CORETTA SCOTT KING
G'day folks,
Welcome to the life and times of a famous woman. Coretta Scott King was an American author, activist, and civil
rights leader, and the wife of Martin Luther King, Jr. from 1953 until
his death in 1968. Coretta Scott King helped lead the African-American
Civil Rights Movement in the 1960s.
Synopsis
Coretta
Scott King was an American civil rights activist and the wife of civil rights
leader Martin Luther King Jr. She established a distinguished career in
activism in her own right. Working side-by-side with her husband, she took part
in the Montgomery Bus Boycott and worked to pass the Civil Rights Act. After
King's death, she founded the Center for Nonviolent Social Change in Atlanta.
Early Life
Coretta
Scott King was born Coretta Scott on April 27, 1927, in Marion, Alabama. In her
early life, Coretta was as well known for her singing and violin playing as her
civil rights activism. She attended Lincoln High School, graduating as the
school's valedictorian in 1945, and then enrolled at Antioch College in Yellow
Springs, Ohio, where she received a Bachelor of Arts degree in music and
education. After graduating from Antioch, Coretta was awarded a fellowship to
the New England Conservatory of Music in Boston, Massachusetts, the city where
she would meet her future husband, famed civil rights leader Martin Luther King
Jr. (At the time, Martin Luther King Jr. was studying theology at Boston
University.)
Coretta
earned her second collegiate degree, in voice and violin, from the New England
Conservatory of Music in the early 1950s. Not long after, on June 18, 1953,
Coretta and Martin married and moved to Montgomery, Alabama, where he served as
pastor of Dexter Avenue Baptist Church and she, subsequently, oversaw the
various tasks of a pastor's wife.
Civil Rights Activist
Working
side-by-side with her husband throughout the 1950s and '60s, Coretta took part
in the Montgomery Bus Boycott of 1955, journeyed to Ghana to mark that nation's
independence in 1957, traveled to India on a pilgrimage in 1959 and worked to
pass the 1964 Civil Rights Act, among other civil-rights-related work.
Though
best known for working alongside her husband, Coretta established a
distinguished career in activism in her own right. Among many roles, she worked
as a public mediator and as a liaison to peace and justice organizations.
On April
4, 1968, while standing on a balcony outside of the Lorraine Motel in Memphis,
Tennessee, Martin Luther King Jr. was struck and killed by a sniper's bullet.
The shooter, a malcontent drifter and former convict named James Earl Ray, was hunted
for nearly two months before he was apprehended. King's assassination sparked
riots and demonstrations in more than 100 cities across the country.
Following
her husband's assassination, Coretta continued their work. She founded the
Martin Luther King Jr. Center for Nonviolent Social Change, based in Atlanta,
Georgia, serving as the center's president and chief executive officer from its
inception. In 1980, a 23-acre site around Martin Luther King Jr.'s birthplace
was designated for use by the King Center. The following year, a museum complex
was dedicated on the site.
In 1995,
Coretta passed the reins of the King Center over to her son, Dexter, but she
remained in the public eye for several years thereafter, until her death in
2006. She wrote regular articles on social issues and published a syndicated
column, and was also a regular commentator on CNN (beginning in 1980). In 1997,
she called for a retrial for her husband's alleged assassin, James Earl Ray
(Ray died in prison before the trial could be effected, on April 23, 1998).
Coretta
was also behind the 15-year fight to have her husband's birthday instituted as
a national holiday—President Ronald Reagan finally signed the bill in 1983,
thusly creating "Martin Luther King Day." Additionally, she published
a memoir, My Life with Martin Luther King, Jr., in 1969.
Coretta
and Martin Luther King Jr. had four children together: Yolanda Denise (b.
1955), an actress; Martin Luther King III (b. 1957), who now serves as
president of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference; Dexter Scott (b.
1961), who runs the King Library and Archive; and Bernice Albertine (b. 1963),
a lawyer and Baptist minister.
Coretta
Scott King suffered a heart attack and stroke in August 2005. She died less than
a year later, on January 30, 2006, at the age of 78, in Playas de Rosarito,
Mexico.
Today,
King is remembered for her brave work on behalf of civil rights in the United
States. Her life has been an inspiration to many over the past several years,
and will continue to inspire for decades to come. She once said, "I
believe all Americans who believe in freedom, tolerance and human rights have a
responsibility to oppose bigotry and prejudice based on sexual
orientation."
Clancy's comments: They say that behind every successful man is a great woman. History will record that to be true in so many cases.
I'm ...
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