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Coretta Scott King
Speaking in Nigeria in 2003, age 75.
Born	(1927-04-27)April 27, 1927 Heiberger, Alabama, U.S.
Died	January 30, 2006(2006-01-30) (aged 78) Playas de Rosarito, Mexico
Occupation(s)	Civil rights, women's rights, human rights, equal rights activist, author
Spouse	The Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
Children	Yolanda King (deceased) Martin Luther King III Dexter Scott King Bernice King

Coretta Scott King (April 27, 1927– January 30, 2006) was an American author, activist, and civil rights leader. The widow of Martin Luther King, Jr., Coretta Scott King helped lead the African-American Civil Rights Movement in the 1960s.

Mrs. King's most prominent role may have been in the years after her husband's 1968 assassination when she took on the leadership of the struggle for racial equality herself and became active in the Women's Movement.

Childhood and education

Coretta Scott King was the second of three children born to Obadiah "Obie" Scott (1899-1998) and Bernice McMurray Scott (1904-1996) in Perry County, Alabama. She had an older sister named Edythe, born in 1925, and a younger brother named Obadiah Leonard, born in 1930. The Scotts owned a farm, which had been in the family since the American Civil War, but were not particularly wealthy. During the Great Depression the Scott children picked cotton to help earn money. Obie was the first black in their neighborhood to own a truck. He had a barber shop in their home. He also owned a lumber mill, which was burned down by white neighbors.

Though uneducated themselves, King's parents intended for all of their children to be educated. King quoted her mother as having said, "My children are going to college, even if it means I only have but one dress to put on." The Scott children attended a one room elementary school 5 miles (8 km) from their home and were later bussed to Lincoln Normal School, a high school in Marion, Alabama, 9 mi (14 km) from their home. The bus was driven by Bernice Scott, who bussed all the local black teenagers to the Marion high school, as it was the closest black high school.

King graduated valedictorian of Lincoln Normal School in 1945 and enrolled at Antioch College in Yellow Springs, Ohio. Edythe Scott already attended Antioch as part of the Antioch Program for Interracial Education, which recruited non-white students and gave them full scholarships in an attempt to diversify the historically white campus. King said of her first college:

Antioch had envisioned itself as a laboratory in democracy, but had no black students. (Edythe) became the first African American to attend Antioch on a completely integrated basis, and was joined by two other black female students in the fall of 1943. Pioneering is never easy, and all of us who followed my sister at Antioch owe her a great debt of gratitude.

Coretta studied music with Walter Anderson, the first non-white chair of an academic department in a historically white college. King also became politically active, due largely to her experience of racial discrimination by the local school board. She became active in the nascent civil rights movement; she joined the Antioch chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) and the college's Race Relations and Civil Liberties Committees. The board denied her request to perform her second year of required practice teaching at Yellow Springs public schools, for her teaching certificate King appealed to the Antioch College administration, which was unwilling or unable to change the situation in the local school system and instead employed her at the college's associated laboratory school for a second year.

King transferred out of Antioch when she won a scholarship to the New England Conservatory of Music in Boston, where she met Martin Luther King, Jr. In her early life King was as well known as a singer as she was as a civil rights activist, and often incorporated music into her civil rights work. In 1964, the Time profile of Martin Luther King, Jr., when he was chosen as Time's "Man of the Year", referred to her as "a talented young soprano."

Family life

Coretta Scott and Martin Luther King, Jr., were married on June 18, 1953, on the lawn of her mothers' house; the ceremony was performed by King's father, Martin Luther King, Sr.. After completing her degree in voice and violin at the New England Conservatory, she moved with her husband to Montgomery, Alabama in September 1954.

The Kings had four children:

• Yolanda Denise King (November 17, 1955–May 15, 2007)
• Martin Luther King III ( October 23, 1957 in Montgomery, Alabama)
• Dexter Scott King ( January 30, 1961 in Atlanta Georgia)
• Bernice Albertine King ( March 28, 1963 in Atlanta, Georgia)

All four children later followed in their parents' footsteps as civil rights activists.

