Learning About Martin and Coretta
 |
| Martin Jr. and Coretta on their wedding day, June 8, 1953. |
All of this got me thinking: What all do I really know about Dr. King? Aside from him being one of the faces of the civil rights movement and that he was assassinated, my knowledge on him wasn't much. What I knew about his wife, Coretta, was even less, despite her being just as involved in the movement while he was alive, and continuing his dream after his death. And I wanted to remedy this.
Michael King Jr was born on January 15, 1929 in Atlanta, Georgia to Michael and Alberta King, and was the second of three children. You might be wondering if I had a typo, or some sort of lapse in memory. Well, no. King Sr, or Daddy King as he was most commonly known among friends and family, travel to Germany with the Baptist World Alliance, where they visited sites associated with the Reformation leader, Martin Luther. Upon his return, King Sr changed his name to Martin Luther King, and his sons name to Martin Luther King Jr.
MLK was an extremely smart child, skipping two grades while in primary school, and then attending Morehouse College at the age of 15 and graduating with his Bachelor of Arts in Sociology when he was just 19. He would go onto get his PhD in systematic theology from Boston University in 1955. The last year of his doctoral degree, he also served as a pastor at Dexter Avenue Baptist Church in Montgomery, Alabama, going back and forth between Boston and Montgomery.
It was during his time at BU that he met Coretta Scott through a friend. In their first phone conversation (which was their first conversation), MLK to Coretta that he felt like Napoleon on his Waterloo. After their first date, he told her that there were only four qualities he needed in a wife, and she had all four. While Martin had fallen in love at first sight, Coretta took a little longer to warm up to him. Originally thinking that Martin was a boy when she needed a man, as they talked, she heard the passion he had for his faith and for black rights, and before her eyes, he transformed into a man. They married on June 18, 1953 and had four children together: Yolanda, Martin, Dexter, and Bernice.
 |
| Martin Jr. and Coretta King with three of their four children in their Atlanta home in 1963. |
So who was Coretta?
Coretta Scott was born on April 27, 1927 to Obadiah and Bernice Scott in Heiberger, Alabama, the third of four children. Her father was the first black person in their town to own his own vehicle, and he had his own company as well. At first, he owned a logging company, but that was destroyed by local whites after he refused to sell it to them. A little while later, he opened a grocery store that was very successful. Coretta started working at the age of 10, and was constantly described as hard working. Coretta graduated valedictorian from Lincoln Normal School in 1945 and when on to study at Antioch College and the New England Conservatory of Music. Coretta has always been an extremely talented singer and she would go on to preform Freedom Concerts to raise funds for the civil rights movement.
When I was reading The Autobiography of Martin Luther King Jr. I was amazed at how MLK became one of the primary faces of the civil rights moving. Before taking the pastor position at Dexter Avenue, he had been offered another position in a church in the north. Martin and Coretta debating the pros and cons of raising a family in the south which was still segregated at the time. Ultimately, the decided their calling was to take them back to the south. Within months of moving to Montgomery, Rosa Parks took her infamous stand of refusing to give her seat to a white man. Martin, along with other leaders of churches knew they needed to do something. Rosa was not the first black person arrested for this, and she wouldn't be the last, but the cup finally ran over, and the plans for the Montgomery Bus Boycott were put in place. Martin stated that he thought he had been picked as the leader because he was so new to the city and didn't have any obvious ties to other people and organizations. After reading this, I was left wondering what would have happened had he not taken the position at Dexter Avenue.
In My Life My Love My Legacy by Coretta Scott King, two things really stood out. The first was the Coretta and Martin knew in their souls that their marriage would not be long. They were very much aware that something would happen to one or both of them in their fight for rights. I do not believe in soulmates, but the bond Martin and Coretta shared was obvious in their words and you can feel it radiating from pictures of the couple. I cannot imagine knowing my time with my loved one will not be long. But they made every moment worth it.
 |
| The last official portrait of the King family in 1966. From left to right: Dexter, Yolanda, Martin Jr., Bernice, Coretta, and Martin III. |
The second was that Coretta and many others do not believe that James Earl Ray was the person who assassinated MLK. I don't feel like I know enough to go into great detail about this theory, but this is what I do know. In 1999, Coretta and the King children won a wrongful death claim against Loyd Jowers and other unknown co-conspirators. Jowers owned a restaurant near the Loarraine Motel where King was assassinated, and he claimed to have received $100,000 to arrange the assassination from government agencies. In 2000, the US Department of Justice completed an investigation into the claim, but didn't find any evidence to support it. Ray died in prison in 1998 maintaining his pleas of innocence. While I haven't started listening to it yet, Tenderfoot TV and iHeartPodcasts have released a series called The MLK Tapes which says "to reveal the true story of the plot to kill Dr. King." I wanted to finish reading the books I had selected for this post before diving into that, but do plan to listen soon.
To say that Martin and Coretta had an impact on the civil rights movement does not do justice to their efforts. They not only wanted a better world for themselves and their children, but all African Americans, and people across the world. Dr. King was very much against the Vietnam War, and Coretta was involved in women's rights and LBGT rights. They followed the non-violent teachings of Gandhi, and at The King Center, Coretta implemented programs on teaching non-violent strategies to police departments, federal departments, and gangs. It was impossible to read their words and not want to fight (non-violently of course) for the dream that Martin Luther King Jr preached about in August 1963.
Sources
Books
The Autobiography of Martin Luther King, Jr. Edited by Clayborne Carson - My Life, My Love, My Legacy by Coretta Scott King - Who Was Martin Luther King, Jr.? by Bonnie Bader - Who Was Coretta Scott King? by Gail Herman
Websites
Southern Christian Leadership Conference - Wikipedia: Martin Luther King, Jr., Coretta Scott King, Montgomery Bus Boycott, James Earl Ray - Britannica
Videos
YouTube: FolkBuzz "I have a Dream" Martin Luther King Jr. Full Speech with Subtitle - visinaryproject: Coretta Scott King: My Singing Career
Articles / Pictures
'I am not a symbol, I am an activist': the untold story of Coretta Scott King by Jeanne Theoharis The Guardian - Atlanta through the eyes of Martin Luther King's personal driver The Doc Project hosted by Casey Mejica CBC - Black Then Happy Anniversary Mr. & Mrs. Martin Luther King Jr. - Married Today in 1953
Please follow me on Instagram 📸 and Twitter 🐦
Comments
Post a Comment