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Revision as of 01:22, 30 April 2007

Coretta Scott King
Occupation(s)First Lady of the Civil Rights Movement; Equal Rights Activist
SpouseThe Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
Children______________________ ______________________

Coretta Scott King (April 27, 1927 – January 30, 2006) was the wife of the assassinated civil rights activist Martin Luther King, Jr., and a noted community leader in her own right.

Childhood

The second of three children, Mrs. King was born as Coretta Scott in Heiberger,[1] Alabama. She had an older sister Edythe and a younger brother Obadiah Leonard. Her parents were Obadiah Scott and Bernice McMurry [she was called Scott]. Though her family owned the land, it was often a hard life.[citation needed] All the children had to pick cotton during the Great Depression to help the family make ends meet. She also had to raise vegetables for food.[citation needed]

Education

Though uneducated themselves, Coretta's parents intended their children to be educated, including their daughters. Mrs. King quoted her mother as having said, "My children are going to college, even if it means they only have but one dress to put on."

Coretta followed her sister Edythe to Lincoln High School in Marion, which King described as "a unique educational institution....The Lincoln School was undoubtedly one of the finest schools in the entire south." Graduating at the top of her class in 1945, Scott went to Antioch College in Yellow Springs, Ohio.

As in high school, Coretta followed her sister's lead. As part of a racial integration program that Antioch College instituted in 1943, Edythe was admitted there, with full scholarship. According to Mrs. King:

Antioch had envisioned itself as a laboratory in democracy, but had no black students. (Edythe) became the first African American to attend Antioch on a completely integrated basis, and was joined by two other black female students in the fall of 1943. Pioneering is never easy, and all of us who followed my sister at Antioch owe her a great debt of gratitude.college.edu/Antiochian/archive/Antiochian_2004fall/reunion/king/index.html

Coretta studied music with Walter Anderson, the first black department chair in a college which was not historically black.

While in college, Coretta became politically active, due largely to her experience of racial discrimination by the local school board. The board denied her request to perform two years of required practice teaching at Yellow Springs public schools, for her teaching certificate. (She completed them at a private school run by Antioch College, instead.)

This was a very difficult experience and it made me determined to become more involved in addressing issues of social and political injustice. I had been active in the Ohio Progressive Party and I attended my first National Political Convention in 1948 as a student delegate. I was already a member of the campus NAACP, Race Relations and Civil Liberties Committees, and I was also active in political and peace activities at Antioch. I developed a growing sense that I would become increasingly involved in the work of social reform. [1]

After graduation she won a scholarship to the New England Conservatory of Music to study vocal performance at the New England Conservatory in Boston, where she met Martin Luther King, Jr.[2] Time magazine referred to her as "a talented young soprano." [2]

Life

The Kings were married on June 18, 1953 on the lawn of her parents' house; the ceremony was performed by King's father. After completing her degree in voice and violin at the New England Conservatory, she moved with her husband to Montgomery, Alabama in September 1954 after he was named pastor of the Dexter Avenue Baptist Church.

The Kings had four children:

All four children later followed in their parents' footsteps as civil rights activists.

File:AKAshield1.gif

Coretta Scott King received honorary degrees from many institutions including Princeton University, Duke University, and Bates College. She was a member of Alpha Kappa Alpha, a noted African-American sorority.

Civil Rights Movement

Coretta Scott King played an extremely important role in the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s. Martin wrote of Coretta, "I am indebted to my wife Coretta, without whose love, sacrifices, and loyalty neither life nor work would bring fulfillment. She has given me words of consolation when I needed them and a well-ordered home where Christian love is a reality." Martin was in conflict with his wife about her role in the movement. She wanted to become much more involved in the movement; he wanted her to stay home and raise their children.

Mrs. King successfully carried on the Civil Rights legacy of her husband for decades after his assassination in 1968.

Life after Martin Luther King's assassination

Martin Luther King Day

Coretta Scott King, along with Rosalynn Carter, Andrew Young, Jimmy Carter, and other civil rights leaders during a visit to Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta, January 14, 1979.

After her husband was assassinated in 1968, she began attending a commemorative service at Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta to mark her husband's birth every January 15 and fought for years to make it a national holiday, a quest that was realized in 1986, when the first Martin Luther King Day was celebrated.

Coretta Scott King attended the state funeral of Lyndon B. Johnson, in 1973, as a very close friend of the former president, himself a contributor to civil rights. She was also present when President Ronald Reagan signed legislation establishing Martin Luther King Day.

Opposition to apartheid

During the 1980s, King reaffirmed her long-standing opposition to apartheid, participating in a series of sit-in protests in Washington, D.C. that prompted nationwide demonstrations against South African racial policies.

