[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 152 (2006), Part 1]
[Senate]
[Pages 630-644]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




    HONORING THE LIFE AND ACCOMPLISHMENTS OF MRS. CORETTA SCOTT KING

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to the order of the House of 
Tuesday, January 31, 2006, proceedings will now resume on the 
resolution (H. Res. 655) honoring the life and accomplishments of Mrs. 
Coretta Scott King and her contributions as a leader in the struggle 
for civil rights, and expressing condolences to the King family on her 
passing.
  The Clerk read the title of the resolution.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. When proceedings were postponed on that day, 
3\1/2\ minutes of debate remained on the resolution. The gentleman from 
Wisconsin (Mr. Sensenbrenner) had 3\1/2\ minutes remaining, and the 
gentleman from Michigan (Mr. Conyers) had no time remaining.
  The Chair recognizes the gentleman from Wisconsin.
  Mr. SENSENBRENNER. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that the time 
for debate on the pending resolution be enlarged by 30 minutes, equally 
divided between myself and the gentleman from Michigan (Mr. Conyers).
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the 
gentleman from Wisconsin?

[[Page 631]]

  There was no objection.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The gentleman from Wisconsin will have 18\1/
2\ minutes, and the gentleman from Michigan will have 15 minutes.
  Mr. SENSENBRENNER. Mr. Speaker, I yield 4 minutes to the gentleman 
from Ohio (Mr. Regula).
  Mr. REGULA. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for yielding me this 
time. I want to rise to say that I served with Coretta Scott King on 
the Federal Holiday Commission. She was the chair and I was vice-chair 
at her request. She did a wonderful job of carrying on the message of 
Dr. King. She traveled widely and was highly respected in her efforts 
to take the message across America and the world.
  The fact that 50 States now acknowledge the Federal King holiday is 
in part out of respect for her leadership on the Federal Holiday 
Commission. The Commission was designed to achieve that. In addition, 
many communities across the country have celebrations of the King 
holiday and the life of Martin Luther King and bring to college 
students, to high school, and grade school students the story of how he 
impacted our Nation's future and our society. This happened because of 
her leadership as chairman of the Federal Holiday Commission.
  She truly was a remarkable woman. She deserves enormous credit for 
carrying on the legacy of Dr. King and taking this message to America. 
I just have to say that she did this with great humility, with great 
understanding, and great ability to persuade those that she came in 
contact with, with groups and leaders across the Nation, of the 
importance of the King message.
  Her life is something that we should all respect and cherish as part 
of the American scene. I think she deserves enormous credit for what 
she accomplished as chairman of the Holiday Commission. She made happen 
what the intent of Congress was in passing the holiday language, that 
the message be taken to the States and to the people of the Nation. 
Many of these celebrations are as a result of her efforts. A truly 
great woman. A great individual.
  She has been recognized by many groups and well deserved all of the 
accolades that she has received. Her death is a great loss to our 
Nation; but her life was a great strength for our Nation, and we are 
all indebted to her for the leadership she provided.
  Mr. CONYERS. Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to yield 2 minutes to the 
gentleman from California (Mr. Schiff), a distinguished member of the 
Judiciary Committee.
  And I would like to thank the chairman of the Judiciary Committee 
(Mr. Sensenbrenner) for accommodating us with the extra time that we 
have here this evening for the Coretta Scott King resolution.
  Mr. SCHIFF. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to honor the life of Mrs. 
Coretta Scott King, a civil rights icon. Raised on a small farm in 
Alabama, Coretta Scott found her way to Boston where she met Martin 
Luther King, Jr. The two married and moved to Montgomery, Alabama, 
where Dr. King became the seminal figure of the civil rights movement. 
Mrs. King joined her husband's pursuit of civil rights by serving as an 
equal partner in Dr. King's tireless efforts to pursue justice, 
equality, and peace.
  Mrs. King recalled that after her husband's tragic assassination she 
felt compelled to rededicate herself to the completion of his work. 
Indeed, Coretta Scott King became an ardent activist in the struggle 
against injustice, fighting to achieve Dr. King's unfulfilled dreams.
  Two years ago, I joined a civil rights pilgrimage to Alabama, and it 
was a remarkable experience. Led by Congressman John Lewis, a number of 
our colleagues visited many of the sites of the civil rights struggles, 
including the Kings' Dexter Avenue church. We relived the experiences 
of those that led the movement, saw the incredible events of that time 
through their eyes, and it was an unforgettable experience.
  Those of us who were too young to remember well the civil rights 
movement continue to ask ourselves what would we have done. Would we 
have stood up? Would we have questioned those in power? Would we have 
demanded equality and justice? Or would we, like so many Americans, 
have remained indifferent?
  The best answer we can find to that question of what we would have 
done is answered by asking what are we doing now to advance the cause 
of justice and equality. In 1960s Alabama, the Kings battled overt 
bigotry. Today, we arm ourselves against silent intolerance.
  While we look to our past and consider how far we have come, we must 
keep an eye towards the future, knowing that the movement is not over 
and that each one of us must continue to dedicate ourselves to pursuing 
an America with equal opportunity for all.
  Mr. CONYERS. Mr. Speaker, I am pleased now to yield 2 minutes to the 
gentleman from New York (Mr. Rangel), a dear friend of the honoree in 
this resolution, who had worked with Mrs. King for many years.
  Mr. RANGEL. Mr. Speaker, I thank former chairman Conyers for yielding 
me this time. It is really ironic that you would be on the Judiciary 
Committee during all of the years that it took to get the King holiday 
there; and also that, as a Member of Congress, you lived through the 
civil rights movement with the people that we have honored in the past 
and with Dr. Coretta King.
  I think if we had to review where we are with Coretta King, it is 
that she wasn't that woman behind a successful man. She was truly a 
partner and a leader in her own right. Somehow she knew when to speak 
out and when just to leave it to Martin Luther King.
  What I have found over the years is that she has such a personality 
and such a soothing voice; but, boy, I am telling you, if it dealt with 
a challenge against what is right, against inequality and injustice, 
this very soft spoken, beautiful woman knew how a civil rights leader 
is supposed to take risk and go to the mat.

                              {time}  1730

  When we lost Dr. King, how quickly she was able to pick up that torch 
and to give to this Nation the leadership that really turned us around 
from a Nation that was struggling with racism and even today continues 
in that fight for equality for all Americans.
  Those of us that were able to march with Dr. Martin Luther King 
cannot think of a time when she was not there marching with him. Any 
pictures from the past, Coretta Scott King was there.
  How often we work with these people as though they are mere mortals, 
only to find out when they are gone how deep that vacuum has been made 
by their loss. For all of the groups that Coretta Scott King has 
provided the leadership for, we hope since we cannot replace Coretta 
King, that all of us have in us some type, some quality of the 
conviction and the courage that Dr. King and his beautiful wife had. 
And collectively, if all of us can say this is not a struggle for the 
King family or a civil rights leader, but a struggle for this great 
country, I think we can move forward.
  Mr. Speaker, I rise today to honor the life and legacy of Mrs. 
Coretta Scott King and to add my support to H. Res. 655 honoring the 
life of this extraordinary woman. As much as we loved and respected 
Mrs. King, her family has suffered an even greater loss. To the King 
children--Yolanda, Martin III, Dexter, and Bernice, know that you have 
our deepest heartfelt sympathy.
  Hailed as the `First Lady of the Civil Rights Movement', Coretta 
Scott King had to endure injustices at an early age. Born in Heiberger, 
Alabama and raised on the farm of her parents Bernice McMurry Scott, 
and Obadiah Scott, she was exposed at an early age to the injustices of 
life in a segregated society. She walked five miles a day to attend the 
one-room Crossroad School in Marion, Alabama, while the White students 
rode buses to an all-White school closer by. Yet through it all, young 
Coretta excelled at her studies, particularly music, and was 
valedictorian of her graduating class at Lincoln High School.
  She graduated in 1945 and received a scholarship to Antioch College 
in Yellow Springs, Ohio. As an undergraduate, she took an active 
interest in the emerging civil rights movement; and joined the Antioch 
chapter of the NAACP, as well as the college's Race Relations and Civil 
Liberties Committees.
  Her life would be forever changed when she met a young theology 
student, Martin Luther King, Jr. They were married on June 18, 1953,

[[Page 632]]

in a ceremony conducted by King's father, the Rev. Martin Luther King, 
Sr.
  Coretta Scott King was very supportive to her husband during the most 
turbulent days of the American civil rights movement. After his 
assassination in Memphis, Tennessee, on April 4, 1968, she kept his 
dream alive while also raising their four children. In her own words, 
she was ``more determined than ever that her husband's dream would 
become a reality.''
  For more than a decade, she worked tirelessly to have her husband's 
birthday observed as a national holiday. Her determination would payoff 
when it was first celebrated in 1986.
  In 1969, she established the Martin Luther King Jr. Center for 
Nonviolent Social Change in Atlanta, dedicated both to scholarship and 
to activism.
  With fierce determination and undying strength, Mrs. King worked to 
keep Dr. King's ideology of equality for all people at the forefront of 
people's minds. She picked up the baton when it was dropped by her 
husband's assassination and continued to move forward in the civil 
rights arena.
  In her own words, ``We must make our hearts instruments of peace and 
nonviolence, because when the heart is right, the mind and the body 
will follow.''
  She exemplified courage, strength, and a deep compassion for justice. 
Coretta Scott King will be remembered as one of America's greatest 
treasures and will be forever missed.
  Mr. CONYERS. Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentlewoman from 
California (Ms. Lee), who has worked in the King venue even before she 
became a Member of Congress when she was a staffer and when she was a 
State senator in California.
  Ms. LEE. Mr. Speaker, I want to thank the gentleman for yielding me 
this time and for his leadership and say to him what an honor it is to 
serve with him. Mr. Conyers is truly an icon and someone for us all to 
follow.
  It is with a deep sense of gratitude and yet a deep sense of sadness 
that I rise tonight to pay tribute to the late Coretta Scott King and 
offer my sincerest condolences and prayers to her family and friends.
  Today we mourn the loss of an incredible woman, an American legacy. 
She joined her husband, the late Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., on the 
front lines of the civil rights movement and made it her life's work to 
ensure that civil rights, a nonviolent struggle for justice, continued. 
You see, Mrs. King's marathon for justice and yes, for peace, 
transcended race, gender and national boundaries.
  Mrs. King was really an example for us all of us. I remember her 
leadership in fighting to end apartheid in South Africa and her 
determination to connect all of the dots of how social injustices 
affect us all.
  As a congressional staffer to my predecessor Congressman Dellums, I 
remember the 15-year legislative battle, led by the great Congressman 
Mr. John Conyers to create a national holiday honoring Dr. King, but it 
took a grassroots national movement and Mrs. King's tireless advocacy 
to finally have this legislation enacted into law. That is when I first 
met this brilliant, beautiful woman.
  Mrs. King was a role model for many women, including myself. On 
several occasions she reached out to me to offer her counsel, support 
and love. I will always remember her words of support and her comfort 
during some very challenging times for me. She hugged me, and would 
always tell me to stay the course, and she would say that is what 
Martin would want.
  Several years ago I was invited to keynote the Martin Luther march 
and rally in Atlanta on Dr. King's birthday. Again, she encouraged me 
to remember Martin and his quest for peace through nonviolence as part 
of my work as a Member of Congress. I will deeply miss this great 
woman.
  Mrs. King stood tall when many would have been overwhelmed. Imagine 
how she coped when her husband was arrested, beaten and wiretapped. She 
was an amazing woman, and we are going to miss her.
  Mr. Speaker, my thoughts and prayers are with the King family this 
evening as we honor and as we celebrate the life of this great woman. 
Let us ensure that the flame of nonviolence and peace burns in her 
memory.
  Mr. Speaker, I thank Mr. Conyers for making sure that we have the 
opportunity to reflect on this great woman tonight.
  Mr. Speaker, it is with a deep sense of sadness yet gratitude that I 
rise to pay tribute to the late Coretta Scott King, and offer my 
sincerest condolences and prayers to her family and friends.
  Today, we mourn the loss of an incredible woman--an American legacy. 
She joined her husband, the late Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., on the 
frontlines of the civil rights movement and made it her life's work to 
ensure that the civil rights and non-violent struggle for justice and 
peace continued.
  You see Mrs. King's marathon for justice and peace transcended race, 
gender and national boundaries. Mrs. King was an example to us all; I 
remember her leadership in fighting to end apartheid in South Africa, 
and her determination to connect the dots of how social injustice 
affects us all.
  As a congressional staffer to my predecessor Congressman Ronald V. 
Dellums, I remember well the 15-year legislative battle led by 
Congressman Conyers to create a national holiday honoring Dr. King. It 
took a grassroots, national movement, and Mrs. King's tireless advocacy 
to finally have this legislation signed into law. That is when I first 
met this brilliant, beautiful woman.
  Mrs. King was a role model for many women, including myself. On 
several occasions, she reached out to me to offer her counsel, support 
and love. I'll always remember her words support and comfort during 
some challenging times for me. She hugged me, told me to stay the 
course and that would be what Martin would want.
  Several years ago, I was invited to keynote the MLK March and Rally 
in Atlanta on Dr. King's birthday. Again, Mrs. King encouraged me to 
remember Martin in his quest for peace through non-violence as part of 
my work as a Member of Congress. I will deeply miss this great woman.
  As the head of the first family of the civil rights movement, Mrs. 
King always handled everything with a distinct style and grace. As a 
single-parent to their four children--Yolanda, Martin III, Dexter and 
Bernice, she raised and educated her children while keeping Dr. King's 
dream alive. What a woman.
  Mrs. King stood tall when many would have been overwhelmed. Imagine 
how she coped with her husband being arrested, beaten and stabbed, her 
home being bombed, her phone ringing with hate calls at all times of 
the day and night. Imagine how she felt isolated and hunted by the very 
ones who swore to protect her family.
  Mr. Speaker, I would like to read an excerpt from Mrs. King's 
autobiography, My Life with Martin Luther King, Jr., just to give you a 
glimpse of how the King family persevered despite being under constant 
attack--by segregationists, by pro-war radicals, and even by her own 
government. She wrote:
  ``. . . By 1965 we were sure that the FBI was tapping lines and was 
treating the Movement as if it were an alien enemy. We accepted that as 
part of the evil and injustice that come with leadership which 
challenges the status quo. We knew we did not deserve that treatment 
from our government. . . . We believed in our vows; we never became 
embittered or disillusioned; we held on to our faith. . . . We were not 
intimidated; we just realized that it was too much to try to take on an 
organization like that while maintaining our struggle for civil rights. 
How much farther we still had to go!'' Mrs. King endured warrantless 
domestic spying.
  In Northern California, many continue to look to Coretta Scott King 
as a beacon of dignity in the face of adversity. We are a cultural and 
ethnic mosaic and continue to strive to realize the goals of the Kings' 
dream--peace, equality, and freedom.
  Today as we pay tribute to Mrs. King's legacy, we must never forget 
her sacrifices and contributions to protect the liberties and rights 
that so many of us take for granted. And we need to recommit ourselves 
to the goals and ideals that she envisioned and embodied.
  Wars and rumors of wars permeate our existence. Many of our young 
people see violence as an option to solve their problems. Mrs. King's 
life was about non-violence, and those who mourn her loss should 
embrace her ideals of peace and non-violence. It is in times like these 
that we must recall the legacy of Mrs. King embodied in places like 
Oakland's Martin Luther King, Jr. Freedom Center which brings together 
our community to develop peaceful, nonviolent solutions to the 
challenges we all continue to face.
  My thoughts and prayers are with the King family this evening as we 
honor and celebrate the life of this great woman. Let us ensure that 
the flame of nonviolence and peace burns in her memory.

