Rev Bernice A King, the daughter of Dr Martin Luther King Jr, will be in Bermuda next month to speak at the 50th anniversary celebration of the Electricity Supply Trade Union.

The ESTU was born from the Belco strike in 1965 and continues to represent workers at Belco and Bermuda Gas.

Its 50th anniversary is on April 11 but the dinner and awards ceremony will be held on May 2 at the Fairmont Southampton so that Dr King can be there.

Spokeswoman Jodi Lewis explained that Dr King, who was born in 1963, shared a similar legacy to many people who head up the union movement in Bermuda today, who were also young children when the civil rights movement led by her father was at its height.

“It was such a pivotal year in 1965, so it all fits,” she said. “There is a lot to reflect on, of where we’ve been and how far we’ve come — and looking at what the next 50 years will hold.”

The members of the ESTU wanted a dynamic speaker for this anniversary, explained Ms Lewis, and Dr King, like her father, is known as a powerful, motivating and life-changing orator who, it has been said, leaves her audiences speechless.

When the ESTU invited Dr King to speak at the anniversary dinner, her response was one of excitement, said Ms Lewis.

It will be a return visit as she has travelled to the Island at least once before, when she came with her mother, Coretta Scott King, but that was many years ago.

Dr King is the chief executive officer of the King Centre, which was founded by her mother in 1968 to commemorate the work of her father.

She was appointed to the top role in January 2012 by its board of trustees.

The youngest daughter of Dr and Mrs King, she spoke at the United Nations when she was 17.She has also spoken at the White House, DuPont Corp, Warner-Lambert Corporation, at universities throughout the US, the Department of Defence, the Salvation Army, and around the world including Sydney, Australia, Lubeck, Germany, Auckland, New Zealand and South Africa.

The gala event will be held at Fairmont Southampton’s Mid-Ocean Amphitheatre and doors open at 6pm for registration, photographs and hors d’oeuvres.

Bermuda’s Troika and Ameina Lewis are slated to perform.

As well as celebrating their anniversary with the gala, members will be commemorating it by volunteering with the Coalition for the Protection of Children, the Eliza DoLittle Society and the Salvation Army during the week of April 27 to May 1.

Tickets go on sale on April 6, 2015 and can be purchased at Kit N Caboodle, Fabulous Fashions or delivery by calling 400-5634.