communications Officer for the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee for a period of four years in the early 1960s, King and SNCC staff member Casey Hayden were co-authors of “Sex and Caste: A Kind of Memo” in 1966, which was among the early documents of feminism and circulated widely both domestically and internationally. Dr. King was recruited as a program officer for the United States Office of Economic Opportunity in Washington, D.C. as a part of its federal anti-poverty program from 1968 to 1972.
Soon thereafter, Dr. King established Mary King Associates Inc., with which she held the position of president from 1972 to 1977. In the course of her duties, she worked with small nonprofit organizations that were dedicated to fighting poverty, mobilizing schools and minimizing the impacts of racism and poverty. During this time, she completed coursework toward a Master of Business Administration at Loyola University between 1975 and 1976. Noted as a founder and president of the National Association of Women Business Owners in 1976, she received the first major accolade of her career with The Distinguished Achievement Award from The Women’s Equity Action League in 1977. Driven by her desire to handle conflict and enact positive change as a result of her stellar education in the Civil Rights Movement and voter registration, Dr. King accepted the post of the deputy director of the federal ACTION agency from 1977 to 1981, which included the U.S. Peace Corps and Volunteers in Service to America or VISTA. This role, as well as many others that Dr. King held, involved presidential appointment, as well as confirmation by the U.S. Senate.
Dr. King has also been additionally active as an officer and a member of the board of directors for The Arca Foundation philanthropy since 1980. From 1981 to 1992, she further found success as an independent international consultant. Throughout this tenure, she worked with U.S. Ambassador Andrew Young at Young Ideas, Inc., from 1982 to 1985, and she was also a special advisor for former President Jimmy Carter from 1984 to 1993, a consultant director for The United States-Iraq Business Forum from 1985 to 1995, and an expert consultant for ABC London News Bureau with Pierre Salinger and BBC London from 1990 to 1992. Furthermore, Dr. King continued her literary endeavors, authoring “Freedom Song: A Personal Story of the 1960s Civil Rights Movement,” which won her a Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Book Award in 1988.
As a result of her achievements thus far, Dr. King was celebrated with The Distinguished Achievement Award from Ohio Wesleyan University in 1989. Additionally, she contributed to the International Commission on Peace and Food from 1989 to 1994, the board of governors of Wesley Theological Seminary from 1990 to 1993, and the board of directors for AMIDEAST Educational and Testing Service from 1989 to 2010. She was notably inducted into The National Women’s Hall of Fame in Seneca Falls, New York in 1992. Serving as the president of Global Action Inc. between 1992 and 2012, Dr. King began her career in academia in Washington, DC, as an adjunct faculty member and scholar-in-residence at the American University School of International Service from 1997 to 1999 and from 1997 to 2015, respectively.
In 1999, Dr. King concluded her formal education at Aberystwyth University in Britain, graduating with a Doctor of Philosophy in international politics. Moreover, she was named An Honorary Fellow by the same university. Designated as an advisor for the Government of India between 1998 and 2003, she excelled as a professor of international politics at St. George’s University in Grenada from 1999 to 2001. She was also a senior fellow in residence at the Rothermere American Institute at the University of Oxford from 2004 to 2005. Since 2001, she has been a Distinguished Rothermere American Institute Fellow at the University of Oxford as well as a professor of peace and conflict studies at the University For Peace in Costa Rica, a treaty organization of the United Nations. Likewise, Dr. King continued to make an impact as the prior director of the James Lawson Institute, a role she held for a decade.
Beyond her primary responsibilities in her field, Dr. King has maintained her involvement with the United States Volunteer Service Corps Programs, which includes The Peace Corps. Additionally, she works with The Albert Einstein Institution and The American Institute for Public Service. She was also invited onto the international editorial boards for the “Africa Peace and Conflict Journal” from 2007 to 2010 and African-Centered Solutions for Peace and Security from 2014 to 2023. Having penned “Mahatma Gandhi and Martin Luther King Jr: The Power of Nonviolent Action” in 1999, she most recently offered her unique combination of knowledge and perspective to a chapter of “Gandhi’s Global Legacy: Moral Methods and Modern Challenges (Studies in Comparative Philosophy and Religion)” in 2023. Among her many professional highlights, Dr. King is proud to have conducted workshops on nonviolent action in universities across more than 20 African countries between 2002 and 2003.
Over the course of her career, Dr. King has exemplified preeminent knowledge on the subject of nonviolent transformation of conflict, particularly as it relates to the work of Mahatma Gandhi and the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. She authored the 1987 book “Freedom Song: A Personal Story of the 1960s Civil Rights Movement,” which garnered her a Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Book Award in 1988. With respect and acclaim, writer and human rights activist Leslie Kelen, the executive director of the Center for Documentary Expression and Art, wrote that he believes “Freedom Song is the most complete depiction of the student-led Southern freedom movement.” Dr. King has also published “Gandian Nonviolent Struggle and Untouchability in South India: The 1924-25 Vykom Satyagraha and The Mechanisms of Change,” published in 2015 by Oxford University Press. This important book reinterprets extreme forms of stigma against casteless individuals living in India, and it required a vast amount of archival research including in Indian palaces. The state in what is now Kerala has removed the caste system and the treatment of these so-called “untouchables.” This book for the first time explores what actually happened at Vykom, in what is now Kerala State. Correcting misunderstandings, it also addresses some shortcomings of Gandhi’s leadership.
As the daughter of The Reverend Dr. Luther Waddington King, an ordained Methodist minister, and Alba Iregui King, a nursing educator, Dr. King credits her strength, resilience and tenacity as factors leading to her success. She values the support of her husband, Dr. Peter Geoffrey Howard Bourne, who is also a distinguished fellow of the Rothermere American Institute. Dr. King has been presented with the Jamnalal Bajaj International Award in 2003, The El-Hibri Peace Education Prize in 2009, The James M. Lawson Nonviolent Achievement Award in 2011, an Honorary Doctor of Laws from Ohio Wesleyan University in 2011, and the Unsolicited Research Grant Award from The United States Institute of Peace from 2008 to 2010 and in 2015. She has likewise been featured in multiple editions of Who’s Who in America and the 25th edition of Who’s Who of American Women. Harboring a lifelong interest in helping people, governments, journalists, and civil societies, she remains passionate about the U.S. refusing to confront its failure in addressing racism. Looking toward the future, Dr. King hopes to continue cementing her status as a role model for women who will always fight for justice for all people.
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