King graduated from
Coleman High School in
Greenville, Mississippi in 1966 and then attended the
University of Mississippi. When King graduated from the University of Mississippi in 1970, he was one of only three
African American students in his graduating class. King has worked as a lawyer in private practice, as a municipal-court judge, as a public prosecutor and as a public defender. In 1979, King was elected to the
Mississippi House of Representatives, serving from 1980 to 1994. In 1994, King was elected to the Mississippi Court of Appeals, where he served until his appointment to the Mississippi Supreme Court in 2011. King is only the 4th African American to serve as a Mississippi Supreme Court Justice in the state's history. ==Judicial service==