Coretta Scott King is best known as the wife of Reverend, Doctor Marin Luther King. Her personal attributes to the Civil Rights struggle included being an author, activist and a leader in the Civil Rights Movement. After the assassination of Dr. King, Coretta continued her activism in the Women’s Movement. She founded the King Center and pushed to establish Martin Luther King, Jr., Day, which was signed into legislation November 2, 1983. She was inducted into the Alabama Women's Hall of Fame, the National Women's Hall of Fame. Not very long after the assassination of Dr. King, Coretta took his place at a peace rally in New York City. She used notes he had written and constructed her own speech. In Europe, Coretta King became the first non-Italian to receive the Universal Love Award in Verona, Italy. She also preached a sermon at St. Paul's Cathedral, which no other woman had ever done at a regularly appointed service. On October 15, 1969, King was the lead speaker at the Moratorium to End the War in Vietnam demonstration in Washington D.C. She led a crowd down Pennsylvania Avenue and later, during the same event, gave a speech denouncing the war in Vietnam. Mrs. Coretta Scott King continued in the fight to ensure that her husband's legacy was not distorted and the history told at his monument in Washington D.C., was true.
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Church Affiliation:Dexter Avenue Baptist Church
Role in the Movement:Coretta Scott King is best known as the wife of Reverend, Doctor Marin Luther King. Her personal attributes to the Civil Rights struggle included being an author, activist and a leader in the Civil Rights Movement.
Birth Place:Heiberger, AL
Born Date:April 27, 1927
Deceased Date:January 30, 2006
Place Lived as Adult:Atlanta, GA
Church Location:Montgomery, AL