[E-rundbrief] Info 350 - Coretta Scott King died

Mi Feb 1 18:45:32 CET 2006

E-Rundbrief - Info 350:  Coretta Scott King (wife of Martin Luther King) 
died on January 30, 2006. Biography by Wikipedia.

Bad Ischl, 1.2.2006

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Coretta Scott King

(born Coretta Scott; April 27, 1927, died  January 30, 2006) was the wife 
of the slain civil rights activist Martin Luther King, Jr. and a noted 
community leader in her own right.

Childhood

Scott King was born on a farm in Heiberger, in Perry County, Alabama to 
Obadiah (Obie) and Bernice McMurry Scott. Though her family owned the land, 
it was often a hard life. All the children had to pick cotton during the 
Great Depression to help the family make ends meet.
Graduating from Lincoln Normal School in Marion, Alabama at the top of her 
class in 1945, Scott went to Antioch College in Yellow Springs, Ohio. After 
graduation she moved to Boston, Massachusetts where she met Martin Luther 
King Jr.

Adult Life

The Kings were married on June 18, 1953 on the lawn of her parents' house 
and with the ceremony performed by King's father. Coretta King received a 
degree in voice and violin at the New England Conservatory, then moved with 
her husband to Montgomery, Alabama in September 1954 after he was named 
pastor of the Dexter Avenue Baptist Church.
King and Scott had four children:

Yolanda Denise King (November 17, 1955, Montgomery, Alabama)
Martin Luther King III (October 23, 1957, Montgomery, Alabama)
Dexter Scott King (January 30, 1961, Atlanta, Georgia)
Bernice Albertine King (March 28, 1963, Atlanta, Georgia)

All the four children later followed their father's footsteps as civil 
rights activists.
Scott King received honorary degrees from many institutions including 
Princeton University and Bates College.

She was a member of Alpha Kappa Alpha, a noted African-American women's 
sorority.

Civil Rights Movement

Just two weeks after the birth of her first child, Rosa Parks was arrested 
on a Montgomery bus, helping spark what would develop into the modern civil 
rights movement that would be led by her husband. The struggles that 
followed included a narrow escape from death on January 30, 1956. Scott 
King and her daughter were home when a bomb exploded at the family's 
residence--her husband was speaking at Rev. Ralph Abernathy's First Baptist 
Church at the time.

Freedom Concerts

Scott King later put together a series of Freedom Concerts, that combined 
poetry, narration and music to highlight the movement and also raise funds 
for the Southern Christian Leadership Conference. In 1962, she served as a 
Women's Strike for Peace delegate to the 17-nation Disarmament Conference 
in Geneva, Switzerland.

Perhaps most notably, she preceded her husband by two years in opposing the 
Vietnam War, addressing a 1965 anti-war rally at Madison Square Garden in 
New York City, while also serving as a liaison to international peace and 
justice organizations.

Life after Assassination of MLK

Martin Luther King Day

Over the years, she was active in preserving the memory of her husband, and 
in other political issues. After her husband was assassinated in 1968, she 
began attending a commemorative service at Ebenezer Baptist Church in 
Atlanta to mark her husband's birth every January 15 and fought for years 
to make it a national holiday, a quest that was realized in 1986, when the 
first Martin Luther King Day was celebrated.

Scott King attended the state funeral of former president Lyndon Johnson, 
in 1973, as a very close friend of the former president, himself a 
contributor to civil rights. She was also present when President Ronald 
Reagan signed legislation establishing Martin Luther King Day.

Opposition to Apartheid

During the 1980s, Scott King reaffirmed her long-standing opposition to 
apartheid, participating in a series of sit-in protests in Washington that 
prompted nationwide demonstrations against South African racial policies. 
In 1986, she traveled to South Africa and met with Winnie Mandela, while 
her husband Nelson Mandela was still a political prisoner on Robben Island. 
Upon her return to the United States, she urged Reagan to approve sanctions 
against South Africa.

Other Issues

She was present at the first inauguration of George W. Bush in 2001, but 
was vocal in her opposition to capital punishment and the 2003 invasion of 
Iraq, thus drawing criticism from conservative groups. She was also an 
advocate of women's rights, lesbian and gay rights and AIDS/HIV prevention. 
Her support for gay and lesbian rights, including same-sex marriage, 
sometimes put her in conflict with some members of her family including her 
daughter Bernice and her niece Alveda King.

Coretta Scott King Award

The Coretta Scott King Award, a medal presented by the American Library 
Association, is awarded to African-American writers and illustrators for 
outstanding and inspirational educational contributions in children's 
literature.

End of life

On August 16, 2005, Scott King was hospitalized after suffering a stroke 
and a mild heart attack. Initially, she was unable to speak or move her 
right side. She was released from Piedmont Hospital in Atlanta on September 
22, 2005, after regaining some of her speech and continued physiotherapy at 
home. Because of complications from the stroke, she was apparently unable 
to make her wishes known regarding the ongoing debate as to whether her 
late husband's birthplace should continue to be maintained by the city of 
Atlanta or the National Park Service. On January 14, 2006, Mrs. King made 
her last public appearance in Atlanta at a dinner honoring her husband's 
memory.

She died in her sleep at approximately 8:30 PM local time (11:30 PM EST) on 
January 30, 2006 at a rehabilitation center in Rosarito Beach, Mexico, 
where she was undergoing holistic therapy for her stroke. Her body will be 
returned to Atlanta and buried next to her husband at The King Center.

Coretta Scott King Center at Antioch College
http://www.antioch-college.edu/Campus/csk/index.html

from: WIKIPEDIA English: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coretta_Scott_King

(Im deutschen Wikipedia steht leider nur eine kurze Glosse.)

Weitere Berichte u.a.:
Spiegel: www.spiegel.de
Frankfurter Rundschau: www.f-r.de

Buchtipp:

Coretta Scott King: Mein Leben mit Martin Luther King. 1985 Gütersloher 
Verlagshaus. (vergriffen)

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