[Congressional Record Volume 152, Number 9 (Tuesday, January 31, 2006)]
[Senate]
[Page S374]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




  SENATE RESOLUTION 362--HONORING THE LIFE OF CORETTA SCOTT KING AND 
        EXPRESSING THE CONDOLENCES OF THE SENATE ON HER PASSING

  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, Mrs. 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:

                              S. Res. 362

       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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