[Congressional Record Volume 152, Number 9 (Tuesday, January 31, 2006)]
[Senate]
[Pages S376-S381]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                HONORING THE LIFE OF CORETTA SCOTT KING

  Mr. FRIST. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate now 
proceed to the consideration of S. Res. 362, which was submitted 
earlier today.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will report the resolution by title.
  The legislative clerk read as follows:

       A resolution (S. Res. 362) honoring the life of Coretta 
     Scott King and expressing the condolences of the Senate on 
     her passing.

  There being no objection, the Senate proceeded to consider the 
resolution.
  Mr. FRIST. Mr. President, I rise today to mark the passing of a great 
American.
  Coretta Scott King, a leader of the civil rights movement, died in 
her sleep yesterday evening.
  In 15 years of marriage to Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. and nearly 
four decades of tireless advocacy after his assassination, Mrs. King 
proved herself a strong and tireless voice for the principle of human 
equality.
  At her husband's side through good times and bad, she played a major 
role in speaking out against the injustice and evils of State-mandated 
discrimination and private bigotry.
  Her work with her husband played a key role in the passage of our 
most vital civil rights laws: the 1964 Civil Rights Act and the 1965 
Voting Rights Act.
  Following her husband's death, she helped found the Martin Luther 
King Jr. Center for Nonviolent Social Change and led the successful 
campaign to establish her husband's birthday as a national holiday.
  As a Southerner who hails from a state that once imposed the terrible 
evils of Jim Crow, I am deeply grateful for the work of the Civil 
Rights Movement.
  As majority leader of the Senate, I had the privilege and the 
pleasure of being with Coretta Scott King on a number of occasions. As 
I was reflecting back over the course of the day, the one I remember 
most was now 2 or maybe 3 years ago when I joined her for a church 
service at Ebenezer Baptist Church Heritage in Atlanta where the family 
has been historically attending services.
  Without the achievements of the civil rights movement, Tennessee, and 
indeed the entire American South, would have remained mired in cultural 
and political and economic patterns of the distant past. It took 
leadership. It took boldness. It took vision.
  As we move forward with our work today and in the whole of this 
Congress, let us remember that heroic, that bold, yet humble, work of 
Coretta Scott King. Let us prove ourselves worthy of the legacy of the 
civil rights movement the King family have bequeathed to our Nation.
  Mr. REID. Mr. President, we were all awakened this morning to the 
news of the passing of one of our Nation's true heroes in the struggle 
for civil rights, Coretta Scott King. Together, Americans all mourn her 
passing. We offer our deepest thanks for her dedication to keeping the 
dream of racial equality and national harmony alive even after losing 
her husband, the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. I join all 
Americans in extending our thoughts and prayers to her extended family.
  Mr. OBAMA. Mr. President, today we mourn the passing of Coretta Scott 
King.
  When I think about Coretta Scott King, I think about a little girl 
who walked 5 miles to school on those rural Alabama roads and felt the 
heat of racism each day she passed the door of the Whites-only school, 
so much closer to home.
  It didn't matter, because she studied and succeeded and excelled 
beyond most of her classmates, Black and White. She earned a college 
degree, and an acceptance to a prestigious graduate school up North.
  One day she met a young preacher from Atlanta, and she fell in love 
with him. And he told her his dreams. And she believed in them. And she 
decided that she would help to make them real--not just as a wife or as 
a friend, but as a partner in freedom's cause.
  Over the next years, Coretta Scott King did that in so many ways we 
can't even imagine. She raised a family, she marched through the 
streets, she inspired through song, she led through speech, and she 
even dodged countless attempts on her family's life.
  And when one of those attempts finally took her love from this world, 
she made the selfless decision to carry on. With no time to even cry or 
mourn, to wallow in anger or vengeance, Coretta Scott King took to the 
streets just four days after Dr. King's assassination and led 50,000 
people through the streets of Memphis in a march for the kind of 
justice for which her husband had given his life.
  She spent the rest of her time on this earth marching for that same 
justice--leading the King Center for Nonviolent Social Change in 
Atlanta, and spreading her family's message of hope to every corner of 
this world.
  I had the great honor of knowing Mrs. King, and the occasion to visit 
with her in Atlanta last year. She was an extraordinarily gracious 
woman. We sat and chatted in her living room. She showed me an album of 
photographs of her, Dr. King and the children. Then she told me what 
her husband had said to her once, at a time when she was feeling 
burdened, understandably, by all the stress and strain that had been 
placed on the family as a consequence of his role in the civil rights 
movement. She said her husband advised:

       When you are willing to make sacrifices for a great cause, 
     you will never be alone. Because you will have divine 
     companionship and the support of good people.