In 1986, she traveled to South Africa and met with Winnie Mandela, while Mandela's husband Nelson Mandela was still a political prisoner on Robben Island (Carson 2006, Wiltz 2006). She declined invitations from Pik Botha and moderate Zulu chief Buthelezi.[3] Upon her return to the United States, she urged Reagan to approve sanctions against South Africa.

Peace, veganism and other political positions

A long-time advocate for world peace, in 1957, King was one of the founders of The Committee for a Sane Nuclear Policy.

King called her adoption of a vegan diet in 1995 a blessing. Her son, Dexter, had been vegan since 1988, saying that an appreciation for animal rights is the "logical extension" of his father's philosophy of non-violence.

King was vocal in her opposition to capital punishment and the 2003 invasion of Iraq, thus drawing criticism from conservative groups. She was also an advocate of women's rights, lesbian and gay rights and HIV/AIDS prevention.

LGBT equality

File:Kingbush.JPG
King and President George W. Bush

On April 1, 1998 at The Palmer House Hilton in Chicago, Mrs. King called on the civil rights community to join in the struggle against homophobia and anti-gay bias. "Homophobia is like racism and anti-Semitism and other forms of bigotry in that it seeks to dehumanize a large group of people, to deny their humanity, their dignity and personhood", King stated. "This sets the stage for further repression and violence that spread all too easily to victimize the next minority group."

In November 2003 in a speech at the opening session of the 13th annual Creating Change conference, organized by the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force, Mrs. King made her now famous appeal linking the Civil Rights Movement to the LGBT agenda: "I still hear people say that I should not be talking about the rights of lesbian and gay people.... But I hasten to remind them that Martin Luther King Jr. said, 'Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.' I appeal to everyone who believes in Martin Luther King Jr.’s dream, to make room at the table of brotherhood and sisterhood for lesbian and gay people."

Mrs. King continued, "It is encouraging that we have seen more gay and lesbian candidates elected to political office. It is important for lesbian and gay officeholders and their constituencies to achieve greater visibility as supporters of laws that benefit the entire community. I think this will help educate the American public that lesbian and gay people seek the same goals of quality education for young people, cleaner air and water, safe streets and better health care that straight people want. We have to work harder for the broader vision of the compassionate and caring society that demands decent living standards for all citizens."

Mrs. King responded to black pastors critical of her support of equal rights for the LGBT community. She called her critics "misinformed" and said that Martin Luther King's message to the world was one of equality and inclusion. In 2003, she invited the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force to take part in observances of the 40th anniversary of the March on Washington and Dr. Martin Luther King's "I Have A Dream" speech.

It was the first time that an LGBT rights group had been invited to a major event of the African American community.

King said her husband supported the quest for equality by gays and reminded her critics that the 1963 March on Washington was organized by Bayard Rustin, an openly gay civil rights activist.

On March 23, 2004, she told a audience at Richard Stockton University in Pomona, N.J, that same-sex marriage is a civil rights issue. Mrs. King denounced a proposed amendment advanced by President George W. Bush to the Constitution that would ban equal marriage rights for same-sex couples.

In her speech King also criticized a group of black pastors in her home state of Georgia for backing a bill to amend that state's constitution to block gay and lesbian couples from marrying.

Mrs. King is quoted as saying "Gay and lesbian people have families, and their families should have legal protection, whether by marriage or civil union. A constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriages is a form of gay bashing and it would do nothing at all to protect traditional marriage."

Coretta Scott King Award

The 'Coretta Scott King Award', a medal presented by the American Library Association, is awarded to African American writers and illustrators for outstanding and inspirational educational contributions in children's literature.

During the 1980s, King reaffirmed her long-standing opposition to apartheid, participating in a series of sit-in protests in Washington, D.C. that prompted nationwide demonstrations against South African racial policies.

In 1986, she traveled to South Africa and met with Winnie Mandela, while Mandela's husband Nelson Mandela was still a political prisoner on Robben Island (Carson 2006, Wiltz 2006). She declined invitations from Pik Botha and moderate Zulu chief Buthelezi.[3] Upon her return to the United States, she urged Reagan to approve sanctions against South Africa.