Civil rights movement

Coretta Scott King played an extremely important role in the Civil Rights Movement of the 1950s and 1960s. Martin wrote of her that, "I am indebted to my wife Coretta, without whose love, sacrifices, and loyalty neither life nor work would bring fulfillment. She has given me words of consolation when I needed them and a well-ordered home where Christian love is a reality." However, Martin and Coretta did conflict over her public role in the movement. Martin wanted Coretta to focus on raising their four children, while Coretta wanted to take a more public leadership role.

Coretta Scott King took part in the Montgomery Bus Boycott of 1955 and took an active role in advocating for civil rights legislation. Most prominently, perhaps, she worked hard to pass the Civil Rights Act of 1964.

Not long after her husband's death, Coretta approached the African American entertainer and activist Josephine Baker to take her husband's place as leader of The Civil Rights Movement. After many days of thinking it over Baker declined, stating that her twelve adopted children (known as the "rainbow tribe") were " ... too young to lose their mother."

Coretta Scott King decided to take the helm of the movement herself after her husband's assassination in 1968.

King broadened her focus to include women's rights, LGBT rights, economic issues, world peace, and various other causes. As early as December 1968, she called for women to "unite and form a solid block of women power to fight the three great evils of racism, poverty and war," during a Solidarity Day speech.

As leader of the movement, Scott King founded the Martin Luther King, Jr. Center for Nonviolent Social Change in Atlanta. She served as the center's president and CEO from its inception until she passed the reigns of leadership to son Dexter Scott King.

She published her memoirs, My Life with Martin Luther King, Jr., in 1969.

Coretta Scott King was also under surveillance by the Federal Bureau of Investigation from 1968 until 1972. Her husband's activities had been monitored during his lifetime. Documents obtained by a Houston, Texas television station show that the FBI worried that King would "tie the anti-Vietnam movement to the civil rights movement." A spokesman for the King family said that they were aware of the surveillance, but had not realized how extensive it was.

Later life

After her husband was assassinated on April 4, 1968, she began attending a commemorative service at Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta to mark her husband's birth every January 15 and fought for years to make it a national holiday. Murray M. Silver, an Atlanta attorney, made the appeal at the services on January 14, 1979. Coretta Scott King later confirmed that it was the "...best, most productive appeal ever..." King was finally successful in this in 1986, when Martin Luther King, Jr. Day was made a federal holiday.

Coretta Scott King attended the state funeral of Lyndon B. Johnson, in 1973, as a very close friend of the former president, himself a contributor to civil rights.

When President Ronald Reagan signed legislation establishing Martin Luther King Day, she was at the event.

Opposition to apartheid

During the 1980s, King reaffirmed her long-standing opposition to apartheid, participating in a series of sit-in protests in Washington, D.C. that prompted nationwide demonstrations against South African racial policies.

In 1986, she traveled to South Africa and met with Winnie Mandela, while Mandela's husband Nelson Mandela was still a political prisoner on Robben Island. She declined invitations from Pik Botha and moderate Zulu chief Mangosuthu Buthelezi. Upon her return to the United States, she urged Reagan to approve economic sanctions against South Africa.

Peace and other political positions

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A long-time advocate for world peace, in 1957, King was one of the founders of The Committee for a Sane Nuclear Policy (now called Peace Action).

King was vocal in her opposition to capital punishment and the 2003 invasion of Iraq, thus drawing criticism from conservative groups. She was also an advocate of feminism, LGBT rights and HIV/AIDS prevention.

LGBT equality

On April 1, 1998 at the Palmer House Hilton in Chicago, King called on the civil rights community to join in the struggle against homophobia and anti-gay bias. "Homophobia is like racism and anti-Semitism and other forms of bigotry in that it seeks to dehumanize a large group of people, to deny their humanity, their dignity and personhood", King stated. "This sets the stage for further repression and violence that spread all too easily to victimize the next minority group."

In a speech in November 2003 at the opening session of the 13th annual Creating Change Conference, organized by the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force, King made her now famous appeal linking the Civil Rights Movement to the LGBT agenda: "I still hear people say that I should not be talking about the rights of lesbian and gay people. ... But I hasten to remind them that Martin Luther King Jr. said, 'Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.' I appeal to everyone who believes in Martin Luther King Jr.’s dream, to make room at the table of brotherhood and sisterhood for lesbian and gay people."

King's support of LGBT rights was strongly criticized by some black pastors. She called her critics "misinformed" and said that Martin Luther King's message to the world was one of equality and inclusion.