  Coretta Scott King died in her sleep last night, but she certainly 
was not alone. She was joined by the companionship and support of a 
loving family

[[Page S377]]

and a grateful Nation--inspired by her cause, dedicated to her work, 
and mournful of her passing.
  My thoughts and condolences today are with her children. I ask that 
she and her husband now rest together in eternal peace.
  Mr. ISAKSON. Mr. President, I rise on behalf of myself, all 
Georgians, and I am sure all Americans, to express my deepest sympathy 
and condolences to the family of Coretta Scott King, the wife of Dr. 
Martin Luther King. We learned this morning that she passed away 
yesterday at the age of 78. Coretta Scott King is known in history for 
being the wife of Dr. Martin Luther King, but she was far more than 
that. As he wrote in his ``Letter from the Birmingham Jail'' to the 
concerned clergy of Birmingham about his justification for coming to 
Birmingham on behalf of the citizens who had been discriminated 
against, Dr. King said:

       I come because injustice anywhere is a threat to justice 
     everywhere.

  As we all know from history, he took his mission wherever it took him 
to fight on behalf of justice for all Americans. He was able to do that 
in large measure with the support and the partnership of his great 
partner in life, Coretta Scott King. I had the privilege, as a 
Georgian, of knowing her since my days in the legislature. I saw her as 
an equal with Dr. King in the movement. I saw her as a loving mother in 
the raising of their four children. And I have seen her, since the loss 
of Dr. King, as an untiring advocate on behalf of ensuring that the 
legacy of Dr. King and his movement is perpetuated in American history.
  A few months ago, the United States of America and this Senate 
honored the life of Rosa Parks as a significant leader, the matriarch 
of the civil rights movement. There is no question today, as we pause 
in sympathy for the loss of Dr. King's wife, Coretta Scott King, that 
she joins Rosa Parks as a great woman in American history and as a 
tireless advocate for equality for all Americans.
  On behalf of my State, myself, and all those who love peace and 
justice, I express our sympathy on the loss of Coretta Scott King.
  Mr. CHAMBLISS. Mr. President, I rise today to remember an 
extraordinary and courageous woman, Coretta Scott King.
  Coretta Scott King was one of the most influential women leaders in 
our world. She entered the public stage in 1955 as wife of the Rev. Dr. 
Martin Luther King, Jr. and as a leading participant in the American 
civil rights movement.
  Born and raised in Marion, AL, Coretta Scott graduated valedictorian 
from Lincoln High School. She received a B.A. in music and education 
from Antioch College in Yellow Springs, OH, and then went on to study 
concert singing at Boston's New England Conservatory of Music, where 
she earned a degree in voice and violin. While in Boston she met Martin 
Luther King, Jr. who was then studying for his doctorate in systematic 
theology at Boston University. They were married on June 18, 1953, and 
in September 1954 took up residence in Montgomery, AL, with Coretta 
Scott King assuming the many functions of pastor's wife at Dexter 
Avenue Baptist Church.
  During Dr. King's career, Mrs. King devoted most of her time to 
raising their four children. However, she balanced mothering and work, 
speaking before church, civic, college, fraternal and peace groups. She 
conceived and performed a series of favorably-reviewed Freedom Concerts 
which combined prose and poetry narration with musical selections and 
functioned as fundraisers for the Southern Christian Leadership 
Conference, the direct action organization of which Dr. King served as 
first president.
  After Dr. King's assassination in 1968, Mrs. King devoted much of her 
energy and attention to developing programs and building the Atlanta-
based Martin Luther King, Jr. Center for Nonviolent Social Change as a 
living memorial to her husband's life and dream. For 27 years, Mrs. 
King devoted her life to developing the King Center. As founding 
President, Chair, and Chief Executive Officer, she dedicated herself to 
providing local, national and international programs that have trained 
tens of thousands of people in Dr. King's philosophy and methods; she 
