[Congressional Record Volume 152, Number 15 (Thursday, February 9, 2006)]
[Senate]
[Pages S974-S975]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



  (At the request of Mr. Reid, the following statement was ordered to 
be printed in the Record.)

                           CORETTA SCOTT KING

 Mr. SALAZAR. Mr. President, earlier this week, our Nation 
mourned the passing and celebrated the life of one of the civil rights 
era's greatest leaders. Coretta Scott King was the wife of civil rights 
activist Martin Luther King, Jr., and an incredible leader in her own 
right.
  Mrs. King's death came just days after the Nation commemorated the 
contributions her late husband made to our country and only a few 
months after the passing of Rosa Parks and Constance Baker Motley, two 
pillars of our country's civil rights movement.
  I spent Martin Luther King Day with my family. As we discussed the 
progress our great country has made in its quest to be a more inclusive 
America, I was reminded of the personal sacrifices of so many in the 
struggle for equality and dignity.
  Coretta Scott King was not troubled by these sacrifices. Years later, 
she reflected ``I understood when I married Martin that I did not just 
marry a man. I married a vision. I married a destiny.'' Upon his 
untimely passing, Mrs. King carried on this vision, sharing his message 
with other generations and even other continents.
  Coretta Scott King was exposed to the injustice of segregation at an 
early age. She grew up poor, in segregated Alabama, where she helped 
support her family by working in the cotton fields. She graduated first 
in her high school class, and she and her sister became the first two 
African-American graduates of Antioch college in Ohio. She studied 
education and music. After graduation she enrolled at the New England 
Conservatory of Music. Through the course of her life, she received 
over 60 honorary doctorates from colleges and universities.
  After her husband's assassination, Mrs. King continued raising her 4 
children while her presence as a civil rights leader was growing. Only 
four days after his death, she led a march of 50,000 people through the 
streets of Memphis. The following year, she took her late husband's 
place in the Poor People's Campaign at the Lincoln Memorial in June of 
1968.
  But she did not simply represent her late husband. A unique role 
evolved over time for Mrs. King.
  She made her own contributions through many venues, including more 
than 30 Freedom Concerts during the 1960s. At these Freedom Concerts, 
Mrs. King lectured, read poetry and sang to raise awareness and money 
for the civil rights movement. In her lifetime she authored three 
books, and helped found dozens of organizations including the National 
Black Coalition for Voter Participation and the Black Leadership 
Roundtable.
  After the death of her husband, Mrs. King began gathering support for 
the Martin Luther King, Jr., Center for Nonviolent Social Change in 
1969. She devoted herself tirelessly to the establishment of a national 
holiday to honor her late husband.
  In 1983, she brought together more that 800 human rights 
organizations to form the Coalition of Conscience.
  In 1985, Mrs. King and three of her children were arrested at the 
South African Embassy in Washington, DC for protesting apartheid. She 
stood with Nelson Mandela in Johannesburg when he became South Africa's 
first democratically elected president.
  In 1987, she helped lead a national Mobilization Against Fear and 
Intimidation in the Forsyth 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.
  In 1993, Mrs. King was invited by President Clinton to witness the 
historic handshake between Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin and 
Palestinian Chairman Yassir Arafat at the signing of the Middle East 
Peace Accords.
  She further lent her support to democracy movements worldwide and 
served as a consultant to many world leaders.
  In the later years of her life she struggled tirelessly fighting for 
women's rights and working to prevent the spread of HIV/AIDS. Mrs. King 
fulfilled

[[Page S975]]

one of her life's major goals and Dr. King's birthday is now celebrated 
annually in over 100 nations.
  I wish to commemorate the incredible message of this woman. Recent 
celebrations commemorating the 50th anniversary of the Supreme Court's 
landmark ruling in Brown v. Board of Education and the 40th anniversary 
of the enactment of the Voting Rights Act, remind us of just how far 
our country has come.
  Mrs. King once remarked, ``Struggle is a never ending process. 
Freedom is never really won--you earn it and win it in every 
generation.'' Our country has lost a giant who took on the struggle for 
freedom. If we truly wish to honor her, we must all assume the 
responsibility to fight injustice and inequality.
  I thank Mrs. King for her incredible contributions to this country 
and to the world. Her family will continue to be in my thoughts and 
prayers. While she will be deeply missed, her message will never be 
forgotten.

                          ____________________