“I must remind you that starving a child is violence. Neglecting school children is violence. Punishing a mother and her family is violence. Discrimination against a working man is violence. Ghetto housing is violence. Ignoring medical need is violence. Contempt for poverty is violence.”

 Coretta Scott King

April 27, 1927- January 30, 2006

 

“First Lady of the Civil Rights Movement”

Coretta Scott was born in Alabama and raised on the farm of her parents, Bernice and Obadiah Scott. Life in Alabama exposed her to the injustices of living in a segregated society.During her school years, Coretta excelled was valedictorian of her graduating class at Lincoln High School. She graduated in 1945 and received a scholarship to attend Antioch College. As an undergraduate, Coretta Scott took an active interest in the  Civil Rights movement. She graduated from Antioch with a B.A. in music and education and won a scholarship to study concert singing at New England Conservatory of Music in Boston, Massachusetts.

It was in Boston that she met Martin Luther King, Jr., and her life changed forever. They were married on June 18, 1953 and shortly after the young couple moved to Montgomery, Alabama, when Martin Luther King Jr. became Pastor of the Dexter Avenue Baptist Church. Mrs. King played a prominent role in the civil rights movement years after her husband’s assassination. She took on the leadership of the struggle for racial equality and became active in the Women and LGBT Rights movement.

Coretta  founded the King Center and set out to establish a national holiday for Martin Luther King Jr. In 1983, it was President Ronald Reagan who signed the holiday into law. Known as the ”First Lady of the Civil Rights Movement” Coretta received numerous awards for her charismatic behavior towards human rights.

Read more about the king center.