A Personal Reflection: Dwania Kyles Shares Her Experience of Dr. Martin Luther King's Final Hours

The death of Martin Luther King affected everyone around the country, even around the world; I had the chance to sit with Dwania Kyles, whose life was directly affected on April 4, 1968.

“I was actually there for the mountain top speech; I was 12 years old,” said Kyles, civil rights activist and Breathing coach. “That was the night that I met him. He actually kissed me on my forehead.”

Her father, Rev. Samuel Kyles, was a civil rights activist in Memphis working very closely with Dr. King, and even though it’s been well over 50 years

“This is one of the first times that I’m probably on camera, I think, or the second, but it has not been a lot because it took a long time for me to be able to talk about it,” said Kyles.

She was just 12 years old at the time of Dr. King’s assassination. However, she remembers the day vividly.

“My dad went to the Lorain motel to pick up Dr. King, Dr. Abernathy, and the rest of the SCLC crew,” said Kyles.

There was an intimate dinner planned at their home before the night’s rally.

“It was only my mother, my grandmother, and maybe two other members, females of the church, and then it was the four of us,” said Kyles.

“My father had gone to the hotel and said, 'ok guys, it’s time for us to go,' It was closer to 5, and Dr. had said no, I’ve already talked to Gwen, and I called, and she dinner was to be served at 6,” said Kyles.

The last hour of his life Dr. King spent with Kyles’ father.

“He tied his tie. My father was the only one that was on the balcony at that time, he literally had said, “Come on guys it’s time for us to go.” And I think he had taken four of five steps away from Dr. King,” said Kyles.

She recalls the group of men coming to her home on that day after the shooting.

“It was one of the first times as a 12-year-old girl that I had ever seen men not cry, but actually weeping and sobbing,” said Kyles.

It would take her close to thirty years to be able to talk about that day.

“If I even thought about it too much, I could talk about it, and I would choke up and start crying,” said Kyles.

Dwania Kyles was also one of the Memphis 13 segregating Memphis schools, today, she serves as president of that organization.