Coretta Scott King
Civil Rights Activist
Coretta Scott King, if known about at all, is often defined by being the wife of and widow of Martin Luther King, Jr. However, Coretta was involved in civil rights activities years before she met Martin. She also took a broader, more global view of civil rights and equality than her husband. She spoke about and fought for African Americans, women, and LGBTQ rights along with ending apartheid, America’s involvement in wars, and poverty.
In her early college days, before meeting Martin, she became involved in the campus NAACP, the Race Relations and Civil Liberties Committees, and various peace activities. Later on, after moving to Boston to study at the New England Conservatory of Music, she met Martin who was studying at Boston University.
Never one to think herself “lesser-than,” Coretta insisted the word “obey” be removed from their wedding vows and advocated for a broader role in her household. As written in the Guardian:
With four kids, Scott King had to contend with her husband’s contradictory beliefs on women’s roles – his appreciation of her politics and his conviction that she should stay home to raise the children. Forced to scale back her singing, she continued to do benefit concerts for the movement: “I once told Martin that although I loved being his wife and a mother, if that was all I did I would have gone crazy. I felt a calling on my life from an early age. I knew I had something to contribute to the world.”
Coretta regularly and publicly denounced the US’s involvement in the Vietnam War long before her husband did. And she was the only woman to speak on the subject at an antiwar rally at New York’s Madison Square Garden. MLK credits Coretta with educating him on peace and the antiwar movement.
Coretta was long an advocate of the antipoverty movement as well, stating “if we could solve the unemployment problem most of the social problems we have could be solved. In fact, most of the social problems stem from unemployment.” A philosopher in her own right, she linked the stereotypes against black women that were put in place to keep things status quo, citing the intersections of race and gender that were put in place to keep Black women poor and disregarded. And she became a vocal advocate of gay rights and same-sex marriage, reminding everyone that “Martin Luther King Jr. said, ‘Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.’ [...] Make room at the table of brotherhood and sisterhood for lesbian and gay people.”
Coretta’s accomplishments are too abundant to enumerate here, but I highly recommend checking out this more detailed history of her achievements.
Powerful Quotes by a Powerful Woman
“I am made to sound like an attachment to a vacuum cleaner. The wife of Martin, then the widow of Martin, all of which I was proud to be. But I was never just a wife, nor a widow. I was always more than a label.”
“Not enough attention has been focused on the roles played by women in the struggle … Women have been the backbone of the whole civil rights movement … Women have been the ones who have made it possible for the movement to be a mass movement.”
“I am an activist. I didn’t just emerge after Martin died – I was always there and involved.”
“Women, if the soul of the nation is to be saved, I believe that you must become its soul.”
“Struggle is a never ending process. Freedom is never really won, you earn it and win it in every generation.”
“The woman power of this nation can be the power which makes us whole and heals the rotten community, now so shattered by war and poverty and racism. I have great faith in the power of women who will dedicate themselves whole-heartedly to the task of remaking our society.”
“The failure to invest in youth reflects a lack of compassion and a colossal failure of common sense.”
“I can’t help but believe that at some time in the not-too-distant future, there is going to be another movement to change these systemic conditions of poverty, injustice, and violence in people’s lives. That is where we’ve got to go, and it is going to be a struggle.”
“Wherever there was injustice—war, discrimination against women, gays, and the disadvantaged—I did my best to show up and exert moral persuasion for what is right.”