[[Page 633]]


  Mr. CONYERS. Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentlewoman from 
California (Mrs. Capps), who has worked tirelessly in the field of 
health care since she came to Congress.
  Mrs. CAPPS. Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague from Michigan for his 
leadership and for yielding me this time to speak.
  The opportunity to speak in memory of Coretta Scott King and the 
importance today to acknowledge not only what she did for racial 
justice in this country and the rest of the world, but what she 
contributed to women's rights, to children's rights, gay and lesbian 
rights, religious freedom, the needs of the homeless and poor, full 
employment, health care, educational opportunities, and the continued 
unrelenting emphasis on nonviolence.
  She was a mentor for me and so many of us. She did not take the easy 
path, she took the right path. The recent confirmation of two new 
Supreme Court justices reminds us of the importance of expanding our 
civil rights, not limiting them. We can do this in memory and honor of 
both Martin and Coretta, and it is their lives being dedicated to the 
highest values of human dignity and pushing for social change that 
stand as a pinnacle for what we want to continue to achieve.
  I have fond memory of hearing with my husband when we were studying 
at Yale University early in the 1960s, hearing this young promising 
preacher from the South come and preach in Battelle Chapel. I was 
touched that day, and have been ever since.
  Here we have also had the mentorship of our dear colleague, Mr. John 
Lewis, and in taking so many of us, me included, down to Birmingham, 
Selma and Montgomery, I will always remember walking across the Edmund 
Pettus Bridge, and of course 2 weeks later, Dr. Martin Luther King led 
25,000 men, women and children on that unforgettable march from Selma 
to Montgomery. Within 3 years he was assassinated, and how that must 
have affected his young widow. She had the responsibility to raise 
those young children and be concerned with his legacy, but she became a 
champion in her own right.
  I know that we now can fully appreciate what she has accomplished and 
are dedicated to continuing. In her words, I want to close with these 
three phrases that she said, ``Be a drum major for justice. Be a drum 
major for love. Be a drum major for peace.'' Thank you, Coretta Scott 
King, for your life.
  Mr. CONYERS. Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to yield 2 minutes to the 
gentleman from Georgia (Mr. Scott), who has shown his interest in the 
ideals of Dr. King by joining the Committee on the Judiciary in 
connection with the Voter Rights Act extension which is currently under 
debate.
  Mr. SCOTT of Georgia. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for allowing 
me the opportunity not only to serve with him on the Voting Rights Act 
reaffirmation, but also for being able to be part of this extraordinary 
effort this evening on behalf of Mrs. King.
  I am a proud Member of Atlanta, Georgia, a product of the civil 
rights movement, a product of the political movement, which says it all 
when you step up here and mention the name of Coretta Scott King.
  I am very pleased to be able to stand here in the United States 
Congress and say that I am here because Coretta Scott King touched my 
life. In 1974, just out of college, the opportunity came for me to step 
into the political arena in a bid for the State House of 
Representatives, and at the time to be one of the youngest, but not the 
youngest, to be elected to that body. It was Coretta Scott King that 
invited me into Ebenezer to be her Youth Day speaker. Can you imagine 
what it meant to me to stand in that pulpit where Dr. King was? She 
gave me advice that sticks with me today. She gave me advice from a 
scripture that was so meaningful to me, that gave me the courage to 
step out and run for office, and that scripture was in the Book of 
Ephesians and Paul's letter where he said put on the whole arm of God 
so you will be able to stand in the evil day and having done all to 
stand.
  That is what Coretta Scott King did for me, to give me the 
encouragement.
  She was more than just Dr. Martin Luther King's wife, she was a 
leader in her own right. And in many measures perhaps when her legacy 
is truly written and truly examined, you will clearly see that God 
called her as he has called so many in our history of America and the 
world to come at the right time and the right place, as she established 
his foundation over the last quarter of a century and the national 
holiday. That was her legacy that gives us every year a chance to 
reflect on Dr. King and the establishment of the King Center.
  God bless Coretta Scott King, and God, we thank You for sending 
Coretta Scott King our way.
  Mr. CONYERS. Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from 
American Samoa (Mr. Faleomavaega), who has worked with us on civil 
rights issues both in this country and in other places in the world.
  Mr. FALEOMAVAEGA. Mr. Speaker, I want to extend my appreciation and 
commendation to the distinguish gentleman who is the chairman of the 
Judiciary Committee, Mr. Sensenbrenner, and my friend, Mr. Conyers, the 
ranking member, for bringing this important resolution to our 
colleagues for our consideration.
  I have mentioned you cannot mention the name Martin Luther King, Jr., 
without echoing the name of this great American woman, Coretta Scott 
King. In all of the years I have had the privilege of getting to 
understand and appreciate the tremendous contributions that our African 
American community has made to the greatness of our Nation, I think we 
cannot deny the fact that Martin Luther King, Jr., and all of the 
accomplishments and all of the things that he has done, and in my 
humble opinion when times are really bad and depressing and all the 
things the great leader has done, I can actually say that Coretta Scott 
King was the healer, the soother, the one that gave Martin Luther King, 
Jr., all the moral support that he needed in the afflictions he had to 
face in bringing down so many evils and the problems affecting the 
civil rights of our fellow Americans who just happened to be of African 
descent.
  I once read somewhere that it was Leo Tolstoy and Mahatma Gandhi who 
advocated the principle of nonviolence, and it was from those writings 
that Martin Luther King, Jr., took the matter in the same way that 
Mahatma Gandhi did in India. How important it is that we conquer 
obstacles by usage of nonviolence and use pure love. I really, really 
appreciate the fact that we have this resolution to honor Mrs. King, 
and I urge my colleagues to pass this resolution. I also would like to 
express my severe sympathies and condolences to the members of the King 
family.
  Mr. CONYERS. Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from 
Illinois (Mr. Davis), a dear friend who was in the civil rights 
movement.
  Mr. DAVIS of Illinois. Mr. Speaker, I want to thank the gentleman 
from Michigan for yielding. I could not let the moment go by without at 
least a comment.
  During the mid-1960s, the King family moved into the neighborhood 
where I lived and worked. That is in the North Lawndale community on 
the west side of the City of Chicago in the 1500 block of South Hamlin. 
They brought with them an aura of excitement.
  I was a young schoolteacher who taught not very far from the 
location, and my friend and I would leave school in the afternoon and 
come by the King house. It was really an apartment. Sometimes Dr. King 
would come out and just kind of talk with us for a moment or two. They 
often ate at a restaurant, Edna's Restaurant, and Mr. Conyers may know 
it. They would bring to the restaurant a whole horde of people. 
Everybody would come and watch.

                              {time}  1745

  And so on behalf of all of the people who lived in that community, I 
simply express condolences to the King family, but also express the 
great feeling of joy and inspiration that they brought to

[[Page 634]]

our community when they lived on the west side of Chicago during the 
mid-1960s as they came north with the northern crusade.
  Mr. CONYERS. Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from 
North Carolina (Mr. Butterfield) to close our discussion this evening.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. Boustany). The gentleman has 1 minute 
remaining.
  Mr. SENSENBRENNER. Mr. Speaker, I yield the gentleman from North 
Carolina an additional minute.
  Mr. BUTTERFIELD. Thank you, Mr. Chairman, for yielding the additional 
minute. I am not sure I am going to be using all of that time, but 
thank you so much for your kindness.
  To the ranking member of the committee, my friend from Michigan, 
Congressman John Conyers, thank you so very much for your leadership as 
well.
  Mr. Speaker, I come to the floor this evening to recognize the life 
and work of Mrs. Coretta Scott King. The greatest contribution of this 
great American was her willingness to cheerfully share her husband with 
the world. On the day of her husband's assassination, April 4, 1968 Dr. 
King was due in my home community to lead a voter registration drive. 
But 2 days before the drive was scheduled to commence, he was diverted 
to Memphis, Tennessee; and that is where his life was ended. I went to 
his funeral in Atlanta, Georgia. In fact, the ranking member and I 
stayed in the same hotel there in Atlanta in 1968, and we have many 
memories of that week.
  But I want to thank Dr. King and Mrs. King for the contributions that 
they have made to America. Dr. King would have been very proud of my 
home community. My congressional district in eastern North Carolina now 
has 302 African American elected officials, and the voter registration 
drive that Dr. King was scheduled to lead was designed to improve and 
increase the number of black elected officials. And so, on behalf of 
the First Congressional District of North Carolina, on behalf of the 
660,000 people that I have the honor to represent, I extend my 
condolences to the King family. May God bless the memory of Coretta 
Scott King.
  Mr. SENSENBRENNER. Mr. Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the gentleman 
from Illinois (Mr. Rush).
  Mr. RUSH. Mr. Speaker, I want to thank the chairman of the committee 
for yielding his time to me, and I certainly want to thank the ranking 
member of this committee for all of his efforts on behalf of human 
rights and justice throughout not only this Nation but throughout the 
world. He has been an inspiration to us all.
  Mr. Speaker, we lost an inspiration. We lost an icon. Mrs. Coretta 
Scott King was more than just the wife of Dr. Martin Luther King. She 
was, indeed, an incredible force in the movement for equality, for 
justice in her own right. And she was the strong spirit and character 
that certainly laid the foundation for many of us who are present in 
this body tonight who serve in this Congress and in other elected 
offices throughout our Nation.
  Mrs. King, as was indicated earlier, was born Coretta Scott on a farm 
in Heiberger, Perry County, Alabama to Obadiah and Bernice McNurry 
Scott. She graduated from the Lincoln Normal School in Marion, Alabama, 
at the top of her class before going to Antioch College in Yellow 
Springs, Ohio. After graduating from college, she moved to Boston, 
Massachusetts, where she was classically trained as a promising opera 
singer.
  The story is well known about her meeting Dr. Martin Luther King, 
another student in Boston, and their unity that was ordained before the 
Lord. Mrs. King was a steadfast partner of Dr. King, and she shared in 
his sacrifice and also his hardships. It was not an easy life that they 
led. It was a very difficult life that they led. They raised four 
children. Mrs. King raised four children. It was very difficult for her 
to keep her family safe and united in the face of what would ordinarily 
be overwhelming anger, extreme violence, and deep-seated resentment. 
But for Mrs. King, her majestic poise and grace made her efforts seem 
to the rest of us almost seamless. And after the death of her husband, 
she continued on with his legacy of seeking justice, equality, and 
liberty for all citizens.
  Leading marches, participating in protests and organizing civil 
rights groups, Mrs. King continued to struggle against racial 
injustice, economic inequality, military adventurism, hate crimes, and 
violence.
  Mr. Speaker, this Nation owes Coretta Scott King an incredible debt. 
We owe the King family an incredible debt for the sacrifices that they 
made.
  Mr. SENSENBRENNER. Mr. Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the gentleman 
from Texas (Mr. Al Green).
  Mr. AL GREEN of Texas. Thank you, Mr. Chairman; and thank you, Mr. 
Ranking Member, for this opportunity.
  Mr. Speaker, I consider it a singular privilege and a superlative 
pleasure to speak today in honor of Mrs. King.
  Mr. Speaker, Dr. King expressed some of the great ideals of our time, 
ideals like injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. But 
it was Mrs. King who went to South Africa and, in a sense, made real 
that ideal by reminding the South Africans that apartheid was 
unacceptable, and causing many of us to understand that injustice in 
South Africa was a threat to justice in America.
  Dr. King expressed the ideal that we should transform neighborhoods 
into brotherhoods; but it was Mrs. King who met with gang members and 
caused them to understand that it was their neighborhood and their 
brotherhood that was needed to cause these to be good neighborhoods.
  Dr. King reminded us that life is an inescapable network of mutuality 
tied to a single garment of destiny, that whatever impacts one directly 
impacts all indirectly. But it was Mrs. King who went to Mrs. Mandela 
and who visited with her as her husband was on the eve of leaving 
prison because she understood that Nelson Mandela's suffering was 
indirectly impacting the suffering of all people in the world.
  So I am honored today to honor the first lady of the civil rights 
movement, who has been said to have been a person with a gentle spirit, 
but with a will, a will of steel. And while she was the first lady, I 
think many of us will always see her as our queen. Thank you, Queen 
Mother King.
  Mr. SENSENBRENNER. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself the balance of the 
time.
  Mr. Speaker, during the last 2 days, the eulogies that have been 
given on behalf of Mrs. King hit the nail on the head. This was a woman 
who became a widow when her husband was tragically assassinated and had 
very young children, and she could have withdrawn from society and 
spent all of her time and all of her efforts raising those kids to 
become grown men and grown women.
  She did more than that. She knew that it was her destiny to carry on 
her assassinated husband's legacy, and that is why we have heard such 
eloquent speeches on both sides of the aisle on behalf of this 
resolution which I was honored to introduce.
  May God have mercy on the soul of Coretta Scott King, and may she 
join the angels and saints in paradise.
  Mr. Speaker, I urge the adoption of this resolution.
  Mr. PORTER. Mr. Speaker, on January 31, 2006, a woman of grace and 
dignity passed from this life to the next. Today, with the passage of 
House Resolution 655, we honor the life and legacy of Mrs. Coretta 
Scott King and her contributions as a leader in the Civil Rights 
struggle.
  There are few whose life and example transform a nation. Dr. Martin 
Luther King was one of those few whose exemplary life gave the promise 
of hope and equality to every race and color of people. But the 
struggles he endured as a national leader were not suffered alone. By 
his side stood a woman of gentleness and grace who joined triumphantly 
in his victories and suffered greatly in his pain.
  Mrs. King embraced the principles and themes of nonviolence that her 
husband fought to bring to the forefront of the American psyche. After 
Dr. King's death in 1968, it was Mrs. King who kept his work and legacy 
alive. Through her, Americans were challenged to remember the 
sacrifices that her husband made for nonviolence, peace and equality.
  As a nation, we must embrace the challenges that Dr. King and Mrs. 
King laid before