The King Center

Established in 1968 by Mrs. King, The King Center is the official memorial dedicated to the advancement of the legacy and ideas of Martin Luther King, Jr., leader of a nonviolent movement for justice, equality and peace.[4]

Mission

As the institutional guardian of Dr. King's legacy, the King Center, in collaboration with other organizations, focuses on the following areas:

  • The development and dissemination of programs that educate the world about Dr. King’s philosophy and methods of nonviolence, human relations, service to mankind, and related ideas;
  • Building a national and international network of organizations that, through sanctioned programs, promote, complement, and help further the organization’s mission and objectives of building the Beloved Community that Dr. King envisioned
  • Functioning as the clearinghouse for non-profit organizations and government agencies which utilize Dr. King’s image and writings for programs and ensuring that the programs are historically and interpretively accurate;
  • Monitoring and reporting on the impact of Dr. King’s legacy on the world.[5]

Programs and services

The King Center has a wide variety of programs and services in place to fulfill the organization's mission of building Dr. King's "Beloved Community."[6]

These programs and services include:

  • The Beloved Community Network
  • Nonviolence or Nonexistence Online Learning Program
  • Re-Ignite the Dream Campaign: Building the Beloved Community through Service
  • King and the Modern Civil Rights Museum Scholar and Historian Research Program
  • The King Papers Project
  • Education through Exploration Visitor Services Program
  • Annual Martin Luther King, Jr. Holiday Service Summit

Final days

Coretta Scott King's grave, Atlanta, Georgia

By the end of her 77th year, King began experiencing health problems. Hospitalized in April 2005, she was diagnosed with a heart condition and was discharged on her 78th and final birthday. Later, King suffered several small strokes. On August 16 2005, King was hospitalized after suffering a stroke and a mild heart attack. Initially, she was unable to speak or move her right side. She was released from Piedmont Hospital in Atlanta on September 22, 2005, after regaining some of her speech and continued physiotherapy at home. Due to continuing health problems, King cancelled a number of speaking engagements throughout the remainder of 2005. Because of complications from the stroke, she was apparently unable to make her wishes known regarding the ongoing debate as to whether of the King Center would continue to operate independently or be sold to the National Park Service.[7] On January 14 2006, Mrs. King made her last public appearance in Atlanta at a dinner honoring her husband's memory.

Death

Mrs. King died in the late evening of January 30, 2006[8] at a rehabilitation center in Rosarito Beach, Mexico, where she was undergoing holistic therapy for her stroke and advanced stage ovarian cancer. The main cause of death is believed to be respiratory failure. King was 78.[9] The clinic at which she passed away was the 'Hospital Santa Monica.' However, it was licensed as 'Clinica Santo Tomas.' Newspaper reports indicated that it was 'not licensed to provide much more than basic walk-in medical services.' The clinic was not legally licensed to 'perform surgery, take X-rays, perform laboratory work or run an internal pharmacy, all of which it was doing.' It was also founded, owned, and operated by San Diego resident, and highly controversial[10][11] alternative medicine figure, Kurt Donsbach. Days after Mrs. King's death, the Baja California, Mexico state medical commissioner, Dr. Francisco Vera, shut down the clinic.[12]

Funeral

Over 14,000 people gathered for King's six-hour funeral at the New Birth Missionary Baptist Church in Lithonia, Georgia on February 7, 2006 where daughter Bernice King is an elder. The megachurch whose sanctuary seats 10,000 was better able to handle the expected massive crowds than Ebenezer Baptist Church where King had been a member since the early 1960s up to her death and which was the site of Martin Luther King, Jr.'s funeral in 1968.

The current and most former U.S. Presidents and their wives attended, excepting the Ford family (illness) and Barbara Bush (conflict with speech in Orlando). Numerous other political and prominent civil rights leaders attended the televised service.

Mrs. King was buried in a temporary mausoleum on the grounds of the King Center until a permanent place next to her husband's remains could be built. [3] She had expressed to family members and others that she wanted her remains to lie next to her husband's at the King Center. On November 20, 2006 the new mausoleum containing both the bodies of Dr. and Mrs King was unveiled in front of friends and family. It is the third resting place of Martin Luther King.

Controversy surrounding funeral

President Carter and Rev. Joseph Lowery provided funeral orations. With President George W. Bush seated a few feet away, Rev. Lowery, referencing King's vocal opposition to the Iraq war, noted the failure to find weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. President Carter, referencing King's lifelong struggle for civil rights, noted that her family had been the target of secret government wiretapping. Their comments were met with thunderous applause and standing ovations. Some conservatives expressed dissatisfaction with these comments.

Mrs. King's fight against homophobia resulted in a funeral protest by Fred Phelps' Westboro Baptist Church, who described King as a "fag enabler" because of her support for gay rights. A group called 'Feminist Outlawz' mounted a counter-protest against Phelps' group. [4][5].

Tributes

President George W. Bush opened his State of the Union address the night of January 31, 2006, by paying tribute to her. On February 6, Bush issued a proclamation [6] flags to be flown at half staff throughout the day of King's interment, February 7.

King's body was returned to Atlanta and carried through the streets on a horse-drawn carriage to the Georgia State Capitol as the crowd threw roses at the casket and a lone bagpiper played "Amazing Grace"; King became the first woman and black person to lie in state at the Georgia State Capitol. (see [7]). King's body also lay at historic Ebenezer Baptist Church (where her husband was pastor).

