She gave "Freedom Concerts" to raise funds for the Southern Christian Leadership Conference SCLC and for the movement and gave speeches all over the country, often standing in for her husband. After the assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr. Four days after the violent murder of her husband, the grieving widow and three of her four children returned to Memphis to lead the march Martin had organized. In addition to her role in the civil rights movement, King was active in the peace movement; she deemed the Vietnam War "the most cruel and evil war in the history of mankind.
Later King was concerned with full employment, testifying in Washington in favor of the Humphrey-Hawkins Full Employment and Balanced Growth Act of , and in seeking equal rights and economic justice for women. The recipient of numerous honorary degrees and awards, Coretta Scott King chaired and cochaired several national committees and continued to serve on the board of directors of the SCLC.
She also was president of the Martin Luther King, Jr. Center for Social Change, located in Atlanta, Georgia, and continued to lobby for world peace, full employment, and social justice. The King family, along with author William F. Pepper, have raised suspicions that a government plot was involved and that Ray did not act alone. All rights reserved. While residing in Montgomery, Coretta fulfilled the many and important responsibilities of a pastor's wife, balancing raising the children and maintaining their home while participating in civil rights protests, all despite numerous death threats.
In , the King home was bombed while Coretta and the infant Yolanda were home alone, but neither was injured. In , the Kings made a trip to Ghana to mark the country's independence. The next year, they travelled to Mexico, where they were moved by the great disparity between the rich and poor. In , the family moved to Atlanta, where King joined his father as co-pastor at the Ebenezer Baptist Church. Four years later, Martin and Coretta travelled to India for a pilgrimage for Indian independence leader Mahatma Gandhi.
Throughout their marriage, Coretta remained an active partner with her husband in the civil rights movement. The Kings travelled and marched together whenever possible. Behind the scenes, she managed a variety of administrative work, including handling the vast amounts of mail and phone calls. Using her organizational skills and musical talents, Coretta organized and performed in a series of Freedom Concerts, which combined prose, poetry, and musical selections to raise funds for the Southern Christian Leadership Conference.
The concerts allowed her to combine her love of music with her life's work of ending discrimination. When necessary, Coretta acted as a surrogate for Martin and gave speeches when he could not. As a lifelong advocate for world peace, Coretta was one of the founders of the Committee for a Sane Nuclear Policy and in was a delegate at the Disarmament Conference in Geneva, Switzerland. Following Martin's assassination in April , Coretta continued working in the civil rights movement.
Indeed, four days after his death Coretta and the children participated in a large demonstration in Memphis, Tennessee, where her husband had been assassinated. Coretta turned her efforts to preserving the memory and extending the legacy of her slain husband by founding the Martin Luther King Jr. Center for Nonviolent Social Change in Atlanta in , serving as president and chief executive officer until , when her son Dexter took over.
Four days later, Coretta led her husband's planned march through Memphis to support striking sanitation workers. The shooter, a malcontent drifter and former convict named James Earl Ray , was hunted for two months before being apprehended.
King's assassination sparked riots and demonstrations in more than cities across the country. Center for Nonviolent Social Change, serving as the center's president and the chief executive officer from its inception.
After spurring the formation of what became the Martin Luther King Jr. National Historic Site, around his birthplace in Atlanta, she dedicated the new King Center complex on its grounds in Coretta remained active through her demonstrations against apartheid in South Africa, and by expressing her views as a syndicated columnist and contributor to CNN.
She also saw the year fight for formal recognition of her husband's birthday come to fruition in , when President Ronald Reagan signed a bill that established Martin Luther King Day as a federal holiday. Coretta passed the reins of the King Center over to her son Dexter in but remained in the public eye. In , she called for a retrial for her husband's alleged assassin, though Ray died in prison the following year.
Coretta suffered a heart attack and stroke in August She died less than six months later, on January 30, , while seeking treatment for ovarian cancer at a clinic in Playas de Rosarito, Mexico. She was 78 years old. Later, King was concerned with full employment or providing access to jobs for all people who are able to work. She testified in Washington in favor of the Humphrey-Hawkins Full Employment and Balanced Growth Act of , which was aimed at reducing both unemployment and rates of price increases.
She also supported equal rights and justice for women. King also led and worked on several national committees and continued to serve on the board of directors of the SCLC. She was president of the Martin Luther King Jr.
Center for Social Change, located in Atlanta, Georgia. Coretta Scott King continues to work in support of world peace, full employment, and social justice. Furthermore, her commitment to nonviolence is as strong as ever. Klingel, Cynthia Fitterer. Coretta Scott King. Chanhassen, MN: Child's World, Press, Petra. Chicago: Heinemann Library, Rhodes, Lisa Renee. Philadelphia: Chelsea House, Schraff, Anne E. Springfield, NJ: Enslow, Turk, Ruth.
Coretta Scott King: Fighter for Justice.
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