guided the creation and housing of the largest archives of documents 
from the civil rights movement; and, perhaps her greatest legacy after 
establishing the King Center itself, Mrs. King spearheaded the massive 
educational and lobbying campaign to establish Dr. King's birthday as a 
national holiday. In 1983, an act of Congress instituted the Martin 
Luther King, Jr. Federal Holiday Commission, which she chaired for its 
duration. And in January 1986, Mrs. King oversaw the first legal 
holiday in honor of her husband--a holiday which has come to be 
celebrated by millions of people world-wide and, in some form, in over 
100 countries.
  Coretta Scott King carried the message of nonviolence around the 
world. She led goodwill missions to many countries in Africa, Latin 
America, Europe and Asia. She spoke at many of history's most massive 
peace and justice rallies. She was the first woman to deliver the class 
day address at Harvard, and the first woman to preach at a statutory 
service at St. Paul's Cathedral in London.
  In 1974 Mrs. King formed a broad association of over 100 religious, 
labor, business, civil and women's rights organizations dedicated to a 
national policy of full employment and equal economic opportunity, as 
co-chair of the Full Employment Action Council. In 1983, she brought 
together more than 800 human rights organizations to form the Coalition 
of Conscience, sponsors of the 20th anniversary march on Washington, 
until then the largest demonstration in our Nation's capital. In 1988, 
she reconvened the Coalition of Conscience for the 25th anniversary of 
the March on Washington. In preparation for the Reagan-Gorbachev talks, 
in 1988 she served as head of the U.S. delegation of Women for a 
Meaningful Summit in Athens, Greece; and in 1990, as the USSR was 
redefining itself, Mrs. King was coconvener of the Soviet-American 
Women's Summit in Washington, DC.
  Mrs. King received honorary doctorates from over 60 colleges and 
universities; authored three books and a nationally-syndicated column; 
and served on, and helped found, dozens of organizations, including the 
Black Leadership Forum, the National Black Coalition for Voter 
Participation, and the Black Leadership Roundtable.
  On a very personal note, I had the pleasure of meeting Mrs. King on a 
number of occasions, both within my great State of Georgia as well as 
outside of our State. Most notably, I have been to a number of the 
Martin Luther King, Jr., Day celebrations at Ebenezer Baptist Church 
and was there last year, which happened to be the last time that Ms. 
King was there. She was unable to be there this year.
  She was a remarkable lady in that, in spite of her high profile 
relative to the civil rights movement, as well as since Dr. King's 
death, she remained a very humble, a very personable, a very congenial 
lady who had a great sense of humor. Certainly during the time of the 
civil rights movement, this lady was undoubtedly one of the most 
admired women in the world because of what she saw her husband going 
through.
  She was loyal and steadfast in the support of her husband. She 
obviously loved her husband. She loved her family until her death last 
night. Her legacy will live on for generations, generations and 
generations to come.
  Coretta Scott King worked tirelessly to make a better world. History 
will judge that she did. We mourn her passing.
  Mr. DURBIN. Mr. President, in 1968, I was a law student at Georgetown 
University here in Washington, DC. It was a tumultuous year, and I 
recall sitting in the library working for my class assignments when a 
law professor walked in and said: I would like all of you students who 
are second- and third-year law students to come outside. We walked 
outside, and he said: We need to ask for your help. The District of 
Columbia is in an uproar. With the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther 
King, there are riots all over our Nation's Capital and many cities 
across the country, and our legal system has broken down. They have 
arrested people for a variety of charges and have filled up the DC 
jails. They have no room for them and no attorneys to represent them. 
We would like to ask you as a law student to walk across the street to 
the DC courts and provide some legal advice to the people who are being 
arrested.