In 2003, she invited the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force to take part in observances of the 40th anniversary of the March on Washington and Martin Luther King's I Have a Dream speech. It was the first time that an LGBT rights group had been invited to a major event of the African American community.

On March 23, 2004, she told an audience at Richard Stockton College in Pomona, New Jersey, that same-sex marriage is a civil rights issue. King denounced a proposed amendment advanced by President George W. Bush to the United States Constitution that would ban equal marriage rights for same-sex couples. In her speech King also criticized a group of black pastors in her home state of Georgia for backing a bill to amend that state's constitution to block gay and lesbian couples from marrying. King is quoted as saying "Gay and lesbian people have families, and their families should have legal protection, whether by marriage or civil union. A constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriages is a form of gay bashing and it would do nothing at all to protect traditional marriage."

The King Center

Established in 1968 by Coretta Scott King, The King Center is the official memorial dedicated to the advancement of the legacy and ideas of Martin Luther King, Jr., leader of a nonviolent movement for justice, equality and peace. She handed the reins as CEO and president of the King Center down to her son, Dexter Scott King, who still runs the center today.

Final days

By the end of her 77th year, King began experiencing health problems. Her husband's former secretary, Dora McDonald, assisted her part time in this period. Hospitalized in April 2005, she was diagnosed with a heart condition and was discharged on her 78th and final birthday. Later, King suffered several small strokes. On August 16 2005, she was hospitalized after suffering a stroke and a mild heart attack. Initially, she was unable to speak or move her right side. She was released from Piedmont Hospital in Atlanta on September 22, 2005, after regaining some of her speech and continued physiotherapy at home. Due to continuing health problems, King cancelled a number of speaking and traveling engagements throughout the remainder of 2005. On January 14, 2006, King made her last public appearance in Atlanta at a dinner honoring her husband's memory.

Death

King died in the late evening of January 30, 2006 at a rehabilitation center in Rosarito Beach, Mexico, where she was undergoing holistic therapy for her stroke and advanced stage ovarian cancer. The main cause of King's death, however, is believed to be respiratory failure due to complications from ovarian cancer. The clinic at which she died was called the Hospital Santa Monica, but was licensed as Clinica Santo Tomas. Newspaper reports indicated that it was not legally licensed to "perform surgery, take X-rays, perform laboratory work or run an internal pharmacy, all of which it was doing." It was also founded, owned, and operated by San Diego resident, and highly controversial alternative medicine figure, Kurt Donsbach. Days after Mrs. King's death, the Baja California, Mexico state medical commissioner, Dr. Francisco Vera, shut down the clinic.

Funeral

Over 14,000 people gathered for King's eight-hour funeral at the New Birth Missionary Baptist Church in Lithonia, Georgia on February 7, 2006 where daughter Bernice King, who is an elder at the church, eulogized her mother. The megachurch, whose sanctuary seats 10,000, was better able to handle the expected massive crowds than Ebenezer Baptist Church, of which King was a member since the early 1960s and which was the site of Martin Luther King, Jr.'s funeral in 1968.

U.S. Presidents George W. Bush, George H.W. Bush, Bill Clinton, Jimmy Carter, and their wives attended, excepting the Ford family, which was absent due to illness, and Barbara Bush, who had a previous engagement. Numerous other prominent political and civil rights leaders, including then-U.S. senator Barack Obama, attended the televised service.

King was interred in a temporary mausoleum on the grounds of the King Center until a permanent place next to her husband's remains could be built. She had expressed to family members and others that she wanted her remains to lie next to her husband's at the King Center. On November 20, 2006 the new mausoleum containing both the bodies of Dr. and Mrs King was unveiled in front of friends and family. It is the third resting place of Martin Luther King. Coretta Scott King died on son Dexter's birthday.

Funeral oration

President Jimmy Carter and Rev. Joseph Lowery provided funeral orations. With President George W. Bush seated a few feet away, Rev. Lowery, referencing King's vocal opposition to the Vietnam War, noted the failure to find weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. President Carter, referencing King's lifelong struggle for civil rights, noted that her family had been the target of secret government wiretapping. Their somewhat controversial comments were met with thunderous applause and standing ovations.

