Coretta Scott King (1927-2006) was an essential figure in the Civil Rights movement. She was often overshadowed by her husband’s status as the leader of the movement, but she was a lifelong activist in her own right, working to fight racism, violence and poverty.
Coretta Scott King (1927-2006) was an essential figure in the Civil Rights movement. She was often overshadowed by her husband’s status as the leader of the movement, but she was a lifelong activist in her own right, working to fight racism, violence and poverty.
Women’s contributions to peacekeeping efforts are often overlooked, but no more. This month on Womanica we're highlighting women who have spearheaded peacekeeping initiatives all over the world — from India to South Africa to the United States. We cover women like Doria Shafik who led Egypt’s female liberation movement, as well as Coretta Scott King who was a fierce advocate for equality for Black Americans and a leader in the Civil Rights Movement. Tune in to hear the stories of women who were integral to creating peace in their communities.
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Every weekday, listeners explore the trials, tragedies, and triumphs of groundbreaking women throughout history who have dramatically shaped the world around us. In each 5 minute episode, we’ll dive into the story behind one woman listeners may or may not know–but definitely should. These diverse women from across space and time are grouped into easily accessible and engaging monthly themes like Educators, Villains, Indigenous Storytellers, Activists, and many more. Womanica is hosted by WMN co-founder and award-winning journalist Jenny Kaplan. The bite-sized episodes pack painstakingly researched content into fun, entertaining, and addictive daily adventures.
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Hey, everyone. Before we get started, I want to warn you that this episode contains mentions of racial violence.
Hello! I’m Meltem Burak. I’m the host and producer of the podcast, Sesta. We aim to harness the power of arts and culture to foster conversation and build peace in Cyprus. I’ll be your guest host for this month of Womanica.
Today, we’re talking about an essential figure in the Civil Rights movement. She was often overshadowed by her husband’s status as the leader of the movement. However, she was a lifelong activist in her own right, working to fight racism, violence and poverty.
Let’s talk about Coretta Scott King.
Coretta Scott was born on April 27, 1927 in rural Alabama. Her family was poor, but they also owned land, which provided them with more resources than many of their Black neighbors. Still, there were harsh times. During the Great Depression, Coretta helped support the family by picking cotton.
Coretta experienced the cruelty of racism at an early age. In 1942, she saw her family home burned to the ground by white terrorists on the eve of Thanksgiving. Coretta remembered that her father — a deeply religious man — remained fearless and committed to prioritizing love over hatred.
For Coretta and her siblings, education was the path to a better future. In 1945, she graduated as valedictorian from her high school. She moved north to study music and education on a scholarship to Antioch College in Ohio. Coretta dreamed of a career as a concert singer and, after graduating, she moved to Boston to study at the New England Conservatory of Music.
A year after moving to Boston, Coretta got a phone call from a young graduate student at Boston University. He was an ordained Baptist minister, and his name was Martin Luther King, Jr. Coretta agreed to meet him for a date. When he showed up, she decided he was too short — imagine that being your first reaction to meeting Martin Luther King! But she also thought he was intelligent and intensely passionate.
When King proposed, Coretta took six months to give him an answer. She still yearned for a singing career and that didn’t seem compatible with the role of a minister's wife. She later recalled asking herself two big questions: “Do I love him enough to make any sacrifice?” and “Can I give him up and not miss him?” She married him in June of 1953.
The newlyweds moved to Montgomery, Alabama, where King became a pastor at a local baptist church. Coretta had just given birth to their first child when King was asked to lead the Montgomery bus boycott. Soon, the growing family was swept up in a growing Civil Rights movement that would define their legacy.
It was a difficult time for Coretta. Her husband was consumed by activist work — sometimes even sleeping in a jail cell. Coretta was charged with caring for their four children. A family friend once recalled that Coretta often postponed family dinner for hours so that the children could spend time with their father when he finally got home.
I think that’s something we forget when we study civil rights heroes like King — who was taking care of the kids? Who was taking on the homemaking and daily responsibilities so that these activists had the time and resources to create such lasting change? That’s a sort of activism on its own that we don’t always appreciate. But we should.
The King family was also always in danger. Coretta was home with her infant daughter when a white mob bombed their house. Later, Coretta said, “That’s when I started praying very seriously about my commitment and whether or not I would be able to stick with my husband to continue in the struggle. And of course it wasn’t that difficult. It was a struggle, but I knew that we were doing the right thing.”
Throughout her marriage, Coretta’s role in the movement was a point of contention. King expected his wife to support him from the sidelines and focus on raising their children. But Coretta wanted more.
She found fulfillment in combining her two passions — music and social justice — in a series of more than 30 “Freedom Concerts” across the country. Through a program of songs, poems, and lectures, she told the story of the Civil Rights movement. These concerts raised thousands of dollars for the cause, but her husband always remained skeptical of Coretta’s ambitions as a performer.
During this period, Coretta was also active in other ways. She served as a Women’s Strike for Peace delegate to the 17-nation Disarmament Conference in Geneva, Switzerland. She also often filled in for her husband when he could not attend speaking engagements.
On April 4, 1968, King was assassinated in Memphis. Even before he was buried, Coretta took King’s place alongside striking garbage workers that he had been scheduled to march with. About a month later, she stood in his place in front of a crowd of thousands gathered at the Lincoln Memorial for the Poor People’s Campaign.
Coretta committed herself to preserving her husband’s legacy and life’s work. In June 1968, she founded The King Center in Atlanta, which today serves as a National Historic Site. She also spearheaded an initiative to preserve King’s papers and writings, which now exists as the King Library and Archives.
In 1983, she formed the Coalition of Conscience. It was made up of more than 800 human rights organizations and sponsored the 20th anniversary March on Washington. Her goal was to convince Congress to make King’s birthday a national holiday. In 1986, the United States legally recognized Martin Luther King, Jr. Day for the first time.
Coretta also made a name for herself internationally. She led goodwill missions to countries across the globe, advocating for nonviolence and democracy. She served on the board for the Southern Christian Leadership Conference and the National Organization for Women. She also wrote two memoirs, though the second was released posthumously.
Coretta was a fierce opponent of apartheid and she was arrested alongside two of her children for protesting outside of the South African embassy in Washington, D.C. She helped train hundreds of thousands of South African citizens in nonviolent demonstration tactics and stood alongside Nelson Mandela when he became the country’s first democratically-elected president.
Coretta died on January 30, 2006. A week later, thousands of people gathered to pay their respects as she lay in Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta. She was later buried alongside her husband at the King Center’s Freedom Hall complex.
Coretta is mostly remembered in popular history as the wife of a civil rights icon. But she was obviously much more. As she said after King’s death, “Maybe people didn't know that I was always an activist because the media wasn't watching…I was married to the man whom I loved, but I was also married to the movement.”
All month, we’re highlighting peacebuilders. For more information, follow us on Facebook and Instagram @womanicapodcast.
Special thanks to co-creators Jenny and Liz Kaplan, for having me as a guest host
Talk to you tomorrow!