[[Page S378]]

  I couldn't believe that as a law student they would ask me to serve 
as a lawyer, but it was an emergency situation.
  As I went over there and saw the DC courts in turmoil over the uproar 
and the riots, if you will, in the streets of the District of Columbia, 
I reflected on that terrible year and all that we had been through. Dr. 
Martin Luther King, Robert Kennedy--it was a year no one will ever 
forget.
  I did my part and recall shortly afterwards watching as the 
television was filled with the funeral of Dr. Martin Luther King. I can 
recall his casket being drawn by a team of mules to his final resting 
place. I can recall his brave wife walking in the front of the line 
behind him.
  Many of us still recall when Jackie Kennedy faced that same awful 
burden with the assassination of her husband, John Kennedy, the 
exceptional courage she showed under what must have been the most 
stressful and terrible moment of her life.
  Coretta Scott King showed that same courage that day, leading the 
followers of Dr. Martin Luther King to his final resting place. She 
could have easily retired from public life at that moment and become 
honored in her own right for having given so much to this country, but 
she did not. She decided to carry on his legacy, and she led a public 
life from that point forward in his memory.
  The strength we saw on the day of his burial was the strength that 
continued until her last moment of life a few hours ago. We were all 
saddened this morning to wake up to the news of the death of Coretta 
Scott King, a champion of justice and human rights. We honor her memory 
and send our deep condolences to her family.
  A few days ago, Martin Luther King, her son, spoke at Mayor Daley's 
Martin Luther King breakfast in Chicago, IL. He did an exceptional job. 
He spoke to us about the challenges his mother faced even in her 
illness and told us about the continued commitment of his family to 
civil rights.
  Because of her deep humility, there is a tendency to think of Coretta 
Scott King as her husband's supporter. In fact, as Dr. King himself 
made clear, she was his indispensable partner. Listen to what Dr. King 
told an interviewer in 1967. Speaking of Mrs. King, he said:

       I never will forget [that] the first discussion we had when 
     we met was the whole question of racial injustice and 
     economic injustice and the question of peace. In her college 
     days, she had been actively engaged in movements dealing with 
     these problems.

  And then he added:

       I must admit, I wish I could say, to satisfy my masculine 
     ego, that I led her down this path; but I must say we went 
     down together, because she was as actively involved and 
     concerned when we met as she is now.

  For more than 50 years, Mrs. King called America toward greater 
justice and equality. She spoke with dignity and a quiet authority that 
challenged us to fulfill our American obligation to create a more 
perfect union by embracing equal rights and genuine economic and social 
justice for all Americans, regardless of race, religion, gender, 
national background, or sexual orientation.
  Coretta Scott King was the driving force behind the establishment of 
the Martin Luther King, Jr., national holiday, for which I was proud to 
vote, and of the construction of the King Center in Atlanta which I 
visited with Congressman John Lewis. Yet she reminded us that the best 
way to honor her husband's legacy was to devote our lives to his work.
  It is perhaps no accident that as Coretta Scott King laid her head 
down for the last time, it was the very day that a decision was made to 
locate the new Museum of African-American History and Culture near the 
Lincoln Memorial where her husband delivered his immortal ``I Have a 
Dream'' speech. It was a dream they shared and to which they both 
dedicated their lives.
  Now Coretta Scott King and Martin Luther King, Jr., rest together in 
eternal peace, and it is up to us to keep that dream alive.
  Mr. KENNEDY. Mr. President, Coretta Scott King was a driving force, 
not just for the civil rights movement, but for the great march toward 
progress.
  Martin Luther King and Coretta Scott King awakened the conscience of 
a nation that began the journey toward equality, knocking down the 
walls of discrimination based on race, on religion, and on ethnicity. 
We have all benefited so much from their inspiration and their 
leadership.
  Coretta was not only a powerful and charismatic figure and leader for 
our time, but she was a mother who helped her children grow up to be 
individuals with a sense of dignity, a sense of pride in their heritage 
and a strong commitment to do something for someone else. I admire her 
for that as well, and my thoughts and prayers are with her children 
today.
  The signs of bigotry and discrimination are still evident today. 
They're much more sophisticated and much more subtle than when Dr. King 
was facing the police dogs and the beatings that took place in Selma, 
Montgomery, and in towns and cities across America. There's no question 
that we're a fairer and a better nation because of Dr. King, and I 
believe what Coretta Scott King would want us to do is continue this 
march toward progress when it comes to disability rights, women's 
rights, civil rights--and not retreat from it.
  Mr. SARBANES. Mr. President, I thank the able Senator from 
Massachusetts. I was privileged to have worked with Mrs. King on the 
Martin Luther King, Jr. holiday bill for which she pushed so hard and 
which eventually was passed by the Congress. I agree with the Senator 
from Massachusetts, she was a champion of decency and human rights and 
a more just and humane society in her own right, not only as a partner 
of her husband. We mourn her death and recognize the extraordinary 
contributions she has made to our Nation.
  Mr. LAUTENBERG. Mr. President, today, I rise to pay tribute to the 
life of a great American, Coretta Scott King, who passed away last 
night at the age of 78.
  Mrs. King, Alabama born, was educated in Ohio and Boston. It was 
while attending the New England Conservatory of Music that she met a 
young man from Atlanta, Martin Luther King, Jr. She knew from their 
first date that Martin Luther King, Jr., was brilliant and exceptional, 
a born leader.
  When they were married at her home in Alabama in 1953, Reverend 
King's father, who was a pastor, performed the ceremony. But at 
Coretta's request, he omitted the bride's vow to obey her husband. That 
was pretty bold at that time. It was highly unusual, but it provided a 
glimpse of the strength and independence Coretta Scott King would 
demonstrate throughout her life.
  Coretta Scott King joined her husband in the fight for equality and 
justice. She believed that was our Nation's promise to every citizen, 
but it had too long been denied to African Americans. She was Dr. 
King's constant partner in the struggle for civil rights. She marched 
alongside him and used her talent as a singer to raise money for their 
cause while raising their children and keeping their family together in 
the face of constant threats and a bombing by the Ku Klux Klan.
  After Dr. King's assassination 38 years ago, Coretta Scott King might 
have quietly slipped out of public life, but she chose to continue his 
work. She created the Martin Luther King, Jr., Center for Nonviolent 
Social Change in Atlanta in search of civil rights and equality for 
everyone in America. Coretta Scott King never lost faith in her 
husband's dream of peace and mutual respect. I had the honor of being 
able to identify a courthouse in the city of Newark that was being 
built as the Martin Luther King, Jr., Courthouse. I called Coretta 
Scott King to be certain that this was an acceptable item in the memory 
of Dr. Martin Luther King. We were pleased to do it, and that 
courthouse stands today as a reminder to everybody who passes in that 
area, everybody who lives in that region, that Martin Luther King was 
the great leader that he was, and his wife followed closely in his 
footsteps. She never wavered from Dr. King's commitment to achieve 
change through nonviolent means.
  Dr. King lived long enough to see the passage of landmark legislation 
that removed legal barriers to equality. His wife lived to see more 
African Americans and Latino Americans elected as public officials and 
serving as Secretary of State for the United States,

