The Guardian 15 February, 2006
Coretta Scott King: Freedom fighter
Pepe Lozano
Coretta Scott King personified everything women have struggled to achieve in the
movement for equality, emancipation and freedom. Her life mothered the understanding of
generations who fought and continue to fight for civil rights, all people's unity, liberation,
peace and justice. Her grace and love for working people, White, Black and Brown, men and
women, will always symbolise the human need to resist injustice anywhere in the
world.
Scott King, 78, a tireless champion for civil rights and non-violent social change, died in her sleep
January 30 after a long illness.
Born on April 27, 1927, Mrs King grew up in rural Alabama, near Marion, walking miles to school
and picking cotton on the weekends. Smart, hard-working and gifted, Scott King went to Antioch
College in Ohio and onto the Boston's New England Conservatory of Music, facing down any racist
obstacles placed in her way. It was in Boston where she met Martin Luther King Jr. They were
married in June of 1953, partners in the struggle.
Mrs King often expressed the need for "women's power" to fight racism, poverty and war. Daughter
of a lumber worker and storeowner and mother of four, Scott King rose to become one of the
world's most influential women, a leader in her own right, and will forever be remembered as the
"first lady of civil rights".
After her husband's assassination, Coretta Scott King made an important contribution to the
movement for racial and social justice by bringing national recognition to his life work. For more
than a decade, she lobbied to make his birthday a federal holiday. The nation finally observed the
first King holiday in 1986. She also founded the King Center in Atlanta, a teaching facility, archive
and museum. The centre contains the tomb where her body will be laid beside that of her
husband.
Maya Angelou, poet and close friend of Mrs King, said, "Dr King was assassinated on my birthday
and so, since 1968, Sister Coretta and I have spoken. And each time she can be talking to me
about regular things, but when she mentions Martin, her voice always falls a little bit and you can
sense the intimacy. … The sweetness of that relationship was always evident."
The Rev Jesse Jackson, who broke the news to Mrs King about her husband's death, described
her as a "freedom fighter" who faced racist terror and untold hardships with strength and
dignity.
"She walked with her husband during the ordeal of the Montgomery bus boycott. Their home was
bombed. She endured the hate and violent anger toward their family. And she had to endure the
constant knowledge that each time he left their home, he might never return."
Mrs King was against the war in Iraq and in support of social issues such as gay and lesbian rights,
AIDS advocacy, affirmative action and religious freedom. Her goal in founding the King Center was
to create a longstanding memorial that would continue to address issues such as unemployment,
voting rights and racism.
Thousands lined the streets of Atlanta to watch a horse-drawn carriage take her body to the State
Capitol. She was the first African American and first woman to lie in state in the rotunda. Some
160,000 people endured waits of two hours through rain and chilly temperatures to stand for a few
seconds to pay their respects.
Mrs King's survivors include her four children: Yolanda, Martin, Dexter and Bernice.
People's Weekly World