[[Page 635]]

us. At the advent of African American history month, we must remember 
the struggles for freedom that slaves and abolitionists jointly fought 
for to achieve emancipation and we must remember the struggles for 
equality that the many African Americans and civil rights leaders 
sought to escape during the Jim Crow era.
  Even as we work to advance freedom and democracy to the Iraqi people 
and the many oppressed men and women in the Middle East and throughout 
the world, we must not forget our own dark history of oppression and 
how it has shaped our united push for freedom. The realities of our 
past are a scar to our Nation, but a reminder of what we can overcome 
as a Nation united in a common cause. We must continue to work for 
freedom and opportunity for every American of every race, color, gender 
and ethnicity. We must do so for the posterity of our Nation and for 
the American people.
  Mr. Speaker, I thank you and my colleagues for passing this 
resolution in honoring the life and legacy of a virtuous woman whose 
pearls of wisdom and dedication to truth, equality, and nonviolence are 
an example for us now and for generations to come.
  Ms. CORRINE BROWN of Florida. Mr. Speaker, the great Coretta Scott 
King, perhaps best known as being the wife of the Reverend Martin 
Luther King, was, like her husband, a pioneer in the civil rights field 
in her own right.
  Rising from the dust of rural poverty of a small town in Alabama, she 
will be remembered as being an outstanding advocate of racial peace and 
nonviolent social change. Ms. King was a strong woman, one of the few 
women leaders in a civil rights movement which, at the time, consisted 
almost exclusively of men. Mrs. King was one of the first who broke the 
mold. A mother of four, which in and of itself is more than a full 
day's work, she also was a woman who took on a high profile position in 
the civil rights movement in a most difficult time of conflict in our 
country.
  Soon after the death of the late Martin Luther King, she quickly 
developed her own voice and even her own causes. Although there was 
some overlap with her husband's battles, she broadened the civil rights 
agenda quite a bit, focusing on the inclusion of women in our society 
here at home, speaking out against the war in Vietnam, and promoting 
peace internationally.
  She quickly moved on to stand in for her late husband at the Poor 
People's Campaign at the Lincoln Memorial on June 19, 1968, just two 
months after his assassination. At the Memorial, she spoke not just 
about the Reverend's vision, but also about her own, a vision about 
gender as well as race, wherein 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.'' She then joined the board of 
directors of the National Organization for Women, as well as the 
Southern Christian Leadership Conference and became widely identified 
with a broad array of international human rights issues, rather than 
being focused primarily on race here in the United States. This 
broadened view, she went on to say, was her way of carrying on the 
legacy of her husband, the great Reverend Martin Luther King.
  In doing so, she led the effort to memorialize Dr. King, and was the 
greatest advocate for a national holiday in his honor, which came to 
fruition on January 20th in 1986, and has been celebrated on the third 
Monday in January every year since then.
  She later founded the Martin Luther King, Jr. Center for Non-Violent 
Social Change in Atlanta, an institution dedicated to scholarships and 
activism, with the purpose of continuing on his work and providing a 
research center for scholars studying the civil rights era.
  To the end, Mrs. King remained to be a most loved woman by all. Often 
compared to Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis as a woman who overcame tragedy, 
held her family together and then became an inspirational presence 
around the world. Her admirers always said that Mrs. King took on a 
particularly difficult task, that of carrying on her husband's work and 
teachings--with a sense of spirit and purpose that made her more than 
just a symbolic figure, but a true leader.
  Indeed, her death is a heartfelt loss, not only for African 
Americans, but for our Nation. I wholeheartedly believe that the people 
of our Nation need to work to uphold the legacy of these two brave 
women and the civil rights movement, which, although it has come a long 
way, has taken recent strides in the wrong direction under a more than 
callous Republican leadership. Mrs. King was a most inspirational 
woman, whose unwavering spirit stepped in to continue the struggle for 
the ideals of the great Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King.
  All of my heart and prayers go out to the King family.
  Mr. CUMMINGS. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to pay tribute to Mrs. 
Coretta Scott King, a true sheroe, who departed this earth on January 
30, 2006, due to stroke complications. Although usually referred to as 
the widower of the incomparable Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., the 
work she did after his death secured her place as one of the greatest 
leaders, voices, and phenomenal women in American history.
  Mr. Speaker, Mrs. King was born on April 27, 1927 in Marion, Alabama 
to Obadiah and Bernice Scott. Her parents farmed on land they had owned 
since the Civil War. At an early age, she witnessed the racial 
inequities that occurred in the Deep South; however, she recalled, ``my 
mother always told me that I was going to go to college, even if she 
didn't have but one dress to put on''.
  Through her mother's teachings coupled with her deeply spiritual 
roots in the Christian Baptist faith, Coretta persevered and graduated 
as the valedictorian of Lincoln High School in 1945. Blessed with both 
vocal and musical instrument gifts, she pursued and received her B.A. 
on a scholarship in music and education from Antioch College in 1951. 
In 1953, she furthered her education and earned a graduate degree in 
voice and music education from the New England Conservatory of Music in 
Boston.
  While attending school, she met a young Martin Luther King, Jr., who 
was pursuing his doctorate in theology at Boston University. Although 
hesitant about the courtship in the beginning, through prayer and 
confirmation from God, Mrs. King married Dr. King on June 18, 1953.
  The couple relocated to Montgomery, Alabama and Dr. King began work 
in the ministry and the Civil Rights Movement. After this relocation, 
there lives became almost immediately tumultuous. In fact, the first 
boycott occurred 2 weeks after their first child was born in 1955, and 
in 1956 their house was bombed. But this was no ordinary couple--the 
Kings went on to build a family of four children--all while helping to 
build the civil rights platform for a nation.
  People talk about Dr. King's dream, but he wasn't the only one who 
had the dream. She bought into his dream, and he bought into hers, too. 
Mrs. King admits ``when I say I was married to the cause, I was married 
to my husband whom I loved, I learned to love, it wasn't love at first 
sight--but I also became married to the cause. It was my cause, and 
that's the way I felt about it. So when my husband was no longer there. 
. . ., I prayed that God would give me the direction for my life. . . 
.'' Mr. Speaker, it is clear that God answered her prayers.
  They were partners in the freedom movement and it is my belief that 
they shared the same spirit. She ran the race with him, holding the 
baton with him, and when he had to let go, she kept running and was 
able to cultivate the dream they shared.
  This notion was evident in the way she transformed her grief into an 
aspiration to eradicate social injustice and achieve equality for all. 
When Dr. King was assassinated prior to a planned march, four days 
after his death, she traveled to Memphis and led a march of 50,000 
people.
  She worked diligently and tirelessly--traveling worldwide, giving 
speeches, organizing marches and sit-ins, receiving awards on her late 
husband's behalf, leading peace delegations, and developing and 
performing in Freedom Concerts, where she incorporated her artistic 
gifts in song and poetry to narrate stories of the Civil Rights 
Movement.
  In 1969, she founded the Martin Luther King, Jr. Center for Non-
Violent Social Change in Atlanta as a memoriam to her husband. She 
served as the founder, president, and CEO for 27 years. The 
organization provides an extraordinary history of the Civil Rights 
movement while offering interpretations of Dr. King's philosophies to 
over 1 million visitors each year.
  In 1986, through her endless efforts, the Federal Government 
established a national holiday on her husband's birthday to commemorate 
his achievements. Mrs. King also authored 3 books, earned 60 honorary 
degrees, and also served in dozens of organizations. She was an 
untiring nonviolent warrior whose work created a lasting effect--of 
raising the level of civil rights consciousness and civility around the 
globe.
  I remember asking her after a lecture she delivered in Baltimore what 
one lesson would she like for us to extrapolate from her life.
  She replied ``the thing to always remember is that the baton is 
handed from one generation to another. You've just got to make sure, 
first of all, to grab it and then don't drop it.'' What we must do now 
is make sure her efforts, spirit and commitment live on in us.
  Mrs. King was an icon and a paragon of excellence. It was no 
coincidence that she died