Recognition and tributes

King was the recipient of various honors and tributes both before and after her death. She received honorary degrees from many institutions, including Princeton University, Duke University, and Bates College. She was honored by both of her alma maters in 2004, receiving a Horace Mann Award from Antioch College and an Outstanding Alumni Award from the New England Conservatory of Music.

In 1970, the American Library Association began awarding a medal named for Coretta Scott King to outstanding African American writers and illustrators of children's literature.

Many individuals and organizations paid tribute to King following her death, including U.S. President George W. Bush, the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force, the Human Rights Campaign, the National Black Justice Coalition, her alma mater Antioch College.

In 2004, Coretta Scott King was awarded the prestigious Gandhi Peace Prize by the Government of India.

In 2007, The Coretta Scott King Young Women's Leadership Academy (CSKYWLA) was opened in Atlanta, Georgia. At its inception, the school served girls in grade 6 with plans for expansion to grade 12 by 2014. CSKYWLA is a public school in the Atlanta Public Schools system. Among the staff and students, the acronym for the school's name, CSKYWLA (pronounced "see-skee-WAH-lah"), has been coined as a protologism to which this definition has given - "to be empowered by scholarship, non-violence, and social change." The school is currently under the leadership of Melody Morgan (Principal) and April Patton (Dean of Academics).

Congressional resolutions

Upon the news of her death, moments of reflection, remembrance, and mourning began around the world. In the United States Senate, Majority Leader Bill Frist presented Senate Resolution 362 on behalf of all U.S. Senators, with the afternoon hours filled with respectful tributes throughout the U.S. Capitol.

On January 31, 2006 following a moment of silence in memoriam to the death of King, the United States House of Representatives presented House Resolution 655 in honor of King's legacy. In an unusual action, the resolution included a grace period of five days in which further comments could be added to it.

References

1. ^ "Coretta Scott King". Women's History. Gale Virtual Reference Library.
2. ^ King, Coretta Scott (Fall 2004). "Address, Antioch Reunion 2004". The Antiochian. Retrieved 2007-09-10.
3. "Coretta Scott King Dies at 78". ABC News. January 31, 2006. Retrieved 2007-09-10. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
4. "Never Again Where He Was". Time Magazine. January 3, 1964. Retrieved 2007-09-10. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help); Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help)
5. Josephine Baker and Joe Bouillon, Josephine. Harper & Row Publishers, New York, 1977
6. Pappas, Heather. "Coretta Scott King". Nuclear Age Peace Foundation. Retrieved 2007-09-10.
7. "FBI spied on Coretta Scott King, files show". The Los Angeles Times. August 31, 2007. Retrieved 2007-09-11. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
8. "Coretta Scott King". The Daily Telegraph. January 31, 2006. Retrieved 2007-09-10. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
9. "Welcome". The King Center. n/a. Retrieved 2007-09-10. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
10. Dewan, Shaila. "Dora E. McDonald, 81, Secretary to Martin Luther King in '60s," New York Times. January 15, 2007.
11. "Coretta Scott King dead at 78". The Associated Press. January 31, 2006. Retrieved 2007-09-11. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
12. "King had Paralysis and Cancer". The Associated Press. January 31, 2006. Retrieved 2007-09-11. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
13. "Clinic, founder operate outside norm". The Atlanta-Journal Constitution. February 1, 2006. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
14. Barrett, Stephen (last revised September 10, 2007). "The Shady Activities of Kurt Donbach". Quackwatch. Retrieved 2007-09-11. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
15. McKinley, James C. (February 4, 2006). "Mexico Closes Alternative Care Clinic Where Mrs. King Died". The New York Times. Retrieved 2007-09-11. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
16. How He Did It
17. King Memorials Into the Night
18. "Alumni Profile: Coretta Scott King '54, '71 hon. D.M." New England Conservatory of Music. n/a. Retrieved 2007-09-10. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
19. "The Coretta Scott King Book Awards for Authors and Illustrators". American Library Association. n/a. Retrieved 2007-09-10. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
20. Bush, George W. (January 31, 2006). "State of the Union". The White House. Retrieved 2007-09-10. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
21. "Task Force mourns death of Coretta Scott King". National Gay and Lesbian Task Force. January 31, 2006. Retrieved 2007-09-10. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
22. "Coretta Scott King Leaves Behind Legacy of the Everlasting Pursuit of Justice". Human Rights Campaign. January 31, 2006. Retrieved 2007-09-10. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
23. "Leader Passes Quietly into the Night: Coretta Scott King Dies at 78". National Black Justice Coalition. January 31, 2006. Retrieved 2007-09-10. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
24. ""We have lost a great American and a great Antiochian....": Coretta Scott King's death mourned by the Antioch Community". Antioch College. January 31, 2006. Retrieved 2007-09-10. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)

