Coretta Scott King has died!

*Raph's Girl* · 01-31-2006, 12:07 PM

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20060131/ts_nm/king_dc

Coretta Scott King, who surged to the front of the fight for racial equality in America after her husband Martin Luther King Jr. was murdered in 1968, died at age 78, friends and family said on Tuesday.

"Her daughter was with her at the time she passed, probably about 1 to 1:15 this morning," said Bishop Eddie Long of the New Birth Missionary Baptist Church in Lithonia, Georgia, the pastor of King's youngest child Bernice.

Andrew Young, a former U.S. ambassador to the
United Nations and a close friend of the King family, told reporters she died in California.

King suffered a debilitating stroke and heart attack in August. She was last seen in public on January 14 at a dinner marking the Martin Luther King Jr., holiday, where she received a standing ovation from the 1,500 people in the crowd.

Her steely determination, grace and class won her millions of admirers inside and outside the civil rights movement.

Rep. John Lewis, a Democratic congressman from Georgia and civil rights leader, said her death was "a very sad hour."

"Long before she met and married Dr. King, she was an activist for peace and civil rights and for civil liberties," he told CNN.

At the White House, Dan Bartlett, counselor to the president, told Fox television: "President Bush and first lady Laura Bush were always heartened by their meetings with Mrs. King. ... President and Mrs. Bush are deeply saddened by today's news."

Sen. Edward Kennedy, a Democrat from Massachusetts, called King "a driving force, not just for the civil rights movement, but for the great march toward progress."

Coretta Scott King played a back-up role in the civil rights movement until her husband was assassinated on a Memphis motel balcony on April 4, 1968.

Mrs. King, who was in Atlanta at the time, learned of the murder in a telephone call from the Rev.
Jesse Jackson, a call she later wrote, "I seemed subconsciously to have been waiting for all of our lives."

As she recalled in her autobiography "My Life With Martin Luther King Jr.," she felt she had to step fully into the civil rights movement.

She created a memorial and a forum in the Martin Luther King Jr. Center for Nonviolent Social Change in Atlanta. The center has archives containing more than 2,000 King speeches and is built around the King crypt and its eternal flame.

CHILDHOOD HOME TORCHED

Coretta Scott was born April 27, 1927, near Marion, Alabama. Spending much of her early years on a farm, she saw little prejudice until she and her sister were sent into town to board with a family while attending Lincoln High School, a black school in the segregated South.

"It was awful," she said of living in Marion. "Every Saturday we would hear about some black man getting beat up, and nothing was done about it."

Her father had built up a small trucking business but his success began to irritate poor whites, she said, and, after considerable harassment someone burned down the Scott home on Thanksgiving night 1942.

"I guess I was being prepared for my role when I was growing up, because when we were young children my father's life was in danger," Mrs. King once told Reuters. "We were afraid he was going to be killed.

"A white man threatened him, and he never ran. He was fearless," she said.

Church and music had always been a major part in young Coretta Scott's life, and after graduating in 1951 from majority white Antioch College in Yellow Springs, Ohio, she studied at the New England Conservatory of Music in Boston.

King, who was studying for his doctorate in theology at Boston University, had told a mutual friend he was looking for a wife. The friend gave him Coretta Scott's phone number, but when he came calling she was not impressed.

"I saw this green car coming up the street and this short man. He leaned over to open the door, and when I got in the car I saw this very young looking man. I thought, 'Oh my God, I expected to see a man but this is a boy."'

When he began to speak, however, she changed her mind.

She never had any doubt that King was going to battle the status quo. "Even at the time we were courting," she said, "Martin was deeply concerned -- and indignant -- with the plight of the Negro in the United States."

They were married at her parents' home on June 18, 1953 and had four children: Yolanda Denise, born in 1955, Martin Luther, III, born in 1957, Dexter Scott, born in 1961, and Bernice Albertine, born in 1963.

They moved in 1956 to Montgomery, Alabama, where the 26-year-old minister became active in civil rights, involving himself in the Montgomery bus boycott.

Bishop Long said she "understood what she was getting into" when she married Martin Luther King.

"She said a statement that burned in the heart of my wife and myself, she said when she married Martin, she did not marry a man, she married a vision," he said.

Raph's girl note: Dang...lost another one.

And just a couple months after Rosa Parks too!

The following are the lyrics to the song "The Courage In Your Eyes" by Michael Bolton, which is about Coretta Scott King.

Nobody ever warned you
Nobody could have ever known
The road that lay before you
The journey that would lead you home
How steep was the mountain
How long was the fight
In the face of something so wrong
Somebody had to make it right

The courage in your eyes
The wisdom in your smile
The strength within your heart
To walk the endless mile
The years have only shined upon your face
And showered you with dignity and grace
Like the way you live your life
And the light you've always shown
More than the world, more than the world
Has ever known

Through the night and the darkest hours
The promise and the faith you kept
Brought the fury and the danger
To your home where your children slept
You believed in a time for love
There'd never be a time for hate
What kind of woman keeps the dream alive
What kind of dream does a lifetime take

The courage in your eyes
The wisdom in your smile
The strength within your heart
To walk the endless mile
The years have only shined upon your face
Will shower you with dignity and grace
The way you've lived your life
And the light you've always shown
More than the world, more than this world
More than the world
Has ever known

*Katie* · 01-31-2006, 01:30 PM

What an amazing civil rights activist! We have lost a special lady.

*iris* · 01-31-2006, 03:57 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Raph's Girl

Raph's girl note: Dang...lost another one.

And just a couple months after Rosa Parks too!

Yeah, but we are still here. We can march on, in our own everyday ways.