[[Page 636]]

in her sleep--for she exited this world in the way that she physically 
dreamed it--with everlasting peace and love for all of humanity.
  God Bless Coretta Scott King. My deepest condolences to her family.
  Ms. MATSUI. Mr. Speaker, Coretta Scott King dedicated her life to 
racial and economic justice as a leader in the civil rights movement 
working in partnership with her late husband, the great civil rights 
leader Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. And after his assassination, she 
continued her tireless efforts fighting for equal justice for children, 
the poor and the forgotten among us.
  She was a passionate advocate for equality here in the United States 
and around the world. Her efforts ensured a fledgling civil rights 
organization--the Southern Christian Leadership Conference--had the 
funds to continue its critical work and her actions made certain 
apartheid did not fade from the world's conscience.
  Mrs. King once eloquently said, ``Women, if the soul of the nation is 
to be saved, I believe that you must become its soul.'' And her 
accomplishments--the civil rights legacy she created in her own right--
demonstrate how she became our nation's soul.
  As a nation we mourn the loss of one of our civil rights pioneers, 
Coretta Scott King. Together we must continue her life's work of 
equality and justice. My thoughts and prayers go out to her family and 
friends at this time of loss.
  Mr. HASTINGS of Florida. Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of this 
resolution honoring the memory of Coretta Scott King who passed away 
yesterday morning. In a lifetime of effort and tireless struggle, Mrs. 
King championed the principles of peace, integrity, and human dignity. 
Alongside her husband, the Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr., Mrs. King 
strove for civil rights, endured bombings on her home, and dreamed of a 
better life for her children. Because of her and so many others, my 
children and grandchildren are growing up in a world of greater 
opportunity.
  After her husband was taken away tragically, Mrs. King, still 
shouldering the immense emotional burden of her loss, did not choose to 
withdraw from the world. She chose instead to continue forward with the 
work they had started and the legacy they had built. Only 4 days after 
the death of King, Mrs. King led a march of 50,000 people through the 
streets of Memphis. For her determination and courage, we are forever 
grateful.
  Coretta Scott was born in Heiberger, near Marion, Alabama, on April 
27, 1927. Growing up on her parents' farm, Coretta walked 5 miles every 
day to her one-room school in order to receive an education. As a young 
woman, she learned the lessons of struggle and perseverance from her 
determined mother. These lessons helped her excel and graduate as the 
valedictorian from Lincoln High School. Mrs. King then went on to 
enroll at Antioch College where her sister Edythe had been the first 
full-time black student to live on campus.
  Mrs. King majored in education and music, pursuing the love she had 
inherited from her mother. By her graduation in 1951, Mrs. King decided 
to become a professional singer and accepted a scholarship to the New 
England Conservatory of Music in Boston. It was in Boston that she met 
Martin Luther King, Jr., a fellow student. They were married 2 years 
later. Their first child, Yolanda, was born in 1955, only 2 weeks 
before the Montgomery bus boycott. Three more children soon followed: 
Martin Luther III, Dexter, and Bernice.
  During the campaign for civil rights, Coretta Scott King did more 
than support her husband, she worked as his peer; giving speeches in 
her husband's stead and traveling to Geneva on behalf of Women's Strike 
for Peace as a delegate at the Disarmament Conference in Geneva in 
1962. Mrs. King maintained her passion for music throughout this 
turbulent period, often giving concerts on behalf of civil rights. In 
May 1968, only months after her husband's assassination, Coretta Scott 
King took up his place in the Poor People's March to Washington. That 
year, Mrs. King founded the Martin Luther King, Jr. Center for 
Nonviolent Social Change, the first institution built in memory of an 
African American leader.
  Mrs. King was also instrumental in the establishment of the Martin 
Luther King, Jr. National Holiday. After personally leading an enormous 
education campaign and seeking an Act of Congress, Mrs. King oversaw 
the first national observance of the holiday to honor her husband in 
1986. In 1974, she formed the Full Employment Action Council, a 
coalition of over 100 organizations dedicated to full employment and 
equal economic opportunity. In 1983 Mrs. King gathered over 800 human 
rights organizations on the 20th Anniversary of the historic March on 
Washington in the Coalition of Conscience. While protesting apartheid 
in 1985, Mrs. King and three of her children were arrested outside the 
South African embassy in Washington, DC. Nearly a decade later, she 
stood in Johannesburg as Nelson Mandela was inaugurated as the new 
President of South Africa.
  Throughout her life, Coretta Scott King remained a devoted promoter 
of positive social change. Despite grief and constant sacrifice, she 
continued to lend her voice to issues of social justice, human 
equality, and democratic progress. Mrs. King advocated for a more open-
minded global community.
  The world is better because of Coretta Scott King. She affected 
countless lives and her voice will be deeply missed, especially by 
those who carry on her incredible undertaking.
  Ms. EDDIE BERNICE JOHNSON of Texas. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to 
remember the life and accomplishments an extraordinary woman--my 
friend--Mrs. Coretta Scott King.
  I was surprised and deeply saddened to learn of Mrs. King's passing 
yesterday morning. Mrs. King and I were friends and confidants for many 
years. She was an incredible woman--graceful and dignified--who showed 
strength in the face of indignation and tragedy.
  Coretta Scott King was a committed activist in the civil rights 
movement even before she met Dr. King. After they married, she was with 
him every step of the way--supporting him and promoting the philosophy 
of nonviolence. Following Dr. King's assassination, she continued his 
legacy promoting social and economic justice for all. Mrs. King was 
determined to make his dream a reality. She did all this while 
remaining committed to her family and raising her children.
  Mrs. King made it her mission to spread the message of peace. She was 
not just an American, but a citizen of the world. As human beings, we 
are blessed to have known her compassion and dedication.
  It has been said that the ultimate measure of a person's life is the 
extent to which they made the world a better place. Coretta Scott 
King's work has forever shaped the way we treat each other as human 
beings. Her passing marks the end of an era. It is up to all of us to 
honor her dedication and continue the struggle for equality.
  Mr. ENGEL. Mr. Speaker, as we celebrate Black History month, it 
saddens me that our nation has lost one our foremost civil rights 
activists--Coretta Scott King.
  Though best known as the wife of the great Martin Luther King, Jr., 
Coretta had a distinguished career herself. She was an activist not 
only for racial equality but for economic justice, women's and 
children's rights, gay and lesbian dignity, religious freedom, the 
needs of the poor and homeless, health care, educational opportunities, 
nuclear disarmament and ecological sanity. She was also a powerful 
voice in bringing an end to the scourge of apartheid in South Africa.
  During the civil rights movement, she was at the forefront of the 
movement alongside her husband. Coretta was a music student and she 
brought her talent to the civil rights movement by performing in 
``Freedom Concerts,'' singing and reading poetry to raise money for the 
cause. Planning marches and sit-ins, she never relented even after her 
family members were targets of beatings and stabbings. She never 
relented, even after the jailing of her husband. She never relented, 
even after their family home was bombed.
  Long after Martin's assassination, Coretta continued her work and 
concentrated her energies on fulfilling her husband's work by building 
The Martin Luther King, Jr. Center for Nonviolent Social Change as a 
living memorial to her husband's life and dream.
  I had the pleasure of meeting her. For me, meeting her was meeting an 
icon. The civil rights movement began when I was about 8 or 9. Years 
later, to meet her in person was awe inspiring. It was, frankly, 
astonishing. Coretta Scott King was not a witness to history, she was 
an active participant and a leader in making history. Speaking to her 
one on one was a humbling experience and one that I will never forget.
  Coretta Scott King will be sorely missed by people not only in the 
United States but those throughout the world who looked to her as a 
strong woman and a leader in the non-violent resistance movement.
  Mr. WALSH. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to honor the life of the 
courageous Coretta Scott King.
  Mrs. King first came to the public eye as the wife of the great civil 
rights leader Martin Luther King, Jr. Aside from being Mr. King's wife, 
Coretta Scott King became an international symbol for the civil rights 
movement and a prominent advocate of the women's rights movement. As a 
civil rights leader, Mrs. King's vision of racial peace and nonviolent 
social change was a fortifying staple in advancing the civil rights 
movement.
  Following her husband's untimely death, Mrs. King fought strongly to 
continue battling

[[Page 637]]

the struggle against social injustice. Mrs. King went on to found the 
Martin Luther King, Jr. Center for Non-Violent Social Change in 
Atlanta, GA, and led a valiant effort for a national holiday in honor 
of her late husband. Both actions are a strong indicator of Mrs. King's 
dedication to scholarship and activism.
  Through her continued efforts, Mrs. King came to be seen as an 
inspirational figure. Her enormous spirit and strong moral values came 
to personify not only the ideals Dr. King fought for, but also 
personified a movement that transformed our Nation.
  I would like to extend my thanks to Mrs. King for all the wonderful 
contributions she made throughout her life. I also would like to extend 
my prayers and condolences to her family, who will undoubtedly continue 
to fight for what Mrs. King stood for.
  It is an honor to stand and praise all the hard work this beloved 
figure has done to better our Nation.
  Ms. JACKSON-LEE of Texas. Mr. Speaker, the passing Monday night of 
Coretta Scott King, filled me with sadness, an emptiness, and a 
determination to see her work through to the end. She was a courageous, 
heroic, and beautiful individual who sacrificed her life so Americans 
might relish in the gift of equal justice. Coretta Scott King and her 
late husband, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., were Americans of monumental 
strength and stature through their lives. In times of struggle, 
frustration, injustice, and violence, they spoke of composure, grace, 
love, and equality.
  They will be remembered for their tireless and ceaseless efforts to 
advance race relations, civil rights, social justice and human rights.
  I would like to share a few quotes with you. These are moments in 
which the voice, character, and spiritual tenacity of Mrs. King was 
captured. When a heroine passes away, we look to her words, and our 
memories, to convey the spirit and tenacity she carried with her, 
brought into every room, and left imprinted on our souls.
  Corretta Scott King once said, ``Hate is too great a burden to bear. 
It injures the hater more than it injures the hated.'' Whether 
segregation, sexual orientation, the rights of the poor or the rights 
of women, Mrs. King spoke with a voice that resonates beyond the limits 
of radiowaves and printed pages and out to who are desperately in need 
of help.
  I have known Coretta Scott King over the last several years, and she 
had a rare gift to motivate others to carry on the legacy of equality, 
the idea of freedom, and social justice which was first accomplished by 
her husband and partner, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. It is our duty in 
her honor to never waver in the face of injustice and degradation.
  ``Struggle is a never ending process. Freedom is never really won; 
you earn it and win it in every generation.'' These words of Coretta 
Scott King are increasingly relevant.
  As a member of the House Judiciary and Homeland Security Committees, 
my thoughts can't help but turn to yesterday's confirmation of Justice 
Alito to the U.S. Supreme Court. I have had concerns about Justice 
Alito's past judicial record. I am still apprehensive, and I would like 
to take this opportunity to point out what I believe is a test of civil 
liberties presented today.
  The tragic passing of Coretta Scott King, a formidable human rights 
and civil liberties activist, and the concurrent confirmation of 
Justice Alito, may foreshadow difficult times ahead for American 
freedoms. Much of what Coretta Scott King fought for is now threatened 
by Justice Alito's confirmation to the U.S. Supreme Court. His dubious 
record on voter's rights, discrimination issues, civil rights, civil 
liberties, reproductive freedom, the right to privacy and environmental 
protections, among others, fly in the face of the life and work of 
Coretta Scott King. The passing of Coretta Scott King and the 
confirmation of Justice Alito should be a wake-up call to America.
  Dr. and Mrs. King will forever hold an esteemed place in my heart and 
the hearts of all Americans. As an African-American woman, and a Member 
of Congress, I shall endeavor in my own way to continue their fight for 
equality and justice every day.
  Mr. DAVIS of Illinois. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to honor the life 
and legacy of Mrs. Coretta Scott King. She was the widow of Dr. Martin 
Luther King, Jr. and an important figure in the civil rights movement 
in her own right. She passed away Monday night in California.
  Coretta Scott King was born in Marion, AL, on April 27, 1927. She 
attended Antioch College in Ohio and earned a B.A. in music and 
education. During her postgraduate studies at the New England 
Conservatory of Music in Boston she met her future husband, Martin 
Luther King, Jr., who was studying systematic theology at the nearby 
Boston University. They were married on June 18, 1953 in her hometown 
of Marion.
  While she devoted most of her time to raising their 4 children, her 
husband's prominent involvement in the civil rights movement meant that 
she, too, was deeply involved. She took part in sit-ins at segregated 
restaurants, organized marches, and performed in many ``freedom 
concerts.'' She even marched with Dr. Martin Luther King from Selma, 
AL, to Montgomery in 1965. Just days after her husband was slain she 
and three of her children traveled to Memphis to lead a march honoring 
his life.
  She not only honored his life but also ensured that his legacy would 
live on. In 1969 she founded the Martin Luther King, Jr., Center for 
Non-Violent Social Change in Atlanta, GA, as well as the Coalitions of 
Conscience to advocate for human rights issues.
  King has carried the message of nonviolence and her husband's dream 
to nearly every corner of the globe. In 1962 she served as a delegate 
to the 17-nation disarmament conference in Geneva, Switzerland. She was 
the first woman to deliver the class address to Harvard University 
students and the first woman to preach at a service in St. Paul's 
Cathedral in London. She stood beside Nelson Mandela when he became the 
first democratically elected president of South Africa and she was an 
eye-witness to the signing of the Middle East peace accords.
  Coretta Scott King was a woman of great influence, wisdom, 
compassion, and determination. She was a woman who devoted her life to 
making our world a better place. I leave you with a quote from Coretta 
Scott King, ``Struggle is a never ending process. Freedom is never 
really won, you earn it and win it in every generation.''
  Ms. CARSON. Mr. Speaker, as I rise today to speak on the life of 
Coretta Scott King I can't help but be reminded of the Gospel according 
to St. Matthew, ``And while they went to buy, the bridegroom came; and 
they that were ready went in with him to the marriage: and the door was 
shut. Afterward came also the other virgins, saying Lord, Lord open to 
us. But he answered and said, Verily I say unto you, I know you not.'' 
The life of Coretta Scott King was one that was spent prepared to serve 
her Lord and fellow man and she has now joined her bridegroom.
  The words and deeds of Coretta Scott King have made an indelible 
imprint not only on the lives of Americans but of all people across the 
world. From her work with Nelson Mandela and in the struggle for civil 
rights to her work on behalf of the gay and lesbian community she was 
always willing to stand with those who were defending their right to 
live a life of freedom. She served as a true moral compass for all 
people. We need more people to live like Kings.
  She was a phenomenal person who was kind to all she met and worked 
tirelessly on behalf of those she had not. I want to express my deepest 
condolences to the King family on behalf of the people of the 7th 
Congressional District. Our thoughts and prayers are with you.
  Mr. ETHERIDGE. Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of this resolution. 
Today we mourn the loss Mrs. Coretta Scott King. We honor her personal 
strength, her determination as a civil rights leader and her vision of 
a nation where freedom is denied to no man and to no woman.
  Together Coretta Scott King and Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. worked to 
create an America where all people are equal. Together they marched 
through the streets for civil rights, and together they spoke before 
church, civic, college, fraternal and peace groups to encourage peace.
  After her husband's tragic assassination in 1968, Mrs. King devoted 
her energy to carrying on Dr. King's legacy of nonviolence and civil 
rights. She built the Martin Luther King Jr. Center for Nonviolent 
Social Change as an enduring memorial to her husband's dream of full 
civil rights for all Americans. Throughout her life, Mrs. King worked 
to advance the cause of justice and human rights throughout the world 
and spoke out on behalf of many important issues, including racial and 
economic justice, women's and children's rights, and religious freedom. 
For her continued service to our country Mrs. King received over 60 
honorary doctorate degrees from colleges and universities and inspired 
Congress to create a Federal holiday on her husband's birthday. Mrs. 
King was truly an American hero.
  Today our thoughts and prayers are with the four King children: 
Yolanda Denise, Martin Luther III, Dexter Scott, and Bernice Albertine, 
all of her family and friends, and with all of those who continue to 
feel the wrath of social and economic injustice.
  Just as Coretta Scott King honored the memory of her husband through 
her work, let us honor her by continuing to fight for peace, justice 
and equality for all Americans. Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I yield back 
the balance of my time.

