Yolanda King, the eldest daughter of slain civil rights leader Martin Luther King, has died at the age of 51.
Family friends said she collapsed and died last night after giving a speech to the American Heart Association about raising awareness for African-American health problems.
She was born in the midst of the Montgomery Bus Boycott sparked by Rosa Parks and was just seven years old when her famous father gave his 'I Have A Dream' speech in the 1963 March on Washington.
In recent years, Ms King had continued the work of her famous father through her organisation Higher Ground Productions.
Her mother, Coretta Scott King, passed away just last year.
'Just being a King in its own right brought about its own stress where she and the entire family was under scrutiny on a daily basis and I think she dealt with it very well,' said Charles Steele, a family friend and president of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, a civil rights organization founded by Martin Luther King.
