Coretta Scott King Timeline 1927-2006

Coretta Scott King was born to Obadiah Scott and Bernice McMurry Scott in Heiberger, Alabama. She was the couple’s third child, her two elder sisters Edythe and Eunice had been born earlier. Eunice died at a young age.

As money was short during the Great Depression Coretta helped pick cotton on the family’s farm.

Coretta’s brother Obadiah Leonard was born.

Coretta began her education at a very small local elementary school.

Due to the policy of racial segregation, Coretta attended the Lincoln Normal School, a black only high school. The school was 14km (9 mile) away and meant a lengthy bus journey each day.

Coretta excelled at music – she played piano and trumpet and sang soprano in the school choir.

Coretta’s sister, Edythe, became the first black student to attend the interracial Antioch College, Yellow Springs, Ohio.

Coretta Scott graduated with the highest grades for her year (valedictorian).

Coretta followed her sister and attended Antioch College where she gained a BA in music and education.

Coretta Scott believed in the activities of the Civil Rights Movement and joined the local branch of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP). She was also a member of Antioch College’s Race Relations and Civil Liberties Committees.

Scott won a scholarship to study at the New England Conservatory of Music in Boston.

Martin Luther King began studying Theology at graduate level at Boston University. He hoped to find a suitable girl to marry.

Coretta agreed to meet Martin Luther King after a mutual friend thought they would be a good match. Afterwards the two met regularly.

King took Coretta to meet his parents.

The engagement of Martin Luther King and Coretta Scott was officially announced.

Martin Luther King Jr married Coretta Scott. Martin Luther King Sr officiated at the ceremony.

Chief Justice, Earl Warren, speaking on the case of Brown v Board of Education, stated that segregated schools were unequal and against the 14th Amendment.

Coretta Scott King gained her degree in voice and piano from the New England Conservatory. However, she decided not to pursue a music career but rather to devote herself to being a good wife and mother and playing a part in the civil rights movement.

Martin Luther King was made pastor of the Dexter Avenue Baptist Church in Montgomery, Alabama.

Coretta first sang at King’s Baptist Church where she became a member of the choir and also taught in the Sunday school. In addition she was part of the Baptist Training Union and the Missionary Society.

King gained his Ph.D in theology from Boston University.

King became a member of the executive committee of the Montgomery National Association for the Advancement of Coloured People (NAACP).

A daughter, Yolanda Denise, was born to Martin Luther and Coretta Scott King.

Rosa Parks, secretary for the Montgomery chapter of the NAACP refused to give up her seat on the bus to a white man. She was arrested.

E D Nixon, president of the Montgomery NAACP decided to use Parks’ arrest as a test case to challenge segregation on the buses. Martin Luther King was chosen to lead the boycott. Despite his reluctance to take up the challenge, King was persuaded to lead the Montgomery Bus Boycott. It was agreed that all blacks would boycott the buses from Monday 5th December.

After a mass meeting at Martin Luther King’s church it was decided that the boycott would go ahead. Black taxi drivers carried black passengers for the price of a bus ticket while others shared cars.

Rosa Parks was found guilty of failing to obey the bus driver’s request and fined $14.

J Edgar Hoover, head of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) began trying to find ‘derogatory information’ to use to discredit King.

Montgomery officials issued an order that any taxi drivers charging less than 45 cents would be fined.

There were numerous threats made against Martin Luther King.

King was arrested and put in jail for leading the continuing boycott of the city buses.

Coretta and her daughter Yolanda were at home when their house was firebombed in retaliation for King’s part in the Montgomery Bus Boycott. Although the front of the house was damaged they were unhurt.

The case of Browder v Gayle, which challenged the bus segregation laws, decided that bus segregation was unconstitutional under the 14th Amendment. The Montgomery city council immediately appealed the decision.

The appeal against the decision in Browder v Gayle was held. The city lost and the original decision was upheld.

Because of his role in the Montgomery Bus Boycott, Martin Luther King was a well known figure and thought of as a leader of the Civil Rights Movement.

Martin Luther King, Ralph Abernathy, Joseph Lowery and Fred Shuttlesworth founded the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC). The aim of the group was to organise peaceful protest against segregation and in favour of civil rights reform.

King was made President of the SCLC.

President Dwight Eisenhower signed the Civil Rights Act 1957 into law. The Act made it illegal for anyone to be prevented from voting. It was intended to outlaw the Jim Crow Laws that allowed state and local laws to impose discriminatory sanctions on black Americans but in practice it had little effect.