[[Page 638]]


  Mr. SCOTT of Virginia. Mr. Speaker, it was with great sadness that I 
learned of the passing of Mrs. Coretta Scott King. I rise today along 
with my colleagues to celebrate and remember the life of a remarkable 
woman and support H. Res. 655. I know that I speak for my colleagues 
here today when I say that America has lost one of its great citizens.
  Mrs. King's greatness lay in the special talents she had and her 
ability to use them in the numerous roles she played in her life. She 
started her adult life as an accomplished musician, receiving music 
degrees from Antioch College in Yellow Springs, OH, and the New England 
Conservatory of Music in Boston, MA. It was in Massachusetts that she 
met Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. They were married on June 18, 1953. In 
1954, with her husband's installation at Dexter Avenue Baptist Church 
in Montgomery, AL, Mrs. King accepted the roles and responsibilities of 
a pastor's wife.
  Mrs. King's singular talents may have been known just to members of 
the Dexter Avenue Baptist Church if it had not been for the winds of 
change swirling around Montgomery in 1955. With the arrest of Rosa 
Parks for her refusal to give up her seat on a Montgomery public bus, 
the struggle for civil rights for Blacks in America formally began. Dr. 
King was at the epicenter of the civil rights movement, and Mrs. King 
was there by his side.
  It is amazing that Coretta Scott King could play such a vital role in 
the civil rights movement while simultaneously raising a family. She 
was the mother of four at a time when a woman was expected to be a 
homemaker and not much else. Not content to stand on the sidelines of 
history, Mrs. King spoke on the cause of equality to church, civic, 
college, fraternal and peace groups. She also produced and performed in 
a series of freedom concerts as fundraisers for the Southern Christian 
Leadership Conference, the direct action organization of which Dr. King 
served as first president.
  It is easy to forget the duress under which Mrs. King lived such an 
exemplary life. The threat of violent death was always present. The 
King family home was bombed in 1956. Death threats against her family 
arrived by phone and mail constantly, and Martin was stabbed and nearly 
killed in a New York department store in 1958. The threat became 
reality with Dr. King's assassination on April 4, 1968. No one would 
accuse Mrs. King of cowardice if she had retired from public life after 
Dr. King's death. But Dr. King's dream of an undivided America became 
her dream, and Mrs. King continued to work as an advocate for equality 
through nonviolent resistance.
  Mrs. King devoted much of her energy to developing the Martin Luther 
King, Jr. Center for Nonviolent Social Change in Atlanta as a living 
memorial to her husband's life and dream. She led goodwill missions 
around the world speaking at massive peace and justice rallies. She was 
the first woman to deliver the class day address at Harvard University 
and the first woman to preach at a statutory service at St. Paul's 
Cathedral in London.
  Mrs. King led the campaign to establish Dr. King's birthday as a 
national holiday. In 1983, the 98th Congress passed H.R. 5890 
instituting the Martin Luther King, Jr. Federal Holiday Commission, 
which Mrs. King 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.
  My thoughts and prayers are with the King family. I hope that this 
resolution honoring Mrs. King will be a comfort to them at this 
difficult time.
  Ms. KILPATRICK of Michigan. Mr. Speaker, I rise to salute Mrs. 
Coretta Scott King, the widow of civil rights pioneer and icon Dr. 
Martin Luther King, Jr. I join millions in this country and around the 
world who mourn her passing and celebrate her life. I extend my 
condolences and prayers to her children and family.
  Coretta Scott King was born in Marion, AL, on April 27, 1927. She 
grew up in segregated Alabama. Mrs. King went on to study music at 
Antioch College in Yellow Springs, OH, and later studied at the New 
England Conservatory of Music in Boston, MA. It was in Boston, where 
she met Dr. King, who at the time was working on his doctorate in 
theology at Boston University. They married in 1953 and had four 
children, Yolanda Denise, Martin Luther III, Dexter Scott, and Bernice 
Albertine.
  Coretta Scott King marched beside her husband in towns across the 
then segregated south. Mrs. King did not quietly slip out of public 
life. With dignity and courage, she chose to continue to work for 
justice, access, and equality. She advanced the message of social 
justice, peace, and mutual respect.
  Mrs. King started the Martin Luther King Jr. Center for Non Violence 
and Social Change out of the family home in Atlanta. The Center now 
houses the tomb of Dr. King and thousands of documents related to his 
work. Thousands of people each year visit the center, which sits in 
Atlanta's Martin Luther King Jr. National Historic Site.
  Coretta Scott King was active in the fight against apartheid in South 
Africa and an advocate for human rights. Mrs. King received honorary 
doctorates from more than 60 colleges and universities and authored 
three books.
  As we enter Black History Month and then Women's History Month in 
March, I urge Congress and the American people to reflect on the legacy 
of Mrs. King. She was tireless in her effort to make America a better 
place for every American. Coretta Scott King will always be remembered 
for promoting racial and economic equality for all Americans.
  Ms. McKINNEY. Mr. Speaker, when I first heard the news this morning I 
was at once both shocked and saddened. Although Mrs. King belonged to 
her children and cousins and nieces and nephews, she also belonged to 
us--the American people and the family of black people all over the 
world.
  When she was alive, there was a sense of comfort. Mother King guarded 
us, protected us; she helped set this country free when she picked up 
Martin's cross.
  I was given the privilege of speaking at this year's Martin Luther 
King ceremony at Ebenezer Church. Due to illness, she watched the 
proceedings on the television, not able to be there with us. Our love 
went out to her then and it does so now. I love the King Family as do 
we all. Her vision and Martin's vision moved our country forward.
  In 1963 Dr. King spoke of Stone Mountain, Georgia. I now represent 
Stone Mountain, Georgia. Change is possible in our country. It is 
possible for people of conscience to come together and move this 
country forward.
  What Mrs. King embodies will not be extinguished. She is our Queen 
Mother. And we should spend this day reflecting on her life, her 
legacy, her spirit, and what we will do in our lives to further Martin 
and Coretta's vision for our beloved community.
  My condolences to all the members of the King family; and to Martin 
III, Yolanda, Dexter, and Bernice.
  In every sense of the word, they were our first family and now we 
look to the children to wear the family's mantle.
  Mr. THOMPSON of Mississippi. Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of 
resolution (H. Res. 655) honoring the life and accomplishments of Mrs. 
Coretta Scott King and her contributions as a leader in the struggle 
for civil rights, and I also express my heart felt condolences to the 
King family on her passing.
  As the wife of Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr., Mrs. King was 
recognized by many as the ``first lady'' of the Civil Rights movement. 
Born and raised in Marion, Alabama, Coretta Scott graduated 
valedictorian from Lincoln High School. She received a B.A. in music 
and education from Antioch College in Yellow Springs, Ohio, 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, Alabama, 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: Yolanda Denise (1955), Martin Luther, III 
(1957), Dexter Scott (1961), and Bernice Albertine (1963). She 
performed a series of 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.
  In 1957, she and Dr. King journeyed to Ghana to mark that country's 
independence. In 1958, they spent a belated honeymoon in Mexico, where 
they observed first-hand the immense gulf between extreme wealth and 
extreme poverty. In 1959, Dr. and Mrs. King spent nearly a month in 
India on a pilgrimage to disciples and sites associated with Mahatma 
Gandhi. In 1964, she accompanied him to Oslo, Norway, where he received 
the Nobel Peace Prize. Even prior to her husband's public stand against 
the Vietnam War in 1967, Mrs. King functioned as liaison to peace and 
justice organizations, and as mediator to public officials on behalf of 
the unheard.
  In 1969, Coretta Scott King published the first volume of her 
autobiography, My Life with Martin Luther King Jr. In the 1970s, Mrs. 
King maintained her husband's commitment to 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

[[Page 639]]

and equal economic opportunity; Mrs. King served as Co-Chair of the 
Council.
  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.
  Mrs. King and three of her children were arrested in 1985 at the 
South African embassy in Washington, DC, for protesting against 
apartheid. Mrs. King led the successful campaign to establish Dr. 
King's birthday, January 15, as a national holiday in the United 
States. 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. 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 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. Situated in the Freedom Hall complex encircling Dr. King's 
tomb, The King Center is part of a 23-acre national historic park which 
includes his birth home, and which hosts over one million visitors a 
year.
  In 1995 she turned over leadership of the King Center to her son, 
Dexter Scott King, who served as Chairman, President & CEO until 
January 2004. On that date, Mrs. King was named interim Chair and her 
eldest son Martin Luther King, III assumed the leadership position of 
President & CEO.
  She remained active in the causes of racial and economic justice, and 
most recently devoted much of her energy to AIDS education and curbing 
gun violence.
  A woman of wisdom, compassion and vision, Coretta Scott King has 
tried to make ours a better world and, in the process, has made 
history. I am saddened by the loss of our ``First Lady''. She met the 
challenge of preserving the memory of her husband head on. Her tireless 
work in keeping the dream alive has been invaluable not only to civil 
rights, but to human rights. Mrs. Coretta Scott King kept the torch 
burning and as opposed to passing the torch, she lit torches along the 
way. She is a true inspiration to us all.
  Ms. McCOLLUM of Minnesota. I rise today in honor of the late Coretta 
Scott King, an extraordinary civil rights leader, who passed away on 
January 30th. Throughout her life, Mrs. King worked tirelessly for the 
struggle of non-violent activism, social justice and peace.
  Coretta Scott King was born and raised in Marion, Alabama, where she 
graduated as valedictorian from Lincoln High School. She received a 
B.A. in Music and Education from Anitoch College in Yellow Springs, 
Ohio, before going on to study at Boston's New England Conservatory of 
Music. While there, she met a theology student from Atlanta, Martin 
Luther King, Jr., who was then studying for his doctorate at Boston 
University.
  Before her marriage to Dr. King, Mrs. King was active in the civil 
rights and non-violent social change movement. As an equal partner to 
the young Dr. King during the turbulent times their family and the 
civil rights movement faced, Mrs. King organized sit-ins and protest 
marches; spoke at church, civic, and peace group gatherings; and 
performed at more than 30 successful ``Freedom Concerts'' to raise 
awareness of civil rights and garner support for the Southern Christian 
Leadership Conference. While serving on the front lines of the fight 
for equal rights, Mrs. King also raised their four children: Yolanda 
Denise, Martin Luther III, Dexter Scott and Bernice Albertine.
  During Dr. King's life and after his death, Mrs. King was integral to 
the struggle for equality and justice. Just four days after her 
husband's assassination in 1968, in an unmistakable display of 
determination and perseverance, Mrs. King took his place and led a 
march of 50,000 people through the streets of Memphis, Tennessee. A 
woman of wisdom, compassion and vision, she helped to preserve her 
husband's legacy and played a key role in making Dr. Martin Luther 
King, Jr. Day a national holiday. She also worked hard to establish and 
make The King Center a reality. As the work of The King Center 
continues, local, national and international programs have trained tens 
of thousands of people in Dr. King's philosophy of non-violent social 
change.
  It is with great sadness that I send my deepest condolences to the 
King family. Mrs. King's lasting contributions to freedom and equality 
will always be remembered. Let us honor Mrs. King's memory by 
committing ourselves to promoting civil rights and peace.
  Mr. Speaker, please join me in paying tribute to the life of Mrs. 
Coretta Scott King.
  Mr. BECERRA. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to honor and pay my respects 
to an American treasure: Mrs. Coretta Scott King. An admirable advocate 
of social justice and peace, Mrs. Scott King will be greatly missed by 
those who care about equal opportunity for all. Alongside her husband, 
the late Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr., she was a successful leader 
and advocate for racial peace and fought for social change.
  Following the death of her husband, she maintained his commitment to 
racial and economic justice. Her devotion to civil and human rights has 
no borders as she is recognized at home and abroad for remaining a 
catalyst for change.
  Just as Cesar Chavez is remembered for his role in the struggle for 
human rights and dignity of migrant farm workers, Mrs. Scott King will 
be remembered for her accomplishments in the struggle for peace and 
justice, and for her steadfast belief that care and respect should be 
shown to others not because of the color of one's skin, but because of 
``the content of their character.''
  Mr. Speaker, as a nation and with the world, we mourn the loss of 
Coretta Scott King, a civil rights icon in her own right whose 
accomplished life is laudable, whose care for the human condition is 
remarkable, and whose loss will be felt by countless millions all 
across this great country that she helped unite.
  Mr. UDALL of Colorado. Mr. Speaker, I rise to join in expressing my 
sorrow at the news of the death of Coretta Scott King and my support 
for the resolution (H. Res. 655) now before us.
  By passing that resolution, the House of Representatives honors her 
life and accomplishments and her contributions as a leader in the 
struggle for civil rights, and expresses condolences to the King family 
on her passing.
  I wholeheartedly join in that expression of views shared not only by 
the House but by millions of Americans in Colorado and across the 
nation.
  Mrs. King was no stranger to our state. As noted in today's Denver 
Post, she paid her first visit to Denver in 1958 and returned to 
Colorado many times thereafter to further the cause of equality for 
which her husband and she labored for so long.
  Now, in the words of the Rocky Mountain News, our nation mourns her 
as a champion of freedom, and Coloradans join in that mourning.
  For the information of our colleagues, I attach an editorial and a 
news story from today's Denver daily newspapers.

