Senate Resolution 362

by United States Senate

S. Res. 362

• Whereas Coretta Scott King was an inspirational figure and a woman of great strength, grace, and dignity who came to personify the ideals for which her husband fought;
• Whereas Coretta Scott was born and raised in rural Alabama, graduated as the valedictorian from Lincoln High School, and received a Bachelor of Arts degree from Antioch College in Yellow Springs, Ohio;
• Whereas Coretta Scott fought to be allowed to teach in the local public schools in Ohio but was denied because of her race;
• Whereas Coretta Scott studied music at the New England Conservatory of Music in Boston and, while attending school in the City, met a graduate student who was studying for his doctorate degree at Boston University;
• Whereas that graduate student, Martin Luther King, Jr., told her on their first date, "The four things that I look for in a wife are character, personality, intelligence, and beauty. And you have them all.";
• Whereas Coretta Scott and Martin Luther King, Jr. were married on June 18, 1953, and moved to Montgomery, Alabama;
• Whereas Mrs. King gave birth to her first child, Yolanda, 2 weeks before the start of the Montgomery bus boycott, and protected her when opponents of the boycott bombed the King household;
• Whereas Dr. and Mrs. King were to have 3 more children named Martin Luther, III, Dexter, and Bernice;
• Whereas during the lifetime of Dr. King, Mrs. King balanced the demands of raising their 4 children, serving as the wife of a pastor, and speaking before church, civic, college, fraternal, and peace groups;
• Whereas Mrs. King participated in more than 30 "Freedom Concerts", where she lectured, read poetry, and sang to raise awareness of and money for the civil rights movement;
• Whereas Mrs. King stood by the side of her husband during many civil rights marches and other notable occasions, including a 1957 trip to Ghana to mark the independence of that country, a 1959 trip to India to visit sites associated with Mahatma Gandhi, and a 1964 trip to Oslo, Norway, to accept a Nobel Peace Prize awarded to Dr. King;
• Whereas just 4 days after the assassination of her husband in 1968, Mrs. King led a march of 50,000 people through the streets of Memphis and, later that year, took his place in the Poor People's March to Washington;
• Whereas Mrs. King devoted her energy to carrying on the message of nonviolence and the work of her husband to create a United States in which all people have equal rights;
• Whereas Mrs. King dedicated herself to raising funds and developing programs for the Atlanta-based Martin Luther King, Jr. Center for Nonviolent Social Change, where she served as founding President, Chair, and Chief Executive Officer;
• Whereas Mrs. King was instrumental in seeing that the birthday of her husband was honored as a Federal holiday, an occasion first marked in 1986;
• Whereas Mrs. King received honorary doctorates from over 60 colleges and universities, and authored 3 books;
• Whereas Mrs. King received the congressional gold medal for her invaluable contributions to the United States as a leader of the civil rights movement;
• Whereas Mrs. King traveled to every corner of the United States and the globe to speak out on behalf of a number of important issues, including racial and economic justice, the rights of women and children, religious freedom, full employment, health care, and education; and
• Whereas Coretta Scott King was a civil rights icon and one of the most influential African Americans in history: Now, therefore, be it

Resolved, That the Senate-- (1) mourns the loss of Coretta Scott King; (2) admires her lifelong commitment to social justice and peace; (3) recognizes her role as a leading participant in the American Civil Rights Movement and her support to democracy movements world-wide; (4) expresses its sympathies to the family of Coretta Scott king and; (5) directs the Secretary of the Senate to transmit an enrolled copy of this resolution to the family of Coretta Scott King.