"As one whose husband and mother-in-law have both died the victims of murder assassination, I stand firmly and unequivocally opposed to the death penalty for those convicted of capital offenses. An evil deed is not redeemed by an evil deed of retaliation. Justice is never advanced in the taking of a human life. Morality is never upheld by legalized murder."
Coretta Scott King was more than just the wife of a legend, she was a singer, an organizer and an activist in her own right, pledging her support to nonviolence, tolerance and equality for all races, genders and classes. The widow of one of the most influential leaders in the world, Coretta Scott King provided Martin Luther King, Jr. with what he called the ‘‘love, sacrifices, and loyalty [without which] neither life nor work would bring fulfillment’’ (King, Stride 11). An activist in her own right, Coretta King made numerous contributions to the struggle for social justice and human rights throughout her life.
Coretta Scott was born on 27 April 1927, near Marion, Alabama. Her parents, Obadiah ‘‘Obie’’ Scott and Bernice McMurray Scott, were farm owners committed to ensuring that their children received the best education possible. Scott attended the private Lincoln High School in Marion, where she developed her interest in music. There she took formal vocal lessons, learned to read music, and played several instruments. By the age of 15, she had become the choir director and pianist of her church’s junior choir. Growing up in rural Alabama, Coretta saw discrimination everywhere, from the segregated movie theaters to the school buses only white children could ride.
Like most families of the Depression Era, the Scotts struggled. Coretta, her brother and sister picked cotton to help with the finances. But her parents were resourceful. She told the Academy of Achievement, “My mother always told me that I was going to go to college, even if she didn’t have but one dress to put on.”
Coretta graduated first in her class at Lincoln High School. Scott won a partial scholarship to Antioch College, in Yellow Springs, Ohio, the same university her sister Edythe had attended as the first African American student. While at Antioch, Scott studied voice and music education. She also became a member of the local chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, as well as the Race Relations and Civil Liberties Committees. In an article, ‘‘Why I Came to College,’’ published in Opportunity in 1948, Scott wrote that college graduates, ‘‘had greater freedom of movement: they went on trips; they visited cities; they knew more about the world’’. She later credited Antioch with preparing her for her role in the civil rights movement, stating that ‘‘the college’s emphasis on service to mankind reinforced the Christian spirit of giving and sharing’’ and provided ‘‘a new self-assurance that encouraged me in competition with all people’’.
In 1951, Scott enrolled in Boston’s New England Conservatory of Music with a grant from the Jessie Smith Noyes Foundation. In early 1952, her friend Mary Powell introduced her to King, then a doctoral candidate at Boston University’s School of Theology. While initially wary of dating a Baptist minister, she was impressed by his sophistication and intellect and recalled King telling her: ‘‘You have everything I have ever wanted in a wife’’ King wooed her saying, “The four things that I look for in a wife are character, personality, intelligence and beauty. And you have them all.”
Having decided to become a concert singer, Scott was reluctant to give up her career to be a preacher’s wife, but King proposed. Six months later she accepted. When they married in 1953, the future Mrs. King asked King’s father, also a reverend, to strike the word “obey” from her vows; though taken aback, he conceded.The two were married at the Scott family home near Marion on 18 June 1953. After the wedding, they returned to Boston to complete their degrees. Coretta Scott King earned her bachelor of music degree in June 1954.
Although Coretta Scott King was focused on raising the couple’s four children
, she continued to play a critical role in many of the civil rights campaigns of the 1950s and 1960s, performing in freedom concerts that included poetry recitation, singing, and lectures related to the history of the civil rights movement. The proceeds from these concerts were donated to the Southern Christian Leadership Conference.
After Dr.King’s assassination on 4 April 1968, Coretta Scott King devoted much of her life to spreading her husband’s philosophy of nonviolence. Just days after his death, she led a march on behalf of sanitation workers in Memphis, Tennessee. Later that month, she stood in for her husband at an anti–Vietnam War rally in New York. In May 1968, she helped to launch the Poor People’s Campaign, and thereafter participated in numerous anti-poverty efforts.
With a deep commitment to preserving Dr.King’s legacy, almost immediately Coretta Scott King began mobilizing support for the Martin Luther King, Jr. Center for Nonviolent Social Change. As founding president of the King Center, she guided its construction next to Ebenezer Baptist Church, where Dr.King had served as co-pastor with his father, Martin Luther King, Sr.
During the 1980’s, Coretta Scott King reaffirmed her long-standing opposition to South African apartheid, participating in a series of sit-in protests in Washington,DC that prompted nationwide demonstrations against South African racial policies. In 1986, she traveled to South Africa and met with Winnie Mandela. She also remained active in various women’s organizations, including the National Organization for Women, the Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom, and United Church Women.
Coretta Scott King Sings - There Is A Balm In Gilead
Coretta Scott King Sings There Is A Balm In Gilead at The Funeral of The Four Little Girls Church Bombing in Birmingham AL
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