              [From the Rocky Mountain News, Feb. 1, 2006]

                   Nation Mourns Champion of Freedom

       Coretta Scott King, 78, died peacefully at a medical clinic 
     in Mexico early Tuesday. While she may always be remembered 
     as ``the widow of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.,'' Mrs. King 
     created an inspiring legacy of her own.
       Her tireless efforts convinced lawmakers to recognize her 
     late husband's place in history with the national holiday 
     that celebrates his birth. She stood with and spoke for the 
     downtrodden, in America and around the world.
       Mrs. King surely would have lauded the news that the 
     Smithsonian Institution on Monday approved a site on the 
     National Mall near the Washington Monument for the National 
     Museum of African American History and Culture.
       We've long supported a moratorium on further construction 
     on the Mall, which has grown cluttered with newly built 
     memorials and security barriers over the past three decades. 
     And so we would prefer that the museum occupy land near but 
     not on the Mall. But leading museum proponents considered 
     such an alternative a slap in the face, and the Smithsonian 
     board foreclosed that option.
       So be it. Whatever the museum's location, the construction 
     of such a memorial is long overdue. The task is to ensure 
     that it becomes a national treasure, a source of inspiration 
     for Americans of every heritage.
                                  ____


                 [From the Denver Post, Feb. 1, 2006.]

               Nonviolence Espoused in Many Denver Visits

                           (By Claire Martin)

       Despite the death threats and bombings, the assassination 
     of her iconic husband and hostility that persisted for 
     decades, Coretta Scott King remained such a passionate 
     advocate of nonviolence that she insisted on her bodyguards 
     being unarmed during her public appearances.
       ``In all her visits to Denver, we provided Mrs. King with 
     security, but always that was one of her prerequisites--no 
     weapons, no guns,'' said Vern Howard, longtime civil rights 
     advocate and marshal of Denver's annual Martin Luther King 
     Jr. Day parade. ``It was hard for us organizers. We didn't 
     want anything to happen to her on our watch.''
       Coretta Scott King first visited Denver in 1958 to speak at 
     a New Hope Baptist Church event arranged by Helen Gamble, 
     grandmother of former Denver Mayor Wellington Webb.

[[Page 640]]

       King later confided to Webb that the speech intimidated 
     her, despite her formal training as a vocalist at the New 
     England Conservatory of Music. ``As a soloist, it's easier 
     for me to sing than to give a keynote speech,'' Webb recalled 
     King saying.
       Her theme in that debut--civil rights and nonviolence--set 
     the tone for countless future speeches, first by her 
     husband's side and then in his stead.
       ``She never wavered in her commitment to civil rights,'' 
     said Wilma Webb, a former state legislator and the wife of 
     Wellington Webb, who authored the state's King holiday bill. 
     ``She carried the banner. She gave us direction. She had the 
     stature of a first lady.''
       King returned regularly to Colorado after her husband's 
     death. She stumped for Wellington Webb in his first mayoral 
     campaign in 1983 and urged him to run for the U.S. Senate in 
     2002.
       During the mid-1980s, her visits focused on the 
     controversial effort to create a national holiday honoring 
     her husband.
       During a visit to the Colorado legislature in 1985, a year 
     after the assembly voted for the holiday marking her 
     husband's birthday, House Speaker Bev Bledsoe snubbed King. 
     Although Senate Speaker Ted Strickland allowed King to 
     address his assembly, Bledsoe, a Hugo Republican who opposed 
     the King holiday, refused to grant her the same privilege, 
     provoking criticism from Democrats.
       She continued to visit Colorado, sometimes to watch her 
     playwright daughter, Yolanda Denise King, perform in one of 
     her plays. Her final appearance in the state in January 2005 
     invoked a version of her 1958 message.
       ``We can solve conflicts without terrorism and war,'' she 
     said. ``This is the only way to lasting peace and security.''

  Mr. KILDEE. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to mourn the loss of Mrs. 
Coretta Scott King. Her death is a great loss for America and for peace 
and justice the world over.
  I had the pleasure of meeting Mrs. King on two occasions; once in my 
congressional office and again at a ceremony marking the 25th 
Anniversary of the March on Washington. I was always impressed by her 
inner strength and graciousness. In troubled and violent times, she 
raised a family and was a genuine partner with her husband Martin 
Luther King, Jr. in the fight for civil rights and equality. She 
ensured that his dream did not die by leading the fifteen year fight to 
make her husband's birthday a national holiday and by establishing the 
Martin Luther King Jr. Center for Nonviolent Social Change in Atlanta. 
Her personal activism included traveling the world advocating for 
women, promoting world peace and protesting apartheid. I know that I am 
a better person because of her and indeed our country is a better place 
because of her legacy.
  In closing I would like to express my condolences to the King family. 
May the God of all comfort be there for them through all the days 
ahead.
  Mr. JEFFERSON. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to recognize the passing of 
one of the strongest and most inspirational African-American women in 
our country's history: Mrs. Coretta Scott King.
  Mrs. King was not the person referred to in the cliche . . . she was 
not the, ``good woman behind a great man.'' She was the determined, 
intelligent woman who stood right alongside him. When Coretta Scott 
married Doctor Martin Luther King, Junior, she had already led an 
impressive life of her own. She had already established herself as a 
role model. Coretta Scott graduated at the top of her high school class 
in Alabama, and was accepted at Antioch College in Ohio, and later at 
the New England Conservatory of Music in Boston. She had a scholarship 
to the music school that covered her tuition, but she was not too proud 
to take a job cleaning stairwells to pay for her room and meals. It was 
in Boston when Coretta Scott met her future husband--Martin Luther 
King, Junior, and her journey as not only the wife--but the partner of 
a man who would change the way Americans lived, had just begun.
  From the Montgomery bus boycott, to outbreaks of racial violence in 
the streets, to a bombing at the Kings' residence in 1956, Mrs. King 
stood by her and her husband's dreams of racial equality. And with the 
bad, came the good--Mrs. King was there for her Doctor King's uplifting 
sermons, his many trips abroad and his--``I Have a Dream'' speech on 
the National Mall.
  After experiencing such a tumultuous, unpredictable life as the wife 
of a great civil rights leader, some thought Mrs. King would choose to 
lead a quiet life--leaving the spotlight after her husband's untimely 
death. Instead, Coretta Scott King chose to carry on her the fight. 
Until her health started to fail her last year, she continued to speak 
out against injustice, and promote fairness and equality among all men. 
To quote the late Mrs. King, ``Hate is too great a burden to bear. It 
injures the hater more than it injures the hated.'' This is a fitting 
epithet for the great American, the First Lady of the Civil Rights 
Movement, Mrs. Coretta Scott King.
  Mr. EMANUEL. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to honor the memory of Coretta 
Scott King, and I offer my condolences to her family after she passed 
away in her sleep early this morning. She was a remarkable human rights 
advocate who was a living symbol of the struggles and successes of the 
civil rights movement.
  Mrs. King was best known as the loving wife and widow of Dr. Martin 
Luther King, Jr. She provided invaluable support to the man who became 
the Nation's leading civil rights advocate and an international icon. 
She stood by him as he was harrassed, intimidated and eventually 
assassinated for fighting for equality.
  Her grace and dignity after her husband's death showed the country 
that she was more than just a strong wife. Alone with four children, 
she did not retreat but instead insisted on continuing the mission that 
her late husband had started. She continued the march in Memphis before 
his funeral. As time progressed, she spearheaded the effort to create a 
federal holiday to honor her husband. Her strong insistence on 
furthering Dr. King's ideals led to the creation of the holiday in 
1983.
  Mrs. King quickly became an internationally known figure who embodied 
the spirit of non-violent resistance and human rights advocacy. Her 
work was not limited solely to civil rights; She worked tirelessly for 
other noble causes, becoming a leader in the women's liberation 
movement and vocally opposing apartheid in South Africa.
  Mrs. King's life is an inspiration to millions of people worldwide 
who struggle to overcome human rights issues. She overcame her own 
personal tragedy to keep her family together and further the causes of 
the civil rights movement.
  Mr. Speaker, Coretta Scott King has been a role model for those 
seeking to overcome tragedy and discrimination with grace and 
determination. I rise today to honor her life and her legacy.
  Mr. MICHAUD. Mr. Speaker, today our nation has lost a great champion 
of civil and human rights. Coretta Scott King's courage and commitment 
should be an example to all of us.
  After the assassination of her husband, the late Martin Luther King, 
Jr., Mrs. King devoted herself to carrying on his legacy. Only four 
days after his death, she took her husband's place at the head a march 
in support of sanitation workers in Memphis. She went on to found and 
lead, for over two decades, the King Center. The Center stands as a 
memorial to her husband, but also is an active force in the struggle to 
achieve equality between all people, confronting issues of hunger, 
unemployment, voting rights and racism. King remained active throughout 
her whole life, participating in protests against apartheid in South 
Africa in the 1980's and speaking out against the war in Iraq in early 
2003.
  It is the responsibility of each of us, who sit in this House and 
pledge to uphold the Constitution, to continue to fight for Martin 
Luther King, Jr.'s dream of equality, which Coretta worked so 
unselfishly to sustain.
  Mr. BLUMENAUER. Mr. Speaker, it is a great irony that the day of 
Coretta Scott King's passage is the same day 141 years ago that the 
House of Representatives passed the 13th amendment to the Constitution 
abolishing slavery. That the Constitutional amendment passed by but two 
votes during the time of our Civil War reminds us that the issue of 
fighting for equality and against racial discrimination has been a 
pitched battle throughout our history.
  The widow of Dr. Martin Luther King was in the forefront of the 
revolution of progress and heartbreak. She will be remembered as woman 
of great courage and dignity whose role in this great civil rights 
movement is only now being fully appreciated. I join with the Nation in 
extending condolences to the King family and in honoring the life of 
Coretta Scott King.
  Mr. BISHOP of Georgia. Mr. Speaker, I rise today in memory of an 
extraordinary woman and in recognition of a life that meant so much to 
so many.
  I was honored to know Coretta Scott King. She was a woman of great 
eloquence and dignity, but also of great faith. She endured hatred, 
violence and ultimately the loss of her husband, but she never lost her 
vision for mankind or her determination to stand up for what is right 
and what is just.
  Coretta Scott King was one of the greatest activists in our Nation's 
history and it is right that we honor her here today. She carried on 
the legacy of her husband, the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, but she had 
her own legacy--a legacy of putting herself on the line to make the 
world a better place for all of God's children. And many of us continue 
to reap the rewards of her work today.