The principles they stand for have changed the fundamental workings of American society. None of us are unaffected. That is quite a legacy.

I'd never heard of that Michael Bolton song. That's cool.

01-31-2006, 12:07 PM	#1
Raph's Girl Dierna Soul, Reporter Join Date: Mar 2005 Location: Jakku Posts: 10,831	Coretta Scott King has died! http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20060131/ts_nm/king_dc Coretta Scott King, who surged to the front of the fight for racial equality in America after her husband Martin Luther King Jr. was murdered in 1968, died at age 78, friends and family said on Tuesday. "Her daughter was with her at the time she passed, probably about 1 to 1:15 this morning," said Bishop Eddie Long of the New Birth Missionary Baptist Church in Lithonia, Georgia, the pastor of King's youngest child Bernice. Andrew Young, a former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations and a close friend of the King family, told reporters she died in California. King suffered a debilitating stroke and heart attack in August. She was last seen in public on January 14 at a dinner marking the Martin Luther King Jr., holiday, where she received a standing ovation from the 1,500 people in the crowd. Her steely determination, grace and class won her millions of admirers inside and outside the civil rights movement. Rep. John Lewis, a Democratic congressman from Georgia and civil rights leader, said her death was "a very sad hour." "Long before she met and married Dr. King, she was an activist for peace and civil rights and for civil liberties," he told CNN. At the White House, Dan Bartlett, counselor to the president, told Fox television: "President Bush and first lady Laura Bush were always heartened by their meetings with Mrs. King. ... President and Mrs. Bush are deeply saddened by today's news." Sen. Edward Kennedy, a Democrat from Massachusetts, called King "a driving force, not just for the civil rights movement, but for the great march toward progress." Coretta Scott King played a back-up role in the civil rights movement until her husband was assassinated on a Memphis motel balcony on April 4, 1968. Mrs. King, who was in Atlanta at the time, learned of the murder in a telephone call from the Rev. Jesse Jackson, a call she later wrote, "I seemed subconsciously to have been waiting for all of our lives." As she recalled in her autobiography "My Life With Martin Luther King Jr.," she felt she had to step fully into the civil rights movement. She created a memorial and a forum in the Martin Luther King Jr. Center for Nonviolent Social Change in Atlanta. The center has archives containing more than 2,000 King speeches and is built around the King crypt and its eternal flame. CHILDHOOD HOME TORCHED Coretta Scott was born April 27, 1927, near Marion, Alabama. Spending much of her early years on a farm, she saw little prejudice until she and her sister were sent into town to board with a family while attending Lincoln High School, a black school in the segregated South. "It was awful," she said of living in Marion. "Every Saturday we would hear about some black man getting beat up, and nothing was done about it." Her father had built up a small trucking business but his success began to irritate poor whites, she said, and, after considerable harassment someone burned down the Scott home on Thanksgiving night 1942. "I guess I was being prepared for my role when I was growing up, because when we were young children my father's life was in danger," Mrs. King once told Reuters. "We were afraid he was going to be killed. "A white man threatened him, and he never ran. He was fearless," she said. Church and music had always been a major part in young Coretta Scott's life, and after graduating in 1951 from majority white Antioch College in Yellow Springs, Ohio, she studied at the New England Conservatory of Music in Boston. King, who was studying for his doctorate in theology at Boston University, had told a mutual friend he was looking for a wife. The friend gave him Coretta Scott's phone number, but when he came calling she was not impressed. "I saw this green car coming up the street and this short man. He leaned over to open the door, and when I got in the car I saw this very young looking man. I thought, 'Oh my God, I expected to see a man but this is a boy."' When he began to speak, however, she changed her mind. She never had any doubt that King was going to battle the status quo. "Even at the time we were courting," she said, "Martin was deeply concerned -- and indignant -- with the plight of the Negro in the United States." They were married at her parents' home on June 18, 1953 and had four children: Yolanda Denise, born in 1955, Martin Luther, III, born in 1957, Dexter Scott, born in 1961, and Bernice Albertine, born in 1963. They moved in 1956 to Montgomery, Alabama, where the 26-year-old minister became active in civil rights, involving himself in the Montgomery bus boycott. Bishop Long said she "understood what she was getting into" when she married Martin Luther King. "She said a statement that burned in the heart of my wife and myself, she said when she married Martin, she did not marry a man, she married a vision," he said. Raph's girl note: Dang...lost another one. And just a couple months after Rosa Parks too! The following are the lyrics to the song "The Courage In Your Eyes" by Michael Bolton, which is about Coretta Scott King. Nobody ever warned you Nobody could have ever known The road that lay before you The journey that would lead you home How steep was the mountain How long was the fight In the face of something so wrong Somebody had to make it right The courage in your eyes The wisdom in your smile The strength within your heart To walk the endless mile The years have only shined upon your face And showered you with dignity and grace Like the way you live your life And the light you've always shown More than the world, more than the world Has ever known Through the night and the darkest hours The promise and the faith you kept Brought the fury and the danger To your home where your children slept You believed in a time for love There'd never be a time for hate What kind of woman keeps the dream alive What kind of dream does a lifetime take The courage in your eyes The wisdom in your smile The strength within your heart To walk the endless mile The years have only shined upon your face Will shower you with dignity and grace The way you've lived your life And the light you've always shown More than the world, more than this world More than the world Has ever known __________________

01-31-2006, 01:30 PM	#2
Katie Just...way too serious. Join Date: May 2005 Location: purgatory Posts: 3,519	What an amazing civil rights activist! We have lost a special lady. __________________ THE WORLD IS JUST AWESOME