In Memoriam: Coretta Scott King

February 2, 2006

Coretta Scott King, speaking at the 1978 National NOW Conference

We mourn the loss of social justice champion Coretta Scott King, widow of slain civil rights leader Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. A force in her own right in the civil rights movement, Scott King was also an advocate of women's rights and was a former member of the National Board of Directors of NOW. She campaigned for the Equal Rights Amendment, advocated for gay and lesbian rights, and led opposition to the death penalty and the war.

"I first saw Coretta Scott King in person at the 1978 National NOW Conference, where she transfixed the packed audience," said NOW President Kim Gandy. "Her presence filled the room, and we were mesmerized by her words—and by her exhortation that we never give up, no matter how long the fight." Scott King ended her speech with these words: "So let us continue to work together, because when we are together there is a kind of strength that we get from each other, and when we are right, as we are, then we certainly will win our cause… Therefore, my sisters, let us walk together, and don't get weary." As she left the stage, the auditorium swelled with a spontaneous chorus of We Shall Overcome.

Coretta Scott King, mother of four, was a partner with her husband in their civil rights work. As Dr. King came to national attention with the Montgomery bus boycott in 1955, Scott King organized and performed in "Freedom Concerts" to raise money for and awareness of the civil rights movement. After her husband's assassination, Scott King picked up where he left off, founding the Martin Luther King, Jr. Center for Non-Violent Social Change. She continued fighting both for the recognition her husband deserved and for the goals they both sought, leading and eventually winning the campaign to establish a national holiday honoring Dr. King.

Coretta Scott King, Maxine Waters (far right) and others at the National Women's Conference in 1977

In the years after her husband's death, Scott King was a defender of a broad array of human rights issues. In 1974 she formed the Full Employment Action Council, a coalition of organizations of which NOW was a part, dedicated to achieving full employment and equal economic opportunity. A strong advocate for women working together across lines of race and class, in a 1968 speech she called upon American women "to unite and form a solid bloc of woman power to fight the three great evils of racism, poverty, and war." She was equally committed to gay/lesbian rights, often likening homophobia to racism in her speeches, and worked tirelessly for AIDS/HIV prevention in her later years. She was also a vocal opponent of capital punishment and spoke out against the invasion of Iraq in 2003.

In 1969, she preached at St. Paul's Cathedral in London, speaking words that continue to inspire hope in us today: "Many despair at all the evil and unrest and disorder in the world today, but I see a new social order and I see the dawn of a new day."