[[Page 641]]

  Mrs. King called ``Hate . . . too great a burden to bear.'' Saying, 
``It injures the hater more than it injures the hated.'' These are 
words that not only inspired millions, but that must continue to 
inspire us today.
  As we meet in these hallowed halls, we must remember the legacy of 
Dr. and Mrs. King and the dream that defined their lives. We mourn her 
passing, but the best way to celebrate her life and legacy is to 
recommit ourselves to the ideals of equality and justice for all.
  I would like to extend my deepest sympathies to the children and 
family of Coretta Scott King. Today, we have truly lost an American 
treasure.
  Mr. HOLT. Mr. Speaker, I rise today in strong support of H.R. 655 
which honors the life and accomplishments of Mrs. Coretta Scott King.
  We can all learn from the life of this brave civil rights leader. Her 
example to us is one of perseverance and inspiration. My prayers and 
condolences are with the King family at this difficult time.
  Throughout her life, Coretta Scott King exemplified the values of 
human dignity and equality, social justice, and service to others. As 
the mother of four children and widow of the most influential civil 
rights leader in our nation's history, Mrs. King spent her life 
advocating racial and religious tolerance, promoting democracy, and 
speaking out against violence.
  It was her tireless effort that led to the establishment of the 
Martin Luther King Federal Holiday in 1983. This is a day in which 
Americans are called to remember the struggle of the Civil Rights 
Movement and to engage in community service to help others. Every 
generation of Americans should understand the importance of his 
struggle and the tremendous odds that Dr. King and others overcame to 
help form a more perfect union. But the work of Dr. and Mrs. King is 
far from finished.
  There are still too many communities in America that remain divided 
by race. There are too many places where the color of one's skin, not 
the content of one's character matters. The King family has over the 
years accomplished great things, but work remains. As a Nation we need 
to examine ourselves about race. We need to understand that to this day 
although a people are endowed by their creator with the same rights and 
privileges as others in their community not all feel they can exercise 
those rights. Until we eliminate racism from the earth, the important 
work of Dr. King and Mrs. King must continue. I look forward to new 
generations of leaders continuing the cause and enduring in the 
struggle to form a more perfect union. This will truly honor Mrs. 
King's legacy.
  Mr. RANGEL. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to honor the life and legacy of 
Mrs. Coretta Scott King and to add my support to H. Res. 655 honoring 
the life of this extraordinary woman. As much as we loved and respected 
Mrs. King, her family has suffered an even greater loss. To the King 
children--Yolanda, Martin III, Dexter, and Bernice, know that you have 
our deepest heartfelt sympathy.
  Hailed as the `First Lady of the Civil Rights Movement', Coretta 
Scott King had to endure injustices at an early age. Born in Heiberger, 
Alabama and raised on the farm of her parents Bernice McMurry Scott, 
and Obadiah Scott, she was exposed at an early age to the injustices of 
life in a segregated society. She walked five miles a day to attend the 
one-room Crossroad School in Marion, Alabama, while the white students 
rode buses to an all-white school closer by. Yet through it all, young 
Coretta excelled at her studies, particularly music, and was 
valedictorian of her graduating class at Lincoln High School.
  She graduated in 1945 and received a scholarship to Antioch College 
in Yellow Springs, Ohio. As an undergraduate, she took an active 
interest in the emerging civil rights movement; and joined the Antioch 
chapter of the NAACP, as well as the college's Race Relations and Civil 
Liberties Committees.
  Her life would be forever changed when she met a young theology 
student, Martin Luther King, Jr. They were married on June 18, 1953, in 
a ceremony conducted by King's father, the Rev. Martin Luther King, Sr.
  Coretta Scott King was very supportive to her husband during the most 
turbulent days of the American civil rights movement. After his 
assassination in Memphis, Tennessee, on April 4, 1968, she kept his 
dream alive while also raising their four children. In her own words, 
she was ``more determined than ever that her husband's dream would 
become a reality.''
  For more than a decade, she worked tirelessly to have her husband's 
birthday observed as a national holiday. Her determination would payoff 
when it was first celebrated in 1986.
  In 1969, she established the Martin Luther King Jr. Center for 
Nonviolent Social Change in Atlanta, dedicated both to scholarship and 
to activism.
  With fierce determination and undying strength, Mrs. King worked to 
keep Dr. King's ideology of equality for all people at the forefront of 
people's minds. She picked up the baton when it was dropped by her 
husband's assassination and continued to move forward in the civil 
rights arena.
  In her own words, ``We must make our hearts instruments of peace and 
nonviolence, because when the heart is right, the mind and the body 
will follow.''
  She exemplified courage, strength, and a deep compassion for justice. 
Coretta Scott King will be remembered as one of America's greatest 
treasures and will be forever missed.
  Mr. AL GREEN of Texas. Mr. Speaker, today I would like to honor and 
commemorate Coretta Scott King, a tireless advocate for civil rights 
and the widow of the great civil rights leader, Rev. Dr. Martin Luther 
King, Jr.
  Today, we continue to mourn the loss of a great woman and a pioneer 
of civil rights. While Dr. King was the visionary behind the civil 
rights movement, Mrs. King was the architect. She made real the ideals 
expressed by Dr. King. A driving force, she valiantly worked to found 
the King Center to both preserve the history of the civil rights 
movement and to train the many men and women in the philosophy of non-
violent resistance.
  Mrs. King was first and foremost a woman of strong character. She was 
a leader in her steadfast presence, her determination, and her courage. 
As one of the first people to speak out against apartheid, she embodied 
her husband's words ``injustice anywhere is a threat to justice 
everywhere.''
  Her passion for equality and justice led her on numerous peace 
delegations around the world. Her actions and work with gang members 
demonstrated the value and the necessity of transforming neighborhoods 
into brotherhoods. Mrs. King spoke out against attacks on affirmative 
action and against racial profiling. As a result of her unrelenting 
campaign efforts, a bill was signed in support of the Martin Luther 
King, Jr. National Holiday.
  Devoting relentless energy to her noble work, Mrs. Coretta Scott King 
has made a tremendous impact on American history. She will be missed by 
all those who knew her and remembered by all those who have benefited 
from her enormous contributions.
  Mr. MEEHAN. Mr. Speaker, I rise in honor of Coretta Scott King, wife 
of the late Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and a guiding force of the 
modern civil rights movement in her own right.
  Just seventeen days ago we honored the birthday of her husband and 
celebrated January 16th as a national holiday in his honor. It would be 
too easy to remember Mrs. King simply as the wife of Dr. King, one of 
this country's great 20th century leaders. To do this would be a 
disservice to the memory of a champion of civil and equal rights in her 
own right.
  Coretta Scott King began her long career of civic engagement as an 
undergraduate at Antioch College where she joined the local chapter of 
the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People.
  After graduating from Antioch with a B.A. in music and education, 
Coretta Scott received a scholarship to study concert singing at the 
New England Conservatory of Music in my home state of Massachusetts. 
While there she met her future husband, Martin Luther King Jr.
  After receiving her degree from the Conservatory, she and Dr. King 
moved to Montgomery, Alabama. It was here that she and her husband 
became central figures in the Montgomery Bus Boycott and ultimately, 
the civil rights movement.
  Following the success of the Montgomery Bus Boycott, Dr. and Mrs. 
King traveled tirelessly to ensure that the civil rights movement 
continued to grow. Mrs. King's talent and education in the arts led her 
to conceive of and perform a series of Freedom Concerts which 
incorporated poetry, narration, and music to tell the story of the 
larger movement for equal rights. These concerts were vital in the 
fundraising efforts for the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, 
the organization her husband headed.
  Mrs. King was not deterred by her husband's assassination, and if 
anything this tragic event strengthened her resolve in their shared 
struggle. In 1974, she established the Full Employment Action Council, 
a diverse coalition of more than 100 religious, labor, civil, and 
women's rights groups dedicated to economic justice through equal 
opportunity.
  In 1983, Coretta Scott King marked the 20th anniversary of the 1963 
March on Washington with another march on the Capitol featuring 
hundreds of organizations called the ``Coalition of Conscience.'' At 
the time it was the largest demonstration in Washington's history.

[[Page 642]]

  Mrs. King led the movement to have her husband's birthday, January 
15th, established as a federal holiday and I am happy to say that 
Congress and the President acted on the merit of Coretta Scott King's 
wish and established Martin Luther King Jr. Day as a national holiday 
in 1986.
  While we are truly saddened at her passing, we are given pause to 
contemplate the impact she made during her lifetime on our lives and 
those of future generations. The freedoms all Americans enjoy today are 
due in no small part to her participation in the struggle for civil 
rights and equality.
  Mr. Speaker, let us celebrate the achievements of this remarkable 
woman's lifetime and work to ensure that her legacy endures long after 
her passing.
  Mr. SCHIFF. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to honor the life of Ms. 
Coretta Scott King, a civil rights icon and the widow of Dr. Martin 
Luther King, Jr., who died January 30, 2006, at the age of 78. Coretta 
Scott was born and raised on a farm near Marion, Alabama, where she 
knew little racial prejudice. However, living in town to attend high 
school, young Coretta learned firsthand of the harassment and violence 
directed at African-Americans. In 1942, at the age of 15, she was 
personally exposed to this hatred when the Scott home was set on fire 
on Thanksgiving night.
  Church and music became Coretta Scott's salvation, and in 1945, she 
left for Antioch College in Ohio where as one of three African-American 
students in her class, she began to study music and education. After 
graduation, Coretta ventured off to the New England Conservatory of 
Music in Boston to study concert singing. It was in Boston where 
Coretta met Martin Luther King Jr., who was then studying for his 
doctorate in theology. She later said, ``Even at the time we were 
courting, Martin was deeply concerned--and indignant--with the plight 
of the Negro in the United States.''
  The two married in 1953 and within the following decade became the 
parents to two sons and two daughters. In her new life as a married 
woman, Mrs. King gave up music to take on the role of a pastor's wife 
at Dexter Avenue Baptist Church in Montgomery, Alabama, where Dr. King 
became the seminal figure in the civil rights movement. Mrs. King 
joined her husband's pursuit of civil rights, and occasionally 
substituted for him as a speaker. They traveled the world, observing 
severe poverty and all its consequences, and together they learned the 
art of nonviolent protest from the disciples of Mahatma Gandhi. 
Throughout their married life, Mrs. King was an equal partner in Dr. 
King's tireless efforts to pursue justice, equality and peace, and was 
by his side in Oslo in 1964 when he received the Nobel Peace Prize.
  On April 4, 1968, Mrs. King learned of her husband's assassination 
through a telephone call from Reverend Jesse Jackson. While supporting 
a sanitation workers' strike, Dr. King was shot on a Memphis motel 
balcony. In her autobiography, My Life with Martin Luther King Jr., 
Mrs. King recalled, ``Because his task was not finished, I felt that I 
must rededicate myself to the completion of his work.'' Indeed, she was 
compelled to fully immerse herself in the nonviolent civil rights 
movement that her husband led. Many wives become spokespersons for 
their husband's causes, yet Coretta Scott King was unique; an ardent 
activist in the fight against injustice, Mrs. King brought a new energy 
to the civil rights movement. Giving hundreds of speeches and leading 
countless marches, Mrs. King overcame the challenges of widowhood and 
witnessed the successes of the civil rights movement and her husband's 
unfulfilled dreams.
  Neverending in her commitment to justice, Mrs. King was appointed by 
President Carter to the United Nations General Assembly, where she 
devoted herself to the development of Third World nations. She joined 
the fight to end apartheid and lobbied the U.S. Congress for sanctions 
against South Africa. Mrs. King also coordinated a 15-year campaign to 
keep her husband's memory alive, culminating in 1983 with the passage 
of legislation introduced by Congressman John Conyers and Congresswoman 
Shirley Chisholm to commemorate her husband's work with a federal 
holiday. Dr. and Mrs. King have been succeeded by their four children 
who have each followed in their parents' footsteps, carrying with them 
strong hearts, minds and voices in pursuit of justice and peace.
  Two years ago, I was invited to join a civil rights pilgrimage to 
Montgomery, Birmingham and Selma, Alabama. The journey was a remarkable 
experience. Led by Congressman John Lewis, a number of my colleagues in 
the House and the Senate and I visited the sites of many of the civil 
rights struggles, including the Kings' own Dexter Avenue Baptist 
Church. We experienced these places with some of the activists that led 
the movement and relived the moments through their eyes. To hear them 
share their account of the very church we were sitting in being 
attacked by a mob of segregationists was extraordinary.
  Those of us who were too young to remember well the civil rights 
movement continue to ask ourselves what would we have done? Would we 
have stood up, would we have questioned those in power, would we have 
demanded equality and justice? Or would we, like so many Americans, 
have remained indifferent? The best answer we can find to that question 
of what we would have done is answered by what are we doing now to 
advance the cause of justice and equality. In 1960s Alabama, Coretta 
Scott King and Martin Luther King, Jr., battled overt bigotry. Today, 
we arm ourselves against silent intolerance. While we must look to our 
past and consider how far we have come, we must keep an eye toward the 
future knowing that the movement is not over and that each one of us 
must continue to dedicate ourselves to pursuing an America with equal 
opportunity for all.
  Mrs. MALONEY. Mr. Speaker, Coretta Scott King was a major reason that 
our Nation advanced from the backward ways of segregation. Her passing 
is a tremendous loss for all of America.
  Mrs. King was a civil rights hero--she was active in the cause before 
she married the great Dr. Martin Luther King, and she helped shape the 
movement as his wife, and later, his widow.
  As my friend and colleague, the great champion of civil rights John 
Lewis, said yesterday, ``She was more than the devoted wife of a great 
minister . . . she was a leader in her own right.''
  With dignity and with strength, Mrs. King helped lead the civil 
rights movement for decades. For many, she was the face of the 
movement.
  We are saddened by the loss of a great American and we are so 
thankful for her life. As Black History Month begins today, I hope we 
will all use this month and beyond to honor Mrs. King, her husband and 
all of our civil rights heroes, and to live their message of peace and 
equality, everyday of our lives.
  Mr. LEWIS of Georgia. Mr. Speaker, Coretta Scott King was a radiant 
symbol of the best that the American South and this nation have to 
offer. She was beautiful, charming, graceful and dignified. She was a 
shining light who had the ability to brighten the dark places, to bring 
hope where there was hopelessness.
  I first met her in 1957 when I was a 17-year-old student in 
Nashville. She was traveling around America, especially in the South, 
telling the story of the Civil Rights Movement through song. I will 
never forget it. She looked like an opera star standing on stage. She 
wore a lovely pearl-white dress with layers of cascading ruffles 
falling gently around her. She would sing a little and then talk a 
little, and through her singing and talks she inspired an entire 
generation.
  She was more than the widow of Martin Luther King, Jr. She was a 
leader in her own right. She was the glue that held the Civil Rights 
Movement together and the strength that sustained one of the most 
charismatic leaders of our time. Long before she married Dr. King, she 
was an activist for non-violence, traveling to a conference in Europe 
with Women Strike for Peace to discuss the dangers of atmospheric 
nuclear testing.
  Though she tasted the bitter fruits of segregation and racial 
discrimination, Coretta Scott King was prepared for a privileged life. 
She was well-educated and married a gifted minister from a prominent 
family. Just like any other mother she wanted to raise her four 
children in peace. But when an opportunity came for her to actualize 
the philosophy of non-violent change, she did not ignore her 
convictions.
  Along with her husband and the more than 50 thousand black people of 
Montgomery, she responded to the courage of Rosa Parks, who on December 
1, 1955, refused to give up her seat on a city bus in Alabama. That 
simple act launched the modern-day Civil Rights Movement and changed 
Coretta King's life forever.
  Her commitment to non-violence led her to trade her privilege to live 
under the constant threat of brutality. Her home was bombed, her 
husband was repeatedly jailed, people she knew were killed, her 
husband's life was always in jeopardy. And finally one day he was 
assassinated by a gunman's bullet.
  She did not become bitter or hostile. She did not hide in some dark 
corner, but she drew on her faith in the transformative power of peace. 
And a few days after the assassination, she led striking workers 
through the streets of Memphis. All the days of her life, she would 
travel throughout the South, America, and the world urging respect for 
the dignity of humanity.
  She went all out to create a living memorial to her husband called 
the Martin Luther King Jr. Center for Non-Violent Social Change, one