[[Page S379]]

Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of the military, and CEOs of companies 
such as American Express, Kmart, and Time-Warner.
  Although some of the legal barriers to equality have fallen, economic 
barriers remain. At the time of his assassination, Dr. King was 
beginning to focus on economic justice. Today, 38 years later, we still 
have not achieved his dream of economic justice. That promise rings 
hollow today for millions of hard-working Americans. It rings hollow 
for the people who clean the rooms in the big hotels but cannot afford 
a decent place to live. It rings hollow for garment workers, those who 
work in the factories over sewing machines and needles and the pressing 
machines, whose children wear hand-me-down clothes. They work making 
beautiful clothing, but they cannot afford to clothe their own children 
in many cases. And farm workers who grow and harvest the crops, they 
often cannot afford healthy food for their families.
  Last year, Hurricane Katrina revealed to the whole world the stark 
poverty that still afflicts our Nation. The greatest majority of the 
poor people we saw stranded in New Orleans were African Americans. In 
the past 5 years, the poverty level among African Americans has 
increased. More than one-third of all Black children in this country 
live in poverty. That suggests something in the long-term that is not 
good for them, nor for country.
  I had the privilege yesterday of going to a school in Patterson, NJ, 
that I attended many years ago. Patterson, NJ, is a minority city of 
African Americans and new immigrants. I looked at the faces of those 
children. We had a demonstration by the band. My wife and I were there. 
In the faces of those kids you could see hope, and you could see a 
desire to have a chance at life. It is a terrible condition that 
prohibits, many times, their opportunity to get an education, to have 
the kind of nutrition they need to grow healthy bodies and strong 
minds. The overall poverty rate among African Americans is almost three 
times as high as non-Hispanic Whites. That is not economic justice, Mr. 
President.
  The great promise of America has always been that if you work hard, 
you can build a better life for your family. Poverty is a national 
disgrace in this wealthy country we inhabit. Dr. King and Coretta Scott 
King knew that. They believed America could do better. They loved this 
country for its promise of liberty and justice for all, and in holding 
us to that promise, they appealed to the best nature of the American 
spirit.
  Mr. President, I find it fitting that on the very day Coretta Scott 
King passed away, the Smithsonian Institute announced its intention to 
build a museum of Black history on the National Mall. That is where it 
belongs; it belongs in the founding elements of our country, to 
demonstrate the contribution that has been made by African Americans in 
our society. That museum will be just a few blocks from the Lincoln 
Memorial, where her husband delivered his famous ``I have a dream'' 
speech during the 1964 march on Washington. It is an appropriate 
place--a place where President Abraham Lincoln is remembered for his 
fight against slavery and the abuse of the people who were kept in this 
condition.
  For almost four decades, Coretta Scott King has helped keep that 
dream alive. Now we must all do the same.
  Mr. NELSON of Florida. Mr. President, I wish to share my thoughts on 
the passing of Coretta Scott King. I once had the privilege of hosting 
Mrs. King at my home. She was an extraordinary woman who was deeply 
involved in a movement that led our nation closer to a more equal and 
just society.
  Although Mrs. King is often referred to as the wife of the late 
Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, she was a civil rights activist in her 
own right. Following Dr. King's death in 1968, she devoted her energies 
to the Martin Luther King, Jr. Center for Nonviolent Social Change. Her 
leadership helped spread Dr. King's message of positive social change 
through nonviolent means. She often said, ``The center enables us to go 
out and struggle against the evils in our society.''
  Mrs. King, like her husband, was a uniter. She brought together 
diverse groups for common causes. In 1974, Mrs. King formed the Full 
Employment Action Council, consisting of civil rights, religious, 
labor, and business groups promoting equal economic opportunity and 
full employment for all Americans. Nine years later, she helped form 
the Coalition of Conscience, consisting of over 800 human rights 
groups, to commemorate the 20th anniversary of the March on Washington. 
Globally, she was a goodwill ambassador to countries around the world 
and an adviser to world leaders such as Nelson Mandela. Later this 
year, Mrs. King and her late husband were to receive the Congressional 
Gold Medal for their contributions to the Nation.
  Mrs. King has left us, but her legacy lives on as we remember and 
honor her historical impact. We should strive to follow in her 
footsteps. Today, my thoughts and prayer are with Mrs. King and her 
family and friends.
  Ms. CANTWELL. Mr. President, I was saddened today to learn of the 
death of Coretta Scott King. Her work and life gave one man great 
strength and inspired a nation. In a lifetime, suffering and pain can 
envelop communities and span generations; it can also touch us 
intimately and immediately. When her husband was assassinated in April 
of 1968, Mrs. King suffered a world of loss in one moment. She 
persevered with passion and devotion, honoring the movement her husband 
made so strong. She taught the world that carrying on a great legacy 
requires more than simply remembering the words of the dead, but 
requires imbuing those words with action, life, leadership, and vision. 
Mrs. King has left our Nation a vital legacy of her own.
  Mrs. LINCOLN. Mr. President, today I rise to pay tribute to a fallen 
pillar of the movement to extend civil and social rights to millions of 
African Americans: Coretta Scott King.
  Mrs. King was loved and respected the world over as one of the 
pioneers of the civil rights movement of the 1950s and 1960s. She was 
the friend, partner and wife of the leader of the civil rights 
movement, the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
  Born in Marion, AL, on April 27, 1927, Coretta Scott graduated as 
valedictorian of her high school class and attended Antioch College in 
Yellow Springs, OH. She received a B.A. in music and education and then 
studied concert singing at the New England Conservatory of Music in 
Boston, MA.
  As the young Martin Luther King, Jr., began his civil rights work in 
Montgomery, AL, Mrs. King worked closely with him, organizing marches 
and sit-ins at segregated restaurants while at the same time raising 
their four children: Yolanda Denise, Martin Luther III, Dexter Scott, 
and Bernice Albertine.
  During the height of the civil rights movement, Mrs. King and her 
husband endured threats and attempts on their lives. In spite of the 
violence that surrounded them and that would one day take Dr. King's 
life, they never abandoned a fundamental belief in nonviolence. They 
were committed to peace.
  After her husband's death, Mrs. King took a more visible role in the 
movement. She worked to keep his ideology of equality for all people at 
the forefront of the Nation's agenda. She pushed for more than a decade 
to have her husband's birthday observed as a national holiday, then 
watched with pride in 1983 as President Reagan signed the bill into 
law.
  King became a symbol, in her own right, of her husband's struggle for 
peace and brotherhood, presiding with a quiet, steady, stoic presence 
over seminars and conferences on global issues. Throughout her years of 
service, however, she never lost sight of the fact that her children 
were her greatest responsibility.
  Mrs. King was also a role model for many young women. She showed them 
that their own voices had value and that their thoughts and actions 
mattered.
  Our loss of Mrs. King leaves a void that won't soon be filled. We 
have lost a great leader, a great role model, a great woman, and a 
great American, but it is also important for us to remember that her 
children have lost their mother. May the Lord grant them peace in this 
time of mourning. Our thoughts and prayers go out to her family and 
friends.
  Mr. President, today is a sad day for the Nation. We have lost one of 
our

