January 31, 2006 A Legacy of Her Own: Honoring Coretta Scott King Coretta Scott King, who died last night at the age of 78, is best known as the driving force behind the memorialization of her late husband, slain civil rights leader Martin Luther King, Jr. She was the chief architect of the King Center for Nonviolent Social Change in Atlanta, and was instrumental in getting a federal holiday to honor him. But Mrs. King was not just the guardian of her husband’s legacy. She was a committed activist in her own right, a forceful, courageous, and visionary woman who was determined not just that her husband’s achievements be remembered, but that his philosophy of nonviolence continue to be taught. The Fellowship of Reconciliation, of which Mrs. King was a member, honors the woman who always maintained, despite efforts to tone down the radical implications of Dr. King's message, that the root cause of misery in the world was the “triple evil” of racism, poverty, and violence. She once said of the Fellowship that its “courageous dedication to the liberation of humanity” from these three evils was what put FOR “in the forefront of the nonviolent struggle for peace with justice.” Mrs. King’s strength and resolve was apparent early in her life. She was only the second black person in history to attend Antioch College in Ohio – the first being her sister. “That took courage and character,” said Lili Baxter, who worked at the King Center and is a past chair of FOR’s National Council. “But it also took a vision that people of different races could live and work together.” Her deep and steadfast commitment to nonviolence, in the face of some efforts to downplay its importance, led her to resist the original name proposed for the 1968 center established in honor of Mrs. King’s husband: The King Center for Social Change. She insisted on the insertion of the word “nonviolent” in the official title. She spearheaded a national petition campaign for a federal holiday to honor her late husband – achieved in 1983. Richard Deats, former editor of Fellowship magazine and Martin Luther King biographer, served with her on the commission that brought this about. “The hallmarks of her leadership were unfailing grace, good humor, and a firm resolve,” he said. “She never wavered in her nonviolent vision.” Indeed, who will ever forget Mrs. King’s consummate dignity and graciousness, even in the midst of conflict or controversy? “She was a composed, accomplished, and deliberative person,” said Lili Baxter. “But in private, she could also be funny, irreverent, and a shrewd mimic.” Like her husband, Coretta Scott King was a visionary. The most fitting tribute we can make to her is to lift up that prophetic vision of the Beloved Community – a vision for which her husband died, and which she ensured would not be lost. Contact: Jennifer Hyman, Communications Coordinator ©2006 Fellowship of Reconciliation |
