Coretta Scott King: April 27, 1927 - Jan. 30, 2006
On Tuesday Coretta Scott King, wife of late Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., died in Roasrito, Mexico. Cause of death was listed as respitory failure by her doctors. She had previously been diagnosed with ovarian cancer, and in August had suffered a stroke and heart attack. The funeral will be held at New Birth Missionary Baptist Church in Lithonia, GA. The church will hopefully be able to facilitate the large turnout expected. The family is thinking of burying her body at Southview cemetary, a historically black cemetary, where MLK Jr. was once buried, and Martin Luther King Jr.'s parents and maternal grandparents are buried.
Coretta Scott King was born on April 27, 1927, in Heiberger, AL. She grew up on a farm that had been in her family since the Civil War. She lived a poor childhood, where she was educated. She later attended Antioch College, where King studied music and education. She never found her race a barrier until she began her career as a teacher. Local public schools would not hire black teachers, adn despite her protests, nobody would listen. In 1951 she decided to study music rather than teach. She attended New England Conservatory of Music, where she met Martin Luther King Jr. They married in 1953, and moved to Montgomery, AL. She stood next to her husbad during marches, speaches, travels, and even stood in for him during speaches when he was unable. In 1962, Mrs. King as a delegate at the Disarmament Conference in Geneva on behalf of the Women's Strike for Peace. After her husbands death in 1968, she took his place leading marches, giving speaches, and resding on comittes as he would have. She raised funds for the por, uneducated, and those discrimitated against. It is hard to say that MLK Jr. would have become the man we knew him as if he had not known Coretta.
Coretta Scott King was born on April 27, 1927, in Heiberger, AL. She grew up on a farm that had been in her family since the Civil War. She lived a poor childhood, where she was educated. She later attended Antioch College, where King studied music and education. She never found her race a barrier until she began her career as a teacher. Local public schools would not hire black teachers, adn despite her protests, nobody would listen. In 1951 she decided to study music rather than teach. She attended New England Conservatory of Music, where she met Martin Luther King Jr. They married in 1953, and moved to Montgomery, AL. She stood next to her husbad during marches, speaches, travels, and even stood in for him during speaches when he was unable. In 1962, Mrs. King as a delegate at the Disarmament Conference in Geneva on behalf of the Women's Strike for Peace. After her husbands death in 1968, she took his place leading marches, giving speaches, and resding on comittes as he would have. She raised funds for the por, uneducated, and those discrimitated against. It is hard to say that MLK Jr. would have become the man we knew him as if he had not known Coretta.
posted by Anonymous | 4:30 PM
1 Comments:
Nice post on Mrs. King.
Her main achievements were: 1) being a dignified cusodian of her husband's memory; 2) establishing the MLK Center for Non-Violent Social Change here in Atlanta (unfortunately not much has happened there for a couple of decades -- it has been under-funded and unproductive under her childrens' hands); and 3) leading the cause for the establishment of the MLK holiday.
Your post portrays her as more of a civil rights leader/activist than she really was. She did want to do more while MLK was alive. After his death, she was not a movement leader.
Her tough job, and the one she did well for much longer (38 yrs) than she was married to her husband (15 yrs), was to be a symbol. That she was, and we should honor her memory for doing it.
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