Welcome to DU!
The truly grassroots left-of-center political community where regular people, not algorithms, drive the discussions and set the standards.
Join the community:
Create a free account
Support DU (and get rid of ads!):
Become a Star Member
Latest Breaking News
General Discussion
The DU Lounge
All Forums
Issue Forums
Culture Forums
Alliance Forums
Region Forums
Support Forums
Help & Search
Idol Worship: Coretta Scott King
Welcome to Idol Worship, a biweekly devotional to whoever the fuck I'm into. This is a no-holds-barred lovefest for my favorite celebrities, rebels and biker chicks; women qualify for this column simply by changing my life and/or moving me deeply. This week, I'm honoring the memory of one of the founders of the Civil Rights Movement - one who rarely gets the recognition she deserves.
As we know, Martin Luther King, Jr.'s life was tragically cut short — and with his passing came wider recognition and respect of Coretta's presence in the Civil Rights movement. On the topic of his death, she said, "I think you rise to the occasion in a crisis. I think the Lord gives you strength when you need it. God was using us - and now he's using me, too."
Four days after her husband's assassination, Coretta led 50,000 marchers silently through Memphis in mourning; her speech at his funeral was televised to over 120 million people. Two months after that she led the Poor People's March to Washington. She went on the be the first woman to preach at Great Britain's St. Paul's Cathedral and the first woman to deliver the class day address at Harvard University. She created the Full Employment Action Council, which brought over 100 religious, business, labor, civil, and women's rights organizations together to push for national policies on employment access and opportunity; she also created the Coalition of Conscience, a coalition of more than 800 human rights organizations.
Coretta's work, however, was mostly invested in the founding and expansion of the Martin Luther King, Jr. Center for Nonviolent Social Change. The center "has been a global destination, resource center and community institution for over a quarter century," and Coretta led it until her retirement in the mid-1990s. Around one million people visit the center in Atlanta each year, and under her leadership it grew into an $8.4 million organization covering 23 acres — including the location of her husband's grave. "When I say I was married to the cause," Coretta is quoted as saying, "I was married to my husband whom I loved... It was my cause, and that's the way I felt about it." (Civil Rights, however, wasn't Coretta's only movement: she was active in feminist politics and the campaign to pass the Equal Rights Amendment, as well as being a public ally to LGBT folks.)
http://www.autostraddle.com/idol-worship-coretta-scott-king-194464/
Four days after her husband's assassination, Coretta led 50,000 marchers silently through Memphis in mourning; her speech at his funeral was televised to over 120 million people. Two months after that she led the Poor People's March to Washington. She went on the be the first woman to preach at Great Britain's St. Paul's Cathedral and the first woman to deliver the class day address at Harvard University. She created the Full Employment Action Council, which brought over 100 religious, business, labor, civil, and women's rights organizations together to push for national policies on employment access and opportunity; she also created the Coalition of Conscience, a coalition of more than 800 human rights organizations.
Coretta's work, however, was mostly invested in the founding and expansion of the Martin Luther King, Jr. Center for Nonviolent Social Change. The center "has been a global destination, resource center and community institution for over a quarter century," and Coretta led it until her retirement in the mid-1990s. Around one million people visit the center in Atlanta each year, and under her leadership it grew into an $8.4 million organization covering 23 acres — including the location of her husband's grave. "When I say I was married to the cause," Coretta is quoted as saying, "I was married to my husband whom I loved... It was my cause, and that's the way I felt about it." (Civil Rights, however, wasn't Coretta's only movement: she was active in feminist politics and the campaign to pass the Equal Rights Amendment, as well as being a public ally to LGBT folks.)
http://www.autostraddle.com/idol-worship-coretta-scott-king-194464/
