Coretta Scott King

Coretta Scott King. "Her-Story". , Coretta Scott King embodied the heart of the American civil rights movement. Mrs. King was not simply the wife of the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., but was a strong advocate for social justice and peace in her own right. Coretta Scott King's legacy and contributions to human rights and social change are timeless. Mrs. King was the driving force in creating the mission of peace fostered by the Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Center for Non-Violent Social Change. Mrs. King's relentless efforts to protect and record the great works of her husband in American civil rights, resulted in creating a federal holiday in his honor, as a direct result of Mrs. King's relentless efforts to make Dr. King's birthday a national holiday, the country now celebrates her husband's birthday as a day dedicated to community service and spiritual renewal., Growing up in Marion, Alabama, she thought her service would come through music and so began developing her musical talent. She played the trumpet and piano and sang in the chorus, appearing as a soloist in recitals and musical productions while studying voice. She got her chance to leave the segregated South when she won a scholarship to join her sister as one of the few Black students at Antioch College in Yellow Springs, Ohio, where she joined the college's NAACP chapter and Race Relations and Civil Liberties Committee. Encouraged to study voice full-time, she was accepted by Boston's New England Conservatory of Music, earning a music degree with a major in Voice and minor in Violin and met a young preacher pursuing his Ph.D. at Boston University, Martin Luther King, Jr., On June 18, 1953, Coretta and Martin married and in September took up residence in Montgomery, Alabama, where she assumed the many functions of a pastor's wife at Dexter Avenue Baptist Church. Mrs. King focused on raising their children: Yolanda Denise (b. 1955), Martin Luther III (b. 1957), Dexter Scott (b. 1961), and Bernice Albertine (b. 1963). Balancing her between mothering and movement work, speaking engagements before church, civic, college, fraternal and peace groups., Even before she met Martin, Coretta was involved in the peace movement, and, because of this she was the first to convince him to speak out against the Vietnam War. In 1957, she and Dr. King journeyed to Ghana to mark that country's independence. Dr. and Mrs. King spent nearly a month in India in 1959 on a pilgrimage to visit sites associated with Mahatma Gandhi, and to meet with his disciples., In 1960, the family moved to Atlanta, where King joined his father as co-pastor at the Ebenezer Baptist Church. To help raise funds for the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, the nonviolent direct action organization where Dr. King served as first president, Mrs. King conceived and performed a series of favorably reviewed freedom concerts which combined prose and poetry narration with musical selections., After her husband's assassination in 1968, Coretta Scott King did not retreat into grief with her young children - her youngest barely five years old. Instead, Mrs. King declared that her husband was the victim of a conspiracy by his own government. She stepped into the forefront of the civil rights movement to continue her husband's legacy. Her journey began the day before his funeral, as she led the sanitation worker's march he had gone to Memphis to support., Mrs. King devoted the rest of her life to preserving Dr. King's legacy, developing and building the Atlanta-based Martin Luther King, Jr. Center for Nonviolent Social Change as a living memorial to her husband's life and nonviolent philosophy. As the founding president, chair, and chief operating executive officer, she dedicated herself to providing local, national and international programs that have trained tens of thousands of people in the philosophy and methods of nonviolence. The recipient of more than 50 major awards and doctorates from over 40 colleges and universities, Mrs. King also authored My Life with Martin Luther King, Jr. in 1969 and edited a book of her husband's writings, The Words of Martin Luther King, Jr. published in 1983., Through her international speaking platform and leadership for nonviolent social change, Mrs. King carried her message of hope and healing across the nation and throughout the world, meeting with great spiritual leaders worldwide. She stood alongside Nelson Mandela when he claimed victory in South Africa's first free elections. Believing that "all forms of bigotry and discrimination are equally wrong," Mrs. King spoke out against homophobia and for gay and lesbian rights., An advocate of interracial movements for nonviolent social change, in 1974 Mrs. King co-founded a broad coalition of over 100 religious, labor, business, civil, and women rights organizations dedicated to a national policy of full employment and equal economic opportunity. To commemorate the 20th anniversary of conscience, bringing together 750 organizations in the largest nonviolent civil and human rights coalition in U.S. human rights coalition in U.S. history. The number one legislative priority was the Martin Luther King, Jr. Holiday Bill, which Congress passed approximately three weeks later., Two weeks before her death in January 2006, Coretta Scott King spoke at a dinner honoring her late husband. Her funeral, televised around the world, had 14,000 in attendance including then President George W. Bush and former Presidents Carter and Clinton. Mrs. King was the first woman and Black person to lie in state in the Georgia state capital. As she wished, she rests beside her husband on the grounds of the King Center in Atlanta, Georgia.