Coretta Scott King

Coretta was born on April 27, 1927 in Heiberger, Alabama. During the depression she had to distribute to the family income by hoeing and picking cotton. She entered Antioch College in Yellow Springs, Ohio in 1945 there she majored in education and music. Coretta wanted to peruse a teaching career in public schools in town. She found she would not be allowed to work there.

When meeting Martin Luther King Jr. she was thrust immediately into romance. They married and by 1964 they were the parents of four children: Yolanda, Martin Luther III, Dexter Scott, and Bernice Albertine. Through the years of their childhood, Coretta accomplished teaching and fund-raising for the SCLC ( The Southern Christian Leadership Conference).

After Martin Luther King's assassination she had many speeches, including her speech on Solidarity Day on June 19, 1968. In her speech she wanted women to "unite and form a solid block of women power" and to get past the evils of racism, poverty, and war. Today she devotes herself to the Martin Luther King Jr. Center for Social Change in Atlanta. Coretta Scott King continues to carry on her husband's message of love: "The greatest birthday gift my husband could receive is if people of all racial and ethnic backgrounds celebrated the holiday by performing individual acts of kindness through service to others." "Remember it is not a day off, it is a day on" states Coretta Scott King.

Coretta Scott King died in January 31, 2006 as a result of complications froma  stoke and cancer, suffered in the years before her death. learn more about Coretta Scott King at http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,1154673,00.html
View a photo gallery from CNN: http://www.cnn.com/interactive/us/0601/gallery.coretta.king/frameset.exclude.html

 

Angela Davis

Coretta Scott King

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