Mrs.King
I just thought, how appropriate that name is to describe such a remarkable woman. There are a few things I want to say and do, but I am going to split them up...
Today just a little history...April 27, 1927 - Jan. 30, 2006 Human Rights Advocate
"As a young child, King walked five miles each day to attend the one-room Crossroads School. When she was older, she studied at Lincoln High School in Marion, nine miles away. Since this was too far to walk, her mother hired a bus and drove all the black students in the area to and from school - a most unusual course of action for a black woman in the 1930s. The alternative would have been for the children to stay in Marion all week, returning home only at weekends, but Mrs. Scott did not want her children to be away from home so much.
King inherited a love of music from her mother, and at Lincoln High School she learned to play the trumpet and piano, and sang as a soloist at school recitals. An intelligent and hardworking student, she did well in her schoolwork too and was at the top of her class when she graduated in 1945. She then enrolled at Antioch College, Ohio, where her sister Edythe had been the first fulltime black student to live on campus.
At Antioch College, King majored in music and education. She also took part in the college's work-study program, acting as a camp counsellor, library assistant, and nursery school attendant. The fact that she was African American was not a barrier in any of these roles, but when she began to teach as part of her education course, she suddenly found her way blocked. Ordinarily, the education students did their practice teaching in the local public schools, but these schools had no black teachers and would not accept her. Her protests fell on deaf ears, even when she appealed to the college president, and in the end she had to do her teaching at the Antioch Demonstration School."
"During this time, King was also a music student, learning the violin as well as studying singing and piano. She sang in the choir at the Second Baptist Church in Springfield, Ohio, and gave her first solo concert there in 1948. By the time she graduated in 1951, she had decided to become a professional singer rather than a schoolteacher and had been accepted by the New England Conservatory of Music in Boston.
Although King had a scholarship to cover her tuition at the conservatory, it did not pay for anything else, and she barely scraped by during her first year in Boston. To pay for her bed and breakfast, she cleaned the stairwells of the house she lived in, and for supper she usually made do with peanut butter and crackers. The following year was easier, because she received state aid from Alabama, but she still had to watch every penny.
While studying at the conservatory she met Martin Luther King Jr., who was also a student in Boston at the time, and they were married in 1953. The following year, after Coretta Scott King had graduated from the conservatory, they moved to Montgomery, Alabama, where Martin Luther King, Jr. began his work as a minister.
In marrying a man committed to civil rights, King knew that she would not live the life of a quiet minister's wife. Their first child, Yolanda (Yoki), was born in 1955, just two weeks before the beginning of the Montgomery bus boycott. With the boycott came danger - the King house was bombed in 1956 -and from then on King had to be constantly alert on behalf of her children as well as her husband. The Kings were to have three more children: Martin Luther III, Dexter, and Bernice.
The next few years saw Coretta King sharing as full partner in her husband's work, walking beside him in marches, travelling abroad with him, and giving speeches when he was unable to do so. She also made her own personal contribution. On behalf of the Women's Strike for Peace, she was a delegate at the Disarmament Conference in Geneva in 1962, and she often gave concerts on behalf of the civil rights movement, for she was still keeping up with her music.
When her husband was assassinated in Memphis, Tennessee, in 1968, Coretta King took it for granted that she would continue his work. Just four days after his death she led a march of fifty thousand people through the streets of Memphis, and later that year she took his place in the Poor People's March to Washington."
Today just a little history...April 27, 1927 - Jan. 30, 2006 Human Rights Advocate
"As a young child, King walked five miles each day to attend the one-room Crossroads School. When she was older, she studied at Lincoln High School in Marion, nine miles away. Since this was too far to walk, her mother hired a bus and drove all the black students in the area to and from school - a most unusual course of action for a black woman in the 1930s. The alternative would have been for the children to stay in Marion all week, returning home only at weekends, but Mrs. Scott did not want her children to be away from home so much.
King inherited a love of music from her mother, and at Lincoln High School she learned to play the trumpet and piano, and sang as a soloist at school recitals. An intelligent and hardworking student, she did well in her schoolwork too and was at the top of her class when she graduated in 1945. She then enrolled at Antioch College, Ohio, where her sister Edythe had been the first fulltime black student to live on campus.
At Antioch College, King majored in music and education. She also took part in the college's work-study program, acting as a camp counsellor, library assistant, and nursery school attendant. The fact that she was African American was not a barrier in any of these roles, but when she began to teach as part of her education course, she suddenly found her way blocked. Ordinarily, the education students did their practice teaching in the local public schools, but these schools had no black teachers and would not accept her. Her protests fell on deaf ears, even when she appealed to the college president, and in the end she had to do her teaching at the Antioch Demonstration School."
"During this time, King was also a music student, learning the violin as well as studying singing and piano. She sang in the choir at the Second Baptist Church in Springfield, Ohio, and gave her first solo concert there in 1948. By the time she graduated in 1951, she had decided to become a professional singer rather than a schoolteacher and had been accepted by the New England Conservatory of Music in Boston.
Although King had a scholarship to cover her tuition at the conservatory, it did not pay for anything else, and she barely scraped by during her first year in Boston. To pay for her bed and breakfast, she cleaned the stairwells of the house she lived in, and for supper she usually made do with peanut butter and crackers. The following year was easier, because she received state aid from Alabama, but she still had to watch every penny.
While studying at the conservatory she met Martin Luther King Jr., who was also a student in Boston at the time, and they were married in 1953. The following year, after Coretta Scott King had graduated from the conservatory, they moved to Montgomery, Alabama, where Martin Luther King, Jr. began his work as a minister.
In marrying a man committed to civil rights, King knew that she would not live the life of a quiet minister's wife. Their first child, Yolanda (Yoki), was born in 1955, just two weeks before the beginning of the Montgomery bus boycott. With the boycott came danger - the King house was bombed in 1956 -and from then on King had to be constantly alert on behalf of her children as well as her husband. The Kings were to have three more children: Martin Luther III, Dexter, and Bernice.
The next few years saw Coretta King sharing as full partner in her husband's work, walking beside him in marches, travelling abroad with him, and giving speeches when he was unable to do so. She also made her own personal contribution. On behalf of the Women's Strike for Peace, she was a delegate at the Disarmament Conference in Geneva in 1962, and she often gave concerts on behalf of the civil rights movement, for she was still keeping up with her music.
When her husband was assassinated in Memphis, Tennessee, in 1968, Coretta King took it for granted that she would continue his work. Just four days after his death she led a march of fifty thousand people through the streets of Memphis, and later that year she took his place in the Poor People's March to Washington."
posted by Syren
at 6:21 PM