A son, Martin Luther III, was born to Martin Luther King and Coretta Scott King.

Scott King was one of the founders of The committee for a Sane Nuclear Policy (Peace Action).

Coretta took part in a concert held at Peter High School in Birmingham, Alabama. She told the story of the Bus Boycott through her music hoping to further the cause of Civil Rights in America.

Prominent civil rights leaders, including Martin Luther King, met with President Dwight Eisenhower to discuss the problems facing black Americans.

King’s book ‘Stride Toward Freedom’ which tells the story of the Montgomery Bus Boycott, was published.

While signing copies of his book ‘Stride Toward Freedom’ in Blumstein’s store, Harlem, Martin Luther King was stabbed in the chest by a woman brandishing a letter opener. King was hospitalised and received surgery.

King and his wife made a month long trip to India. During the visit he met the family of Gandhi.

King announced that he was resigning as pastor of Dexter Avenue Baptist Church in order to work full time in the SCLC.

The family moved to Atlanta, Georgia where Martin Luther King became co-Pastor of Ebenezer Baptist Church with his father.

King was arrested during a restaurant sit-in and sentenced to four months in jail. He was released three days later after intervention by John Kennedy.

King was arrested again for driving with an incorrect license. He was sentenced to four months hard labour. His release was later secured by Attorney General Robert Kennedy.

A son, Dexter Scott, was born to Martin Luther and Coretta Scott King.

King was arrested while protesting peacefully in Albany, Georgia. He was released on bail and left the town.

Robert Kennedy contacted Martin Luther King to warn him that his associates, Jack O’Dell and Stanley Levison were under suspicion of being connected to Communism and that he should remove himself from them. However, King maintained his close relationship with Levison.

Coretta went to Geneva, Switzerland where she attended the Women Strike for Peace Conference.

King returned to Albany. He was picked up by police and sentenced to 45 days in jail or a fine of $178 for his offence in December 1961. King chose jail. He was released after 3 days when his fine was paid for him.

Having achieved very little, King decided to withdraw from the Albany Movement.

Martin Luther King met President John Kennedy at the White House.

A daughter, Bernice Albertine, was born to Martin Luther and Coretta Scott King.

The Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) began a campaign against segregation in Birmingham, Alabama. King’s idea was to stage mass demonstrations which would lead to multiple arrests and fill the city jail. This in turn would force city leaders to negotiate with the SCLC. However, as well as making mass arrests, police used water cannon and dogs against protesters. This was televised and viewers were shocked that the police used force against all demonstrators including children. King was criticised for putting children in danger.

Martin Luther King was arrested and jailed for his part in the Birmingham protests. While in prison he wrote his ‘Letter from Birmingham City Jail’ which defended the rights of people to protest against injustices even if it meant breaking the law.

King was released from jail on bond.

President Kennedy announced that segregation was legally and morally wrong and that he would be introducing new civil rights legislation.

King and other Civil Rights group leaders met with President John Kennedy to discuss plans for a rally to be known as the March on Washington. The leaders wanted Civil Rights legislation to ensure equality and a minimum wage for all workers.

Around 250,000 people converged on the Lincoln Memorial in Washington DC at the end of the March on Washington. Martin Luther King delivered his famous ‘I Have a Dream’ speech during the rally.

Coretta attended the Women Strike for Peace rally in New York.

President John Kennedy was assassinated by Lee Harvey Oswald in Dallas, Texas. Martin and Coretta King were deeply saddened by the event.

Having failed to find damaging evidence against King, Hoover now added him to their Counter Intelligence Program (Cointelpro). Cointelpro used resources and covert operations to discredit or bring down individuals deemed a danger to the United States.

Martin Luther King was named Time Magazine’s Man of the Year for 1963.

Martin Luther King was arrested for protesting in St Augustine, Florida.

President Lyndon Baines Johnson signed the Civil Rights Act into law. The law stated that discrimination by race, colour, nationality, religion or sex was illegal. Martin was present at the White House for the signing of the Act.

Martin Luther King was awarded the Nobel Prize for Peace.

The Voting Rights Act made racial discrimination in voting illegal.

Coretta made a speech criticising the lack of publicity for women involved in the struggle for Civil Rights.

Coretta Scott King took part in a Women Strike for Peace protest in Washington DC.

Martin Luther King led a march in Memphis Tennessee in support of black sanitation workers. The level of violence against the marchers shocked King.

Martin Luther King delivered his ‘I’ve Been to the Mountaintop’ speech at Mason Temple in Memphis.

