Coined the “first lady of civil rights,” Coretta Scott King (04/27/27-01/30/06) was a speaker and advocate for religious, women’s, civil, labor and international justice and the wife of civil rights leader and activist, Martin Luther King Jr.
Mrs. King was the first woman to deliver the Class Day address at Harvard and the first woman to preach at a statutory service at St. Paul's Cathedral in London. She stood alongside her husband during the dramatic events that triggered the country’s civil rights movement and took numerous goodwill missions to Africa, Latin America, Europe, and Asia. Mrs. King created and performed a series of critically acclaimed Freedom Concerts juxtaposing poetry, narration, and music to tell the story of the Civil Rights movement. These concerts raised money for her foundation: The Southern Christian Leadership Conference.
Coretta Scott King was born in Heiberger, Alabama to parents, Bernice and Obadiah Scott. In her youth, she walked five miles a day to attend grammar school. She excelled particularly in music and graduated valedictorian at Lincoln High School in 1945. Mrs. King later attended Antioch College in Ohio on scholarship and went on to become a member of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority. She took an active interest in civil rights and joined her school’s Race Relations and Civil Liberties Committees as well as Antioch’s chapter of the NAACP. Mrs. King received a post-baccalaureate in concert singing at New England Conservatory of Music in Boston where she met theology student, Martin Luther King Jr. They married in 1953 and moved to Montgomery, Alabama.
Dr. King was assassinated on April 4, 1968 but Mrs. King continued to channel her energies to fulfill her husband’s dream of equality and peace for all races and creeds.
In 1974 she formed the Full Employment Action Council and served as Co-Chair of a coalition of over 100 religious, labor, business, civil and women's rights organizations dedicated to a national policy of full employment and equal economic opportunity.
She marked the 20th Anniversary of the historic March on Washington by heading a gathering of more than 800 human rights organizations in 1983, deemed the Coalition of Conscience. It was the largest demonstration D.C. had seen up to that time.
In 1985, Mrs. King and three of her children were arrested at the South African embassy in Washington, D.C., for protesting against the country's apartheid system of racial segregation and disenfranchisement. Ten years later, she stood with Nelson Mandela in Johannesburg when he was sworn in as President of South Africa.
Mrs. King led the successful campaign to establish Dr. King's birthday, January 15, as a national holiday in the United States. The first national observance of the holiday was achieved in 1986 and is now celebrated annually in over 100 countries. She spent much of her later years promoting AIDS education and reducing gun violence until her death of complications linked to a previous stroke and heart attack.
Mrs. King had four children: Yolanda Denise, Martin Luther King the III, Dexter Scott, and Bernice Albertine.
A Book Award is named in her honor; the Coretta Scott King Award. It’s awarded to African American authors and illustrators who contribute inspirational and educational ideas with their work. The award commemorates the inspirational life of Mrs. King.
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Schools Attended
Lincoln High School 1945
BA in Music and Education Antioch College
Concert Singing at New England Conservatory of Music
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Other Interests
Music
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