External links

• Coretta Scott King's oral history video excerpts at The National Visionary Leadership Project
• Coretta Scott King - A Civil Rights Leader
• Coretta Scott King's political donations
• About.com Profile of Coretta Scott King, Human Rights Advocate
• Coretta Scott King entry from African American Lives - OUP Blog
• A King Among Men (King family vegetarianism)
• Coretta Scott King Center at Antioch College
• King Center Founder’s Message
• Find a Grave - Coretta Scott King
• Coretta Scott King Funeral Program (PDF)
• Coretta Scott King panel eyes plan by year's end
• Complete text, audio, video of Oprah Winfrey's Eulogy for Coretta Scott King
• Coretta Scott King entry in the Encyclopedia of Alabama
• Obituary in the Atlanta Journal Constitution

Links to related articles

v t e Civil rights movement (1954–1968) Events (timeline) Prior to 1954 Journey of Reconciliation Executive Order 9981 Murders of Harry and Harriette Moore Sweatt v. Painter (1950) McLaurin v. Oklahoma State Regents (1950) Baton Rouge bus boycott 1954–1959 Brown v. Board of Education Bolling v. Sharpe Briggs v. Elliott Davis v. Prince Edward County Gebhart v. Belton Sarah Keys v. Carolina Coach Company Emmett Till Montgomery bus boycott Browder v. Gayle Tallahassee bus boycott Mansfield school desegregation 1957 Prayer Pilgrimage for Freedom "Give Us the Ballot" Royal Ice Cream sit-in Little Rock Nine Cooper v. Aaron Civil Rights Act of 1957 Ministers' Manifesto Katz Drug Store sit-in Kissing Case Biloxi wade-ins 1960–1963 New Year's Day March Sit-in movement Greensboro sit-ins Nashville sit-ins Sibley Commission Atlanta sit-ins Savannah Protest Movement Greenville Eight Civil Rights Act of 1960 Ax Handle Saturday Gomillion v. Lightfoot Boynton v. Virginia University of Georgia desegregation riot Rock Hill sit-ins Robert F. Kennedy's Law Day Address Freedom Rides Anniston bombing Birmingham attack Garner v. Louisiana Albany Movement Cambridge movement University of Chicago sit-ins "Second Emancipation Proclamation" Meredith enrollment, Ole Miss riot Atlanta's Berlin Wall "Segregation now, segregation forever" Stand in the Schoolhouse Door 1963 Birmingham campaign Letter from Birmingham Jail Children's Crusade Birmingham riot 16th Street Baptist Church bombing John F. Kennedy's speech to the nation on Civil Rights Detroit Walk to Freedom March on Washington "I Have a Dream" Big Six St. Augustine movement 1964–1968 Twenty-fourth Amendment Chester school protests Bloody Tuesday 1964 Monson Motor Lodge protests Freedom Summer workers' murders Civil Rights Act of 1964 Heart of Atlanta Motel, Inc. v. United States Katzenbach v. McClung 1964–1965 Scripto strike 1965 Selma to Montgomery marches "How Long, Not Long" Voting Rights Act of 1965 Harper v. Virginia Board of Elections March Against Fear White House Conference on Civil Rights Chicago Freedom Movement/Chicago open housing movement Loving v. Virginia Memphis sanitation strike King assassination funeral riots Civil Rights Act of 1968 Poor People's Campaign Green v. County School Board of New Kent County Jones v. Alfred H. Mayer Co. 1968 Olympics Black Power salute Activist groups Alabama Christian Movement for Human Rights Atlanta Negro Voters League Atlanta Student Movement Black Panther Party Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters Congress of Racial Equality (CORE) Committee for Freedom Now Committee on Appeal for Human Rights An Appeal for Human Rights Council for United Civil Rights Leadership Council of Federated Organizations Dallas County Voters League Deacons for Defense and Justice Georgia Council on Human Relations Highlander Folk School Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights Lowndes County Freedom Organization Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party Montgomery