At 6.01 pm Martin Luther King stood on the balcony outside room 306 of the Lorraine Motel. He was shot by James Earl Ray and fell to the ground. Despite emergency surgery he was pronounced dead at 7.05 pm.

Coretta learned of her husband’s assassination that evening.

Coretta received hundreds of calls and visits from people expressing their condolences including Jackie Kennedy, Robert and Ethel Kennedy and Richard Nixon.

Coretta Scott King spoke at Ebenezer Baptist Church. Of her husband she said ‘his spirit will never die.’

Coretta and her children walked at the head of a protest march by sanitation workers in place of Martin Luther King.

King’s funeral was attended by more than 50,000 people.

As it became clear that Coretta was going to continue the struggle for equality, the FBI placed her under surveillance as they had her husband.

At just after midnight, Robert Kennedy left the ballroom of the Ambassador Hotel for the press room. He was taken through the hotel kitchen as it was a short cut. He was shot three times by Sirhan Bishara Sirhan, a Palestinian national, and fell to the floor. Five other people were wounded.

Robert Kennedy died from the injuries sustained in the shooting.

Coretta took the place of her husband and spoke at an anti-war demonstration in Central Park.’

James Earl Ray was arrested and charged with the assassination of Martin Luther King.

Coretta Scott King founded the Martin Luther King Jr Memorial Center in Atlanta. She took an active role in the movement serving as President and CEO of the organisation.

Coretta called for women to ‘unite and form a solid block of women power to fight … racism, poverty and war.’

Coretta and her daughter Bernita travelled to Verona, Italy and then to India.

Coretta Scott King published ‘My Life with Martin Luther King, Jr’.

A commemorative service to mark the birthday of Martin Luther King was held at Ebenezer Baptist Church. Coretta began campaigning to make January 15th a national holiday in America.

Scott King was the lead speaker at the Moratorium to End the War in Vietnam demonstration in Washington DC.

Coretta Scott King attended the state funeral of former president, Lyndon B Johnson.

The name of the King Memorial Center was changed to the Martin Luther King Jr Center for Non-violent Social Change.

Working with Dr Noel Erskine, Coretta taught a class ‘The Theology of Martin Luther King Jr’ at Candler School of Theology.

Scott King began working as a commentator for Cable News Network.

Coretta Scott King called for the Civil Rights Act to be amended to include gays and lesbians.

Coretta had organised hundreds of human rights organisations into the Coalition of Conscience which sponsored the 20th Anniversary of the March on Washington.

Coretta and her children – Bernice and Martin, were arrested for taking part in an anti-apartheid protest at the South African Embassy in Washington DC.

Coretta finally succeeded in making January 15th a public holiday in America. It is known as Martin Luther King Jr Day, and his achievements are recognised annually.

Scott King made a 10-day trip to South Africa. She cancelled meeting President P.W. Botha and met Allan Boesak and Winnie Mandela instead.

Coretta lobbied President Reagan to impose economic sanctions against South Africa for its continued policy of apartheid.

Scott King gave a lecture about the Civil Rights Movement to hundreds of students at the University of San Diego.

Coretta spoke in the defence of Qubilah Shabazz, daughter of Malcolm X, who was accused of plotting to kill black supremacist, Louis Farrakhan.

Scott King began a campaign to register at least one million African American female voters for the 1996 presidential election. She was supported by Betty Shabazz, widow of Malcolm X and Myrlie Evers, widow of Medgar Evers.

Coretta spoke at the Palmer House Hilton, Chicago where she called on civil rights supporters to support the movement against homophobia.

The National Gay and Lesbian Task Force were invited to take part in an observance ceremony of the 40th anniversary of the March on Washington.

Coretta’s health began to fail.

Scott King spoke at the 40th anniversary of the Selma voting Rights Movement.

Coretta was taken ill and diagnosed with a heart condition.

Coretta suffered a stroke and heart attack which left her paralysed on the right side and unable to speak.

Scott King was released from hospital having regained some speech.

Coretta attended a dinner in Atlanta honouring the memory of Martin Luther King.

Coretta entered a rehabilitation centre in Rosarito Beach, Mexico. She received holistic therapy for her stroke and advanced-stage ovarian cancer.

Coretta Scott King died at the Rosarito Beach rehabilitaion centre in Mexico.

A funeral service was held at the New Birth Missionary Baptist church in Lithonia Georgia. The service was attended by many former Presidents including Jimmy Carter, George H W Bush, Bill Clinton and George W Bush. Coretta Scott King was laid to rest in a sarcophagus next to her husband.