[Congressional Bills 109th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. Res. 362 Agreed to Senate (ATS)]








109th CONGRESS
  2d Session
S. RES. 362

Honoring the life of Coretta Scott King and expressing the condolences 
                     of the Senate on her passing.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                            January 31, 2006

     Mr. Frist (for himself, Mr. Reid, Mr. Obama, Mr. Isakson, Mr. 
  Chambliss, Mr. Santorum, Mr. Akaka, Mr. Alexander, Mr. Allard, Mr. 
Allen, Mr. Baucus, Mr. Bayh, Mr. Bennett, Mr. Biden, Mr. Bingaman, Mr. 
Bond, Mrs. Boxer, Mr. Brownback, Mr. Bunning, Mr. Burns, Mr. Burr, Mr. 
 Byrd, Ms. Cantwell, Mr. Carper, Mr. Chafee, Mrs. Clinton, Mr. Coburn, 
  Mr. Cochran, Mr. Coleman, Ms. Collins, Mr. Conrad, Mr. Cornyn, Mr. 
 Craig, Mr. Crapo, Mr. Dayton, Mr. DeMint, Mr. DeWine, Mr. Dodd, Mrs. 
 Dole, Mr. Domenici, Mr. Dorgan, Mr. Durbin, Mr. Ensign, Mr. Enzi, Mr. 
  Feingold, Mrs. Feinstein, Mr. Graham, Mr. Grassley, Mr. Gregg, Mr. 
 Hagel, Mr. Harkin, Mr. Hatch, Mrs. Hutchison, Mr. Inhofe, Mr. Inouye, 
 Mr. Jeffords, Mr. Johnson, Mr. Kennedy, Mr. Kerry, Mr. Kohl, Mr. Kyl, 
Ms. Landrieu, Mr. Lautenberg, Mr. Leahy, Mr. Levin, Mr. Lieberman, Mrs. 
Lincoln, Mr. Lott, Mr. Lugar, Mr. Martinez, Mr. McCain, Mr. McConnell, 
 Mr. Menendez, Ms. Mikulski, Ms. Murkowski, Mrs. Murray, Mr. Nelson of 
Florida, Mr. Nelson of Nebraska, Mr. Pryor, Mr. Reed, Mr. Roberts, Mr. 
Rockefeller, Mr. Salazar, Mr. Sarbanes, Mr. Schumer, Mr. Sessions, Mr. 
 Shelby, Mr. Smith, Ms. Snowe, Mr. Specter, Ms. Stabenow, Mr. Stevens, 
    Mr. Sununu, Mr. Talent, Mr. Thomas, Mr. Thune, Mr. Vitter, Mr. 
     Voinovich, Mr. Warner, and Mr. Wyden) submitted the following 
             resolution; which was considered and agreed to

_______________________________________________________________________

                               RESOLUTION


 
Honoring the life of Coretta Scott King and expressing the condolences 
                     of the Senate on her passing.

Whereas Coretta Scott King was an inspirational figure and a woman of great 
        strength, grace, and dignity who came to personify the ideals for which 
        her husband fought;
Whereas Coretta Scott was born and raised in rural Alabama, graduated as the 
        valedictorian from Lincoln High School, and received a Bachelor of Arts 
        degree from Antioch College in Yellow Springs, Ohio;
Whereas Coretta Scott fought to be allowed to teach in the local public schools 
        in Ohio but was denied because of her race;
Whereas Coretta Scott studied music at the New England Conservatory of Music in 
        Boston and, while attending school in the City, met a graduate student 
        who was studying for his doctorate degree at Boston University;
Whereas that graduate student, Martin Luther King, Jr., told her on their first 
        date, ``The four things that I look for in a wife are character, 
        personality, intelligence, and beauty. And you have them all.'';
Whereas Coretta Scott and Martin Luther King, Jr. were married on June 18, 1953, 
        and moved to Montgomery, Alabama;
Whereas Mrs. King gave birth to her first child, Yolanda, 2 weeks before the 
        start of the Montgomery bus boycott, and protected her when opponents of 
        the boycott bombed the King household;
Whereas Dr. and Mrs. King were to have 3 more children named Martin Luther, III, 
        Dexter, and Bernice;
Whereas during the lifetime of Dr. King, Mrs. King balanced the demands of 
        raising their 4 children, serving as the wife of a pastor, and speaking 
        before church, civic, college, fraternal, and peace groups;
Whereas Mrs. King participated in more than 30 ``Freedom Concerts'', where she 
        lectured, read poetry, and sang to raise awareness of and money for the 
        civil rights movement;
Whereas Mrs. King stood by the side of her husband during many civil rights 
        marches and other notable occasions, including a 1957 trip to Ghana to 
        mark the independence of that country, a 1959 trip to India to visit 
        sites associated with Mahatma Gandhi, and a 1964 trip to Oslo, Norway, 
        to accept a Nobel Peace Prize awarded to Dr. King;
Whereas just 4 days after the assassination of her husband in 1968, Mrs. King 
        led a march of 50,000 people through the streets of Memphis and, later 
        that year, took his place in the Poor People's March to Washington;
Whereas Mrs. King devoted her energy to carrying on the message of nonviolence 
        and the work of her husband to create a United States in which all 
        people have equal rights;
Whereas Mrs. King dedicated herself to raising funds and developing programs for 
        the Atlanta-based Martin Luther King, Jr. Center for Nonviolent Social 
        Change, where she served as founding President, Chair, and Chief 
        Executive Officer;
Whereas Mrs. King was instrumental in seeing that the birthday of her husband 
        was honored as a Federal holiday, an occasion first marked in 1986;
Whereas Mrs. King received honorary doctorates from over 60 colleges and 
        universities, and authored 3 books;
Whereas Mrs. King received the congressional gold medal for her invaluable 
        contributions to the United States as a leader of the civil rights 
        movement;
Whereas Mrs. King traveled to every corner of the United States and the globe to 
        speak out on behalf of a number of important issues, including racial 
        and economic justice, the rights of women and children, religious 
        freedom, full employment, health care, and education; and
Whereas Coretta Scott King was a civil rights icon and one of the most 
        influential African Americans in history: Now, therefore, be it
    Resolved, That the Senate--
            (1) mourns the loss of Coretta Scott King;
            (2) admires her lifelong commitment to social justice and 
        peace;
            (3) recognizes her role as a leading participant in the 
        American Civil Rights Movement and her support to democracy 
        movements world-wide;
            (4) expresses its sympathies to the family of Coretta Scott 
        King; and
            (5) directs the Secretary of the Senate to transmit an 
        enrolled copy of this resolution to the family of Coretta Scott 
        King.
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