Colbert Isaiah King (born September 20, 1939) is an American columnist for ''

The Washington Post ''The Washington Post'', locally known as ''The'' ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'' or ''WP'', is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C., the national capital. It is the most widely circulated newspaper in the Washington m ...

'' and the deputy editor of the ''Post'''s editorial page. In 2003, he won the Pulitzer Prize for Commentary.

Early life

King was born to Amelia Colbert King and Isaiah King III and grew up in the

Foggy Bottom Foggy Bottom is a neighborhood of Washington, D.C., United States, located in the city's northwest quadrant. It stretches west of the White House towards the Potomac River, north of the National Mall, east of Georgetown, south of the West ...

neighborhood of Washington, D.C. He attended Thaddeus Stevens Elementary School, Francis Junior High School, and Paul Laurence Dunbar High School. At Dunbar, he was a member of

JROTC The Junior Reserve Officers' Training Corps (JROTC) is a Federal government of the United States, federal program sponsored by the United States Armed Forces in high schools and also in some middle schools across the United States and at US mil ...

as well as the school's championship drill team. After graduating from high school in 1957, he earned his

Bachelor of Arts A Bachelor of Arts (abbreviated B.A., BA, A.B. or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is the holder of a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the liberal arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts deg ...

degree in government from

Howard University Howard University is a private, historically black, federally chartered research university in Washington, D.C., United States. It is classified among "R1: Doctoral Universities – Very high research activity" and accredited by the Mid ...

in 1961.

Career

From 1961 to 1963, King served as an

officer An officer is a person who has a position of authority in a hierarchical organization. The term derives from Old French ''oficier'' "officer, official" (early 14c., Modern French ''officier''), from Medieval Latin ''officiarius'' "an officer," fro ...

in the United States Army Adjutant General's Corps, then worked as special officer for the

United States Department of State The United States Department of State (DOS), or simply the State Department, is an United States federal executive departments, executive department of the U.S. federal government responsible for the country's foreign policy of the United State ...

through 1970, eventually leaving over objections to the Counter Intelligence Program (

COINTELPRO COINTELPRO (a syllabic abbreviation derived from Counter Intelligence Program) was a series of covert and illegal projects conducted between 1956 and 1971 by the United States Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) aimed at surveilling, infiltr ...

). He then spent a year on a fellowship at the Department of Health, Education and Welfare, working with

James Farmer James Leonard Farmer Jr. (January 12, 1920 – July 9, 1999) was an American civil rights activist and leader in the Civil Rights Movement "who pushed for nonviolent protest to dismantle segregation, and served alongside Martin Luther King Jr." ...

to draw national attention to sickle-cell anemia and other underserved minority health care issues. From 1971 to 1972, King was a VISTA volunteer. In 1972, he became minority staff director of the United States Senate Committee on the District of Columbia, where he helped draft the

District of Columbia Home Rule Act The District of Columbia Home Rule Act is a United States federal law passed on December 24, 1973, which devolved certain congressional powers of the District of Columbia to local government, furthering District of Columbia home rule. In par ...

. In 1976, King became Deputy Assistant Secretary of the U.S. Treasury Department, then was appointed U.S. executive director to the

World Bank The World Bank is an international financial institution that provides loans and Grant (money), grants to the governments of Least developed countries, low- and Developing country, middle-income countries for the purposes of economic development ...

by President Jimmy Carter. In 1980, he became executive vice president for the Middle East and Africa at Riggs Bank, where he served for 10 years and became a member of the

board of directors A board of directors is a governing body that supervises the activities of a business, a nonprofit organization, or a government agency. The powers, duties, and responsibilities of a board of directors are determined by government regulatio ...

. King joined ''The Washington Post'''s editorial board in 1990, then became the editorial page's deputy editor in 2000. He began writing a weekly column at the suggestion of ''Post'' editor Meg Greenfield. He was a regular television panelist on the weekly political discussion show '' Inside Washington'' until the show ceased production in December 2013.

Awards

In 2003, King won the

Pulitzer Prize The Pulitzer Prizes () are 23 annual awards given by Columbia University in New York City for achievements in the United States in "journalism, arts and letters". They were established in 1917 by the will of Joseph Pulitzer, who had made his fo ...

in Commentary "for his against-the-grain columns that speak to people in power with ferocity and wisdom".

Personal life

King lives in

Washington, D.C. Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly known as Washington or D.C., is the capital city and federal district of the United States. The city is on the Potomac River, across from Virginia, and shares land borders with ...

, with his wife, Gwendolyn Stewart King, who served as Commissioner of the U.S.

Social Security Administration The United States Social Security Administration (SSA) is an Independent agencies of the United States government, independent agency of the Federal government of the United States, U.S. federal government that administers Social Security (United ...

under President George H.W. Bush. They met in the late 1950s at Howard University and married on July 3, 1961, and have three children. King's son Rob King is senior vice president of

SportsCenter ''SportsCenter'' (SC) is an American television sports news broadcasting show broadcast by ESPN. Originally anchored by Chris Berman, George Grande, Greg Gumbel, Lee Leonard, Bob Ley, Sal Marchiano and Lou Palmer, it premiered on Septem ...

and News at

ESPN ESPN (an initialism of their original name, which was the Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) is an American international basic cable sports channel owned by the Walt Disney Company (80% and operational control) and Hearst Commu ...

References

External links

Column archive
at ''

''
The 2010 Chairman’s Citation Winner: Colbert I. King
National Press Foundation *
''Voices on Antisemitism'' interview with King

United States Holocaust Memorial Museum The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum (USHMM) is the United States' official memorial to the Holocaust, dedicated to the documentation, study, and interpretation of the Holocaust. Opened in 1993, the museum explores the Holocaust through p ...

, October 4, 2012 {{DEFAULTSORT:King, Colbert I. Living people 1939 births American columnists Pulitzer Prize for Commentary winners The Washington Post people Howard University alumni United States Army officers 20th-century American journalists American male journalists 21st-century American non-fiction writers American editors Journalists from Washington, D.C. Dunbar High School (Washington, D.C.) alumni 20th-century African-American people 21st-century African-American writers