Improvement Association NAACP Youth Council Nashville Student Movement Nation of Islam Northern Student Movement National Council of Negro Women National Urban League Operation Breadbasket Regional Council of Negro Leadership Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) Southern Regional Council Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) The Freedom Singers United Auto Workers (UAW) Wednesdays in Mississippi Women's Political Council Activists Ralph Abernathy Victoria Gray Adams Zev Aelony Mathew Ahmann Muhammad Ali William G. Anderson Gwendolyn Armstrong Arnold Aronson Ella Baker James Baldwin Marion Barry Daisy Bates Harry Belafonte James Bevel Claude Black Gloria Blackwell Randolph Blackwell Unita Blackwell Ezell Blair Jr. Joanne Bland Julian Bond Joseph E. Boone William Holmes Borders Amelia Boynton Bruce Boynton Raylawni Branch Stanley Branche Ruby Bridges Aurelia Browder H. Rap Brown Ralph Bunche John H. Calhoun Guy Carawan Stokely Carmichael Johnnie Carr James Chaney J. L. Chestnut Shirley Chisholm Colia Lafayette Clark Ramsey Clark Septima Clark Xernona Clayton Eldridge Cleaver Kathleen Cleaver Josephine Dobbs Clement Charles E. Cobb Jr. Annie Lee Cooper Dorothy Cotton Claudette Colvin Vernon Dahmer Jonathan Daniels Abraham Lincoln Davis Angela Davis Joseph DeLaine Dave Dennis Annie Bell Robinson Devine John Wesley Dobbs Patricia Stephens Due Joseph Ellwanger Charles Evers Medgar Evers Myrlie Evers-Williams Chuck Fager James Farmer Walter Fauntroy James Forman Marie Foster Golden Frinks Andrew Goodman Robert Graetz Fred Gray Jack Greenberg Dick Gregory Lawrence Guyot Prathia Hall Fannie Lou Hamer Fred Hampton William E. Harbour Vincent Harding Dorothy Height Audrey Faye Hendricks Lola Hendricks Aaron Henry Oliver Hill Donald L. Hollowell James Hood Myles Horton Zilphia Horton T. R. M. Howard Ruby Hurley Cecil Ivory Jesse Jackson Jimmie Lee Jackson Richie Jean Jackson T. J. Jemison Esau Jenkins Barbara Rose Johns Vernon Johns Frank Minis Johnson Clarence Jones J. Charles Jones Matthew Jones Vernon Jordan Tom Kahn Clyde Kennard A. D. King C.B. King Coretta Scott King Martin Luther King Jr. Martin Luther King Sr. Bernard Lafayette James Lawson Bernard Lee Sanford R. Leigh Jim Letherer Stanley Levison John Lewis Viola Liuzzo Z. Alexander Looby Joseph Lowery Clara Luper Danny Lyon Malcolm X Mae Mallory Vivian Malone Bob Mants Thurgood Marshall Benjamin Mays Franklin McCain Charles McDew Ralph McGill Floyd McKissick Joseph McNeil James Meredith William Ming Jack Minnis Amzie Moore Cecil B. Moore Douglas E. Moore Harriette Moore Harry T. Moore Queen Mother Moore William Lewis Moore Irene Morgan Bob Moses William Moyer Elijah Muhammad Diane Nash Charles Neblett Huey P. Newton Edgar Nixon Jack O'Dell James Orange Rosa Parks James Peck Charles Person Homer Plessy Adam Clayton Powell Jr. Fay Bellamy Powell Rodney N. Powell Al Raby Lincoln Ragsdale A. Philip Randolph George Raymond George Raymond Jr. Bernice Johnson Reagon Cordell Reagon James Reeb Frederick D. Reese Walter Reuther Gloria Richardson David Richmond Bernice Robinson Jo Ann Robinson Angela Russell Bayard Rustin Bernie Sanders Michael Schwerner Bobby Seale Pete Seeger Cleveland Sellers Charles Sherrod Alexander D. Shimkin Fred Shuttlesworth Modjeska Monteith Simkins Glenn E. Smiley A. Maceo Smith Kelly Miller Smith Mary Louise Smith Maxine Smith Ruby Doris Smith-Robinson Charles Kenzie Steele Hank Thomas Dorothy Tillman A. P. Tureaud Hartman Turnbow Albert Turner C. T. Vivian A. T. Walden Wyatt Tee Walker Hollis Watkins Walter Francis White Roy Wilkins Hosea Williams Kale Williams Robert F. Williams Q. V. Williamson Andrew Young Whitney Young Sammy Younge Jr. Bob Zellner James Zwerg By region Omaha, Nebraska South Carolina Movement songs "Ain't Gonna Let Nobody Turn Me 'Round" "If