[[Page 643]]

of the most visited landmarks in Atlanta. She met with President 
Reagan, who was not inclined to sign the legislation, but in the end he 
could not deny her. She used her prominence to mobilize the American 
people and built a bi-partisan coalition in Congress to make her 
husband's birthday a national holiday. Because of her efforts, 
generations yet unborn will learn his message of peace, and they will 
hear about his struggle for equal justice in America.
  I loved Coretta Scott King. She was so warm, so genuine, so caring. 
For 20 years, she always sent me a card or a book on my birthday. I 
will cherish those mementos always.
  I will remember Coretta Scott King as a dear friend. But the 
historians will remember her as one of the founding mothers of the new 
America, for through her noble acts, she helped liberate us all. This 
nation is a better nation, and we are a better people because she 
passed this way. However, she was not only a citizen of America, she 
was a citizen of the world, a world still yearning to build the Beloved 
Community, a world still yearning to make peace with itself. Above all, 
Coretta Scott King personified the beautiful, peaceful soul of a non-
violent movement that still has the power to transform America, that 
still has the power to change the world.
  Mr. BERRY. Mr. Speaker, on January 31, just one day before the start 
of Black History Month, we lost one of our Nation's most important 
civil rights pioneers--Coretta Scott King. Black History Month is an 
appropriate opportunity to mourn her death, celebrate her extraordinary 
life, and reflect on the extraordinary partnership of Mrs. King and her 
husband, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
  Although Dr. King was the heart and face of the civil rights 
movement, Mrs. King was its backbone. She marched alongside her husband 
in Selma to demand voting rights for African Americans. She marched 
with him again in Washington to demand a Federal law protecting the 
civil rights of all Americans. And she marched with her husband in 
Memphis one day before he was killed, to provide relief for the 
sanitation workers facing entrenched discrimination.
  After Dr. King's murder in 1968, Coretta Scott King fought with 
enormous grace and determination to keep her husband's legacy alive. 
She founded the Martin Luther King, Jr. Center for Nonviolent Social 
Change to further his dream of racial equality, and fought tirelessly 
to establish a national holiday to honor her late husband. Although it 
took her 15 years to accomplish this goal, Congress finally enacted a 
law in 1983 designating the third Monday of January as Dr. Martin 
Luther King Day.
  Since her husband's death 38 years ago, Mrs. King continued her work 
as a civil rights activist, an advocate for women's rights, and a 
leader in the struggle against apartheid in South Africa. She fought 
for the ideals that made this country great, and became the epitome of 
American strength and perseverance during a difficult struggle for 
civil rights.
  In the spirit of Coretta Scott King, let us rededicate ourselves to 
give all Americans the opportunity and justice they need to meet the 
challenges of today. Through perseverance and a deep belief in God and 
humanity, we can go a long way to achieving a more perfect America.
  Mr. LARSON of Connecticut. Mr. Speaker, yesterday, I attended the 
heartfelt memorial service of Mrs. Coretta Scott King. Mrs. King was a 
model citizen and will truly be missed by the Nation. Last week the 
House debated H. Res. 655, which honored the life and accomplishments 
of Mrs. Coretta Scott King. This resolution recognized her 
contributions as a leader in the Civil Rights Movement and expresses 
condolences to the King family on her passing.
  Coretta Scott King was born on April 27, 1927, in Heiberger, Alabama. 
Mrs. King graduated from Antioch College with a degree in music and 
education and was granted a scholarship to study concert singing at the 
New England Conservatory of Music in Boston, Massachusetts. It was in 
Boston where she met a young theology student, Martin Luther King, Jr., 
who was attending Boston University, and her life was forever changed. 
They were soon caught up in a dramatic series of events that sparked 
the modern Civil Rights Movement. Dr. King was recognized as the face 
of the movement, called upon to lead various marches from city to city, 
with Mrs. King right by his side, encouraging citizens, regardless of 
race, to defy the laws of segregation.
  On April 4, 1968, Martin Luther King, Jr., was assassinated in 
Memphis, Tennessee. Channeling her grief, Mrs. King concentrated her 
energies on fulfilling her husband's work by building The King Center 
in Atlanta, Georgia, as a living memorial to her husband's life and 
dream. However, Mrs. King's greatest accomplishment was yet to come. 
She set out to establish her late husband's birthday as a national 
holiday, and that dream came to fruition when Congress declared the 
first observance of this national holiday in 1986. Today, the holiday 
is marked by annual celebrations in over 100 countries.
  Mrs. King was an influential public figure and is referred to as the 
``First Lady of the Civil Rights Movement.'' She was a world-renowned 
speaker who gave hundreds of speeches both abroad and at home, and was 
active in organizations such as the National Council of Negro Women and 
the Women's Strike for Peace. Mrs. King was also known for her writing, 
most notably for her autobiography, My Life With Martin Luther King. 
Jr.
  Mrs. Coretta Scott King had a vision and she had the wherewithal to 
keep that vision alive. The journey towards equality for all has been 
greatly advanced by her work and accomplishments. Mrs. Coretta Scott 
King is a true American hero and will dearly be missed by her family, 
the Nation, and the world.
  Mr. KUCINICH. Mr. Speaker, I rise today in honor and remembrance of 
Coretta Scott King, devoted wife, mother, grandmother and civil rights 
leader, whose courageous mission has left an indelible light of peace 
and justice visible across our country and around the world. Mrs. King 
gracefully raised aloft the dreams and legacy of the most prominent 
visionary for social change in our nation's history, her husband, Dr. 
Martin Luther King, Jr. Their unified mission of peacefully dismantling 
the racist foundation of America would change the course of our Nation 
forever.
  Mrs. King's entire life was framed by dignity, courage and an 
unwavering commitment to social justice and humanitarian causes. She 
grew up working in the cotton fields of Alabama, where she experienced 
the harsh reality of racism. Taught by her parents that only a solid 
education could open the door to freedom and opportunity, Mrs. King 
focused on her studies and graduated with honors from Antioch College 
in southern Ohio, one of the first integrated colleges in the country. 
While a student, she joined the NAACP and became deeply involved in the 
civil rights movement, foregoing a career in music to carry out the 
work of peace and justice.
  The assassination of Dr. King did not diminish her resolve. She 
courageously forged ahead on the road to justice, despite the danger 
inherent in her noble cause. As a young widow with four young children 
to raise, Mrs. King remained steadfast in her commitment to her 
children and also unwavering in her determination to continue on the 
path set by Dr. King. She took up the torch of her late husband, 
holding it high and dignified, exposing a broken society degraded by 
racism and injustice and illuminating the reality of peaceful change.
  Refined, articulate and reflecting a quiet grace, Mrs. King did not 
retreat from the movement sparked by Dr. King. She deliberately stepped 
out into the sharp glare of the public and bravely marched on, leading 
civil protests where her husband had marched before. She led an 
unrelenting effort to establish Martin Luther King Jr. Day, an endeavor 
that took her fifteen years and over six million petitions. Determined 
to keep Dr. King's legacy alive, Mrs. King founded the King Center in 
1968, serving as its president for 26 years.
  Armed with a sharp mind, a warm smile and a passion for social 
change, Mrs. King journeyed around the world, speaking to college and 
church audiences and meeting with world leaders. Mrs. King championed 
the rights of the poor and advocated for social and economic justice 
for women and for the protection and rights of gay men and lesbian 
women. She marched in protest against racial discrimination across the 
South and was arrested for protesting apartheid in South Africa.
  Mr. Speaker and Colleagues, please join me in honor, recognition and 
memory of Coretta Scott King, whose life mission on behalf of human 
rights has served to raise the collective conscience of the entire 
world into the promise of universal freedom from oppression. Mrs. 
King's brilliant legacy, framed in peace, determination and dignity, 
will forever resound with the voice of her husband, Dr. Martin Luther 
King, Jr.--along our urban streets, across the South and around the 
world--echoing the ongoing struggle for freedom in a chorus of hope 
that will someday rise with their words on the dawning of a new day of 
peace and justice for all.
  Mr. RUPPERSBERGER. Mr. Speaker, as we celebrate the start of Black 
History Month with recognizing the many, many great deeds of African 
Americans, we also mourn the loss of an icon for people of all races--
Mrs. Coretta Scott King. Mrs. King was one of our most influential 
black woman leaders in the world today.
  The ``first lady'' of the civil rights movement was born Coretta 
Scott in Heiberger, Alabama.

[[Page 644]]

She was raised on the family farm of her parents where she was exposed 
to the injustices of a segregated society.
  Mrs. King excelled at her studies, particularly music, and was 
valedictorian of her graduating class at Lincoln High School. She 
graduated in 1945 and received a scholarship to Antioch College in 
Yellow Springs, Ohio.
  As an undergraduate, she took an active interest in the civil rights 
movement; she joined the Antioch chapter of the NAACP, and the 
college's Race Relations and Civil Liberties Committees. She graduated 
from Antioch with a B.A. in music and education and won a scholarship 
to study concert singing at New England Conservatory of Music in 
Boston, Massachusetts.
  In Boston she met a young theology student, Martin Luther King, Jr., 
and her life was changed forever.
  Mr. Speaker, Mrs. King has been described as quiet, steady, and 
courageous and while all of that may be true let it be noted to add 
steadfast and certainly noble.
  Mrs. King was a serious thinker, a committed activist, a talented 
musician and an outspoken woman whose influence and activism extended 
well beyond the career of her famous husband.
  Mrs. King undoubtedly became a symbol of racial equality for all 
Americans. For a woman of her stature, rearing four little children 
when there was civil unrest, and to have suffered the loss of her 
husband sent a clear message to this Nation that the movement was too 
powerful to stop and must go on.
  Just like the late Mrs. Jacqueline Kennedy, Mrs. Coretta Scott King 
showed us how to meet personal crisis with courage, and then how to 
transcend crisis with victory.
  Although, I had never had the pleasure of meeting Mrs. King, I too 
share her husband's vision of peace and brotherhood as a steady theme 
that should be heard all across this Nation.
  Mr. Speaker, history has a way of placing women like Coretta Scott 
King in the shadows of their powerful husbands but it is time we 
remember them as more than civil-rights-movement wives and widows.
  I once heard someone say that behind every good man stands a good 
woman, but I say to you and to this Nation that beside every great man 
stands an even greater woman.
  Mr. Speaker, her's was a remarkable life, and along the way she 
helped improve the lives of millions. While we mourn her lose, we must 
celebrate her legacy--now recognized with that of her husband.
  Mr. SENSENBRENNER. Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of the time.
  The SPEAKER. All time for debate has expired.
  Pursuant to the order of the House of Tuesday, January 31, 2006, the 
resolution is considered read, and the previous question is ordered on 
the resolution and the preamble.
  The question is on the resolution.
  The resolution was agreed to.
  A motion to reconsider was laid on the table.

                          ____________________