The beginning of Super Bowl XL was marked by a moment of silence in memory of King and Rosa Parks.

The National Gay and Lesbian Task Force issued a press release honoring the memory of the late Mrs. King. "Mrs. King worked tirelessly after her husband's death in 1968 to carry on his legacy of social justice activism. She was a steadfast ally in the struggle for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) rights, and was honored by the Task Force in 1997 for her support of the cause. In addition, Mrs. King was a featured speaker at the Task Force's Creating Change 2000, where she rallied hundreds of activists gathered for the country's largest LGBT rights organizing conference. In 2003, her son, Martin Luther King III, was personally responsible for inviting Task Force Executive Director Matt Foreman to join Mrs. King to speak from the podium at the 40th anniversary of the 1963 Civil Rights March on Washington." [8]

"Mrs. King was a symbol of hope, of faith, of character and strength", said Ray Daniels, a spokesperson for The National Black Justice Coalition, the nation's largest Black LGBT rights organization. "Her ceaseless struggles to achieve equality for all will surely be missed. We salute her determination and her never ending struggle for equal rights for all," said Daniels.

Human Rights Campaign President Joe Solmonese made the following statement on the passing of civil rights leader Coretta Scott King. "Once in a lifetime God grants us with the ability to witness an extraordinary life dedicated to justice. With Coretta Scott King and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., God smiled on us and fortunately granted us two," said Solmonese. "When her husband was killed, Mrs. King assumed her husband’s role as the guiding light that led the way toward a more equal nation. She performed that role with enormous grace and strength, never relenting in the movement for civil rights. She saw justice as a birthright and lent her voice as a relentless advocate for all fair-minded Americans, gay or straight, black or white. We join the nation in mourning the loss of a great hero and give enormous gratitude for all that she’s left behind. Often speaking of the importance of civil rights for gay and lesbian people, Coretta Scott King said in March of 1998, "I still hear people say that I should not be talking about the rights of lesbian and gay people and I should stick to the issue of racial justice. ... But I hasten to remind them that Martin Luther King Jr. said, 'Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.'" Coretta Scott King also supported a federal bill prohibiting anti-gay discrimination."

A proposal before the Atlanta City Council (as of April 2006) would rename Atlanta's Simpson Street/Road after Mrs. King. [9] The road bisects the Vine City neighborhood, a long time residence of Mrs. King and, earlier, the King family.

Senate Resolution 362

Upon the news of her death, moments of reflection, remembrance, and mourning began around the world. In the United States Senate, Majority Leader Bill Frist presented Senate Resolution 362 on behalf all U.S. Senators, with the afternoon hours filled with respectful tributes throughout the U.S. Capitol.

House Resolution 655

On January 31, 2006 following a moment of silence in memoriam to the death of King, the United States House of Representatives presented House Resolution 655 in honor of Mrs. King's legacy. The remembrances that followed were both emotional and poignant. John Lewis (D-Georgia) stated:

I first met Mrs. King in 1957 when I was only 17. I was a student in Nashville, Tennessee. She was traveling around America, especially in cities of the South telling the story of the Montgomery movement through song. She was so beautiful, so inspiring, she would sing a little, and she would talk a little, and through her singing and talks she inspired an entire generation.

In an unusual action, the resolution included a grace period of five days in which further comments could be added to it.

Criticism

Mrs. King was not without her detractors, particular concerning the King family's handling of her husband's estate. The licensing of Martin Luther King's speeches has caused concern about the reasoning behind limiting their availability. Mrs. King was also involved in the decision to demand licensing fees before the Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity could begin fundraising for its project to build the Martin Luther King, Jr. National Memorial on the National Mall.

References

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  1. ^ a b Coretta Scott King at Thomson Gale
  2. ^ http://www.abcnews.go.com/US/print?id=1560208
  3. ^ http://www.opinion.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?view=DETAILS&grid=&xml=/news/2006/02/01/db0101.xml
  4. ^ http://www.thekingcenter.org/tkc/index.asp
  5. ^ http://www.thekingcenter.org/tkc/mission.asp
  6. ^ http://www.thekingcenter.org/prog/index.asp
  7. ^ http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-king14jan14,0,5566266.story?coll=la-home-nation]
  8. ^ http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/11110291/
  9. ^ http://www.11alive.com/news/news_article.aspx?storyid=75455
  10. ^ Clinic, founder operate outside norm, Atlanta Journal-Constitution, 02/01/06
  11. ^ The Shady Activities of Kurt Donsbach
  12. ^ McKinley, James C., Jr. (2006). "Mexico Closes Alternative Care Clinic Where Mrs. King Died" New York Times

Trivia

  • Scott King received honorary degrees from many institutions including Princeton University and Bates College.

External links

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