Writer and civil rights activist Coretta Scott King was born in Heiberger, Alabama, on April 27, 1927. She studied music at Antioch College and the New England Conservatory of Music. She married Martin Luther King, Jr. on June 18, 1953. Coretta Scott King taught and did fundraising for the civil rights movement. When her husband was killed in April, 1968, she took a more active role as a civil rights leader, beginning with her speech on Solidarity Day, June 19, 1968.
King has devoted time to the Martin Luther King, Jr. Center for Nonviolent Social Change, where she has served as president and chief executive officer. She also established the Coretta Scott King Award in conjunction with the American Library Association to honor outstanding and inspirational contributions by an African American author and an African American illustrator. She published her memoir, My Life with Martin Luther King, Jr. in 1969. She died on January 31, 2006 at the age of 78.
030