You Miss Me at the Back of the Bus" "Kumbaya" "Keep Your Eyes on the Prize" "Oh, Freedom" "This Little Light of Mine" "We Shall Not Be Moved" "We Shall Overcome" "Woke Up This Morning (With My Mind Stayed On Freedom)" Influences Nonviolence Padayatra Sermon on the Mount Mahatma Gandhi Ahimsa Satyagraha The Kingdom of God Is Within You Frederick Douglass W. E. B. Du Bois Mary McLeod Bethune Related Jim Crow laws Lynching in the United States Plessy v. Ferguson Separate but equal Buchanan v. Warley Hocutt v. Wilson Sweatt v. Painter Hernandez v. Texas Loving v. Virginia African-American women in the movement Jews in the civil rights movement Fifth Circuit Four 16th Street Baptist Church Kelly Ingram Park A.G. Gaston Motel Bethel Baptist Church Brown Chapel Dexter Avenue Baptist Church Holt Street Baptist Church Edmund Pettus Bridge March on Washington Movement African-American churches attacked List of lynching victims in the United States Freedom Schools Freedom songs Spring Mobilization Committee to End the War in Vietnam "Beyond Vietnam: A Time to Break Silence" Voter Education Project 1960s counterculture African American founding fathers of the United States Eyes on the Prize Legacy In popular culture Birmingham Civil Rights Institute Birmingham Civil Rights National Monument Civil Rights Memorial Civil Rights Movement Archive Emmett Till and Mamie Till-Mobley National Monument Medgar and Myrlie Evers Home National Monument Freedom Rides Museum Freedom Riders National Monument King Center for Nonviolent Social Change Martin Luther King Jr. Day Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial other King memorials Mississippi Civil Rights Museum National Civil Rights Museum National Voting Rights Museum St. Augustine Foot Soldiers Monument Olympic Black Power Statue Noted historians Taylor Branch Clayborne Carson John Dittmer Michael Eric Dyson Chuck Fager Adam Fairclough David Garrow David Halberstam Vincent Harding Steven F. Lawson Doug McAdam Diane McWhorter Charles M. Payne Thomas E. Ricks Timothy Tyson Akinyele Umoja Movement photographers Civil rights movement portal v t e Martin Luther King Jr. Speeches, writings, movements, and protests Speeches "Give Us the Ballot" (1957) "I Have a Dream" (1963) "How Long, Not Long" (1965) "Beyond Vietnam: A Time to Break Silence" (1967) "I've Been to the Mountaintop" (1968) Writings Stride Toward Freedom (1958) "What Is Man?" (1959) "Second Emancipation Proclamation" Strength to Love (1963) "Letter from Birmingham Jail" (1963) Why We Can't Wait (1964) Conscience for Change (1967) Where Do We Go from Here: Chaos or Community? (1967) Movements and protests Montgomery bus boycott (1955–1956) Prayer Pilgrimage for Freedom (1957) Albany Movement (1961–1962) Birmingham campaign (1963) March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom (1963) St. Augustine movement (1963–1964) Selma to Montgomery marches (1965) Chicago Freedom Movement (1966) Mississippi March Against Fear (1966) Anti-Vietnam War movement (1967) Memphis sanitation strike (1968) Poor People's Campaign (1968) People Family Coretta Scott King (wife) Yolanda King (daughter) Martin Luther King III (son) Dexter King (son) Bernice King (daughter) Martin Luther King Sr. (father) Alberta Williams King (mother) Christine King Farris (sister) A. D. King (brother) James Albert King (grandfather) Alveda King (niece) Other leaders Ralph Abernathy (mentor, colleague) Ella Baker (colleague) James Bevel (strategist / colleague) Dorothy Cotton (colleague) Jesse Jackson (protégé) Bernard Lafayette (colleague) James Lawson (colleague) John Lewis (colleague) Joseph Lowery (colleague) Benjamin Mays (mentor) Diane Nash (colleague) James Orange (colleague) Bayard Rustin (advisor) Fred Shuttlesworth (colleague) C. T. Vivian (colleague) Wyatt Walker (colleague) Hosea