[[Page S380]]

leading voices for equality and justice. In closing, I am sure that the 
entire Senate will join with me in honoring the life of Mrs. Coretta 
Scott King.
  Mr. KYL. Mr. President, today I rise to pay tribute to the life of 
Mrs. Coretta Scott King. She was a steady force in the civil rights 
movement who ably supported the work of her late husband, the Reverend 
Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Her legacy, like that of Dr. King, is 
steeped in the American principles we all hold dear: those of equality 
and justice, patriotism, faith, and family values.
  As a young woman, Coretta Scott, a native of Marion, AL, experienced 
the racism and prejudice that characterized the South at that time. She 
had a desire to exceed expectations in the most challenging of 
environments. Coretta was valedictorian of Lincoln High School in 1945 
and pursued the serious study of music at Antioch College in Ohio, and 
then at the New England Conservatory of Music. It was in Boston that 
Coretta first met the young Martin King, a divinity student earning his 
doctorate in theology.
  Both of them knew the value of education and study, but both were 
also determined to serve others. Coretta had been involved in the civil 
rights movement before she met Dr. King; but when they joined forces as 
husband and wife in 1953, the movement was strengthened. Each place 
they lived in was roiled by the controversies of the movement to end 
racial segregation. In every place, bigots threatened the King family's 
safety. Amidst the violence, the arrests of peaceful protesters, the 
bombings, and assassination attempts against her husband, Mrs. King 
remained a bedrock for her husband and the protector of her children. 
Yolanda, Martin III, Dexter, and Bernice found remarkable role models 
in both of their parents, but it was Mrs. King's steady hand that 
directed their upbringing.
  As the world took notice of Dr. King's philosophy of nonviolent 
social change, Mrs. King spread it effectively, especially among women. 
She lent her time and talents to numerous educational causes and civil 
rights groups. She exhibited poise, dignity, and grace in everything 
she did.
  Mrs. King's commitment to civil rights did not diminish in 1968 when 
her husband's life was ended by an assassin's bullet. She instead made 
a commitment to the nonviolent achievement of social justice as her 
life's work. The Martin Luther King Jr. Center for Nonviolent Social 
Change in Atlanta, GA, stands today as a testament to Dr. King's work 
and to that of his wife, for it was she who made the institution what 
it is. Mrs. King's strong will and courageous strength allowed her to 
stay the course and further the movement.
  She was also a strong force behind the national holiday to 
commemorate Dr. King's life.
  Coretta Scott King and the late Rosa Parks were often regarded as 
``Mothers of the Civil Rights Movement.'' We are sad to have lost both 
of them in so short a time. But as we enter Black History Month in 
February and then Women's History Month in March, the message and 
example of these American heroines will be before us. They demonstrate 
that ordinary people can achieve extraordinary things. Their 
selflessness will not be forgotten.
  May Mrs. Coretta Scott King find the peace for which she and Martin 
strived so hard to achieve. God speed...
  Mrs. FEINSTEIN. Mr. President, I rise today to pay tribute to the 
first lady of the civil rights movement--Coretta Scott King. Mrs. King, 
the widow of the late Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr., dedicated her 
life to sharing Dr. King's quest for social justice and peace.
  Although one cannot say enough about her lifelong commitment to the 
cause of racial and economic equality, it is important to also note 
that Coretta Scott King was a visionary for women's rights on her own 
merit. She was the first woman to deliver the Class Day address at 
Harvard, and the first woman to preach at a statutory service at St. 
Paul's Cathedral in London. And Mrs. King served as a liaison to 
international peace and justice organizations even before Dr. King took 
a public stand in 1967 against United States intervention in the 
Vietnam war.
  As we mourn the passing of Coretta Scott King, we are once again 
reminded of her quiet and resolute compassion for others. As she once 
remarked, and continued to demonstrate throughout her long life, Dr. 
King's dream was equally hers as well. ``I didn't learn my commitment 
from Martin. We just converged at a certain time.''
  Together, their fearless commitment to the civil rights movement 
shaped and inspired the revolutionary social changes in the United 
States over the last half-century.
  Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr., and Coretta Scott King were first 
vaulted to the national stage during the Montgomery bus boycott. Led by 
Dr. King, the 1955 boycott lasted nearly 13 months and truly ignited 
the Nation's civil rights movement.
  The boycott led to the Supreme Court questioning the legality of the 
Jim Crow law that mandated the discrimination of African-Americans on 
the public bus system. And on November 13, 1956, in the landmark case 
Browder v. Gayle, the Supreme Court banned segregation on buses. It was 
truly a remarkable victory for the cause of freedom and equality.
  Throughout the turbulent decades of the 1950's and 60's, Dr. King's 
vision helped the Nation form a new and better understanding of itself, 
one that celebrates its diverse nature and strengthens its commitment 
to the principles of equality and justice.
  Yet one cannot simply overlook the passion and commitment of Mrs. 
King as her own individual. Throughout her long life, Mrs. King served 
as an inspirational presence around the world for the values of 
equality and peace.
  Coretta Scott was born April 27, 1927, the middle of three children 
born to Obadiah and Bernice Scott. She grew up in the two-room house 
her father built on land that had been owned by the family for three 
generations. Her exposure to the injustices of segregation were formed 
early on, as she walked to her one-room school house each day, watching 
buses full of white children kick up dust as they passed.
  During high school, Mrs. King excelled academically and demonstrated 
a great talent for music. She attended Antioch College in Yellow 
Springs, OH, where 2 years earlier her older sister, Edythe, had become 
the first black to enroll. At Antioch, she studied education and music.
  In 1953, the young Coretta Scott was preparing for a career in music 
at the New England Conservatory of Music in Boston, when she met a 
young graduate student in philosophy. A year later she and Dr. King, 
then a young minister from a prominent Atlanta family, were married.
  During Dr. King's career, Mrs. King mostly shied away from the 
prominent spotlight of her husband, balancing motherhood and movement 
work. She devoted most of her time to raising their four children: 
Yolanda Denise, born in 1955, Martin Luther III, born in 1957, Dexter 
Scott, born in 1961, and Bernice Albertine, born in 1963. But she also 
gained recognition for the ``Freedom Concerts'' she organized, where 
she lectured, read poetry and sang to raise awareness of and money for 
the burgeoning civil rights movement.
  Upon the tragic assassination of Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr., on 
April 4, 1968, Mrs. King bravely took up the mantle of the civil 
rights cause. Even before her husband was buried, she marched at the 
head of the garbage workers he had gone to Memphis to champion.

