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

The Washington Post ''The Washington Post'' (also known as the ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'') is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C. It is the most widely circulated newspaper within the Washington metropolitan area and has a large n ...

'' 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 one of the oldest late 18th- and 19th-century neighborhoods in Washington, D.C., located west of the White House and downtown Washington, in the Northwest quadrant. It is bounded roughly by 17th Street NW to the east, Rock C ...

neighborhood of Washington, DC. 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 -- commonly pronounced "JAY-rotsee") 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 acr ...

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

Bachelor of Arts Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four yea ...

degree in government from

Howard University Howard University (Howard) is a Private university, private, University charter#Federal, federally chartered historically black research university in Washington, D.C. It is Carnegie Classification of Institutions of Higher Education, classifie ...

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," ...

in the

United States Army Adjutant General's Corps The Adjutant General's Corps, formerly the Adjutant General's Department, is a branch of the United States Army first established in 1775. This branch provides personnel service support by manning the force, providing human resources services, c ...

, then worked as special officer for the

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

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

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

). 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 grants to the governments of low- and middle-income countries for the purpose of pursuing capital projects. The World Bank is the collective name for the Inte ...

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. 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 Mary Ellen Greenfield (December 27, 1930 – May 13, 1999), known as Meg Greenfield, was an American editorial writer who worked for the '' Washington Post'' and '' Newsweek''. She was also a Washington, D.C. insider, known for her wit. Greenfi ...

. 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 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. 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 agency of the U.S. federal government that administers Social Security, a social insurance program consisting of retirement, disability and survivor benefits. To qualify fo ...

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 a daily sports news television program that serves as the flagship program and brand of American cable and satellite television network ESPN. The show covers various sports teams and athletes from around the world and of ...

and News at

ESPN ESPN (originally an initialism for Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) is an American international basic cable sports channel owned by ESPN Inc., owned jointly by The Walt Disney Company (80%) and Hearst Communications (20%). The ...

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. Adjacent to the National Mall in Washington, D.C., the USHMM provides for the documentation, study, and interpretation of Holocaust hi ...

, 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 People from Washington, D.C. Dunbar High School (Washington, D.C.) alumni 20th-century African-American people 21st-century African-American writers