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
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.