  Over the next few decades, Coretta Scott King gained nationwide 
interest and admiration for her efforts to establish a national holiday 
in honor of her husband. By an act of Congress, the first national 
observance of the holiday took place in 1986. Dr. King's birthday is 
now marked by annual celebrations in over 100 countries.
  During the 1970s, Mrs. King continued to work on behalf of the cause 
of economic justice. In 1974 she formed the Full Employment Action 
Council, a broad coalition of over 100 religious, labor, business, 
civil and women's rights organizations dedicated to a national policy 
of full employment and equal economic opportunity.
  She also helped to found the Martin Luther King Jr. Center for Non-
Violent Social Change in Atlanta, dedicated both to scholarship and to 
activism.
  Over time, Mrs. King also developed her own causes and rhetoric, 
which were consistent with the vision of her

[[Page S381]]

husband. For example, when she stood in for her husband at the Poor 
People's Campaign at the Lincoln Memorial on June 19, 1968, she spoke 
not just of his vision for social justice, but also of gender and 
racial equality. She called upon American women ``to unite and form a 
solid block of women power to fight the three great evils of racism, 
poverty and war.''
  Mrs. King also dedicated herself to the cause of peace, traveling 
throughout the world on goodwill missions to Africa, Latin America, 
Europe and Asia. In 1983, she marked the 20th anniversary of the 
historic March on Washington by leading a gathering of more than 800 
human rights organizations, the Coalition of Conscience, in the largest 
demonstration the Capital City had seen up to that time. And in 1993, 
Mrs. King was invited by President Clinton to witness the historic 
handshake between Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin and Chairman Yassir 
Arafat at the signing of the Middle East peace accords.
  Mrs. King also envisioned plans for a memorial dedicated to her 
husband. Recently, I cosponsored a bill that approved funding for such 
a memorial. This memorial will be the first on the National Mall in 
honor of a person of color. It is my hope that this memorial will 
continue to remind the Nation, and the world, of the powerful words of 
hope Dr. King expressed here in Washington, DC, more than 40 years ago.
  Throughout her life, Mrs. King was seen as an inspirational figure 
around the world, someone who truly personified the ideals to which she 
and Dr. King pledged their lives.
  But although our country has come a long way since the days when our 
country first met the legendary Coretta Scott King and Rev. Martin 
Luther King, Jr., we still have much to accomplish. We must steadfastly 
protect the advances already made in the fight for social equality, and 
also further those advances in the years ahead.
  We owe the legacy of Coretta Scott King, and that of her remarkable 
husband, the late Martin Luther King, Jr., no less.
  Mr. FRIST. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the resolution 
be agreed to, the preamble be agreed to, and the motion to reconsider 
be laid upon the table.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
  The resolution (S. Res. 362) was agreed to.
  The preamble was agreed to.
  The resolution, with its preamble, reads as follows:

                              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) admire 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 it 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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