ATLANTA (AP) – One of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.’s sons declined to say Tuesday whether his father’s 1964 Nobel Peace Prize medal and traveling Bible would be sold if a judge rules they belong to the civil rights icon’s estate.
The Estate of Martin Luther King Jr. Inc., which is controlled by his sons, last year asked a judge to order King’s daughter to surrender the items. King’s three surviving children are the sole shareholders and directors of the estate. In a board of directors meeting last year, Martin Luther King III and Dexter Scott King voted 2-1 against Bernice King to sell the artifacts to an unnamed private buyer.
Bernice said in February that her brothers’ plan to sell two of their father’s most cherished items was unthinkable.
Dexter, the only one of the three siblings to attend Tuesday’s hearing in the case, spoke to reporters afterward. Asked directly whether the items would be sold if the estate wins the case, he responded, “I can’t say at this time.”
If the judge rules in favor of the estate, “we will decide the future of those items at a future time,” said Dexter, who is CEO of the estate. It is also the hope of the estate that the items would be more accessible to the public, he said, noting that the peace prize medal has never been on public display. A replica of the medal is on display at the Martin Luther King Jr. Center for Nonviolent Social Change.