Williams (colleague) Andrew Young (colleague) Assassination Lorraine Motel (now National Civil Rights Museum) Riots Funeral James Earl Ray Jack Kershaw U.S. House Select Committee on Assassinations (HSCA) Martin Luther King Jr. Records Collection Act Loyd Jowers Trial Conspiracy theories Media Film King: A Filmed Record... Montgomery to Memphis (1970 documentary) Our Friend, Martin (1999 animated) Boycott (2001 film) The Witness: From the Balcony of Room 306 (2008 documentary) Selma (2014 film) All the Way (2016 film) King in the Wilderness (2018 documentary) MLK/FBI (2020 documentary) Rustin (2023 film) Television King (1978 miniseries) "The First Store" (The Jeffersons, 1980) "Great X-Pectations" (A Different World, 1993) "The Promised Land" (New York Undercover, 1997) Selma, Lord, Selma (1999) "Return of the King" (The Boondocks, 2006) Alpha Man: The Brotherhood of MLK (2011 documentary) Genius (MLK/X, 2024) Plays The Meeting (1987) The Mountaintop (2009) I Dream (2010) All the Way (2012) Illustrated Martin Luther King and the Montgomery Story (1957 comic book) Music "Abraham, Martin and John" (Dion) "March! For Martin Luther King" (John Fahey) "Martin Luther King's Dream" (Strawbs) "Happy Birthday" (Stevie Wonder) "Pride (In the Name of Love)" (U2) "MLK" (U2) "King Holiday" (King Dream Chorus and Holiday Crew) "By the Time I Get to Arizona" (Public Enemy) "Shed a Little Light" (James Taylor) "Up to the Mountain" (Patti Griffin) "Never Alone Martin" (Jason Upton) "Symphony of Brotherhood" (Miri Ben-Ari) Joseph Schwantner: New Morning for the World; Nicolas Flagello: The Passion of Martin Luther King (1995 album) "A Dream" (Common featuring will.i.am) "Glory" (Common and John Legend) Related Civil rights movement in popular culture Estate of Martin Luther King, Jr., Inc. v. CBS, Inc. King v. Trustees of Boston Univ. Related topics Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) Martin Luther King Jr. Day passage Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial National Historical Park King Center for Nonviolent Social Change Dexter Avenue Baptist Church National Civil Rights Museum Big Six African American founding fathers of the United States Authorship issues FBI–King suicide letter Alpha Phi Alpha fraternity Season for Nonviolence U.S. Capitol Rotunda sculpture Oval Office bust Homage to King sculpture, Atlanta Hope Moving Forward statue, Atlanta Safe House Black History Museum Statues of Martin Luther King Jr. Atlanta Boston Denver Houston Jersey City Milwaukee Mexico City Newark Pueblo, Colorado Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial, San Francisco Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial (Compton) Landmark for Peace Memorial, Indianapolis The Dream sculpture, Portland, Oregon Kennedy–King College Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Library, Washington, D.C. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Library, San Jose Paris park Memorials to Martin Luther King Jr. King County, Washington Eponymous streets America in the King Years Civil rights movement in popular culture Lee–Jackson–King Day Template:Footer Gandhi Peace Prize laureates

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• Articles lacking sources from March 2009
• 1927 births
• 2006 deaths
• African Americans' rights activists
• American feminists
• Antioch College alumni
• People from Yellow Springs, Ohio
• Baptists from the United States
• Congressional Gold Medal recipients
• Deaths from ovarian cancer
• LGBT rights activists from the United States
• Nonviolence advocates
• Gandhi Peace Prize recipients
• Non-South African anti-apartheid activists
• People from Perry County, Alabama
• American Christian pacifists
• American anti-nuclear weapons activists
• Cancer deaths in Mexico
• Martin Luther King family