H. Res. 655

In the House of Representatives, U.S., 

February 1, 2006.

Whereas Coretta Scott King was an inspirational figure and 

a woman of great strength, grace, and dignity who came 

to personify the ideals of the Civil Rights Movement, for 

which she and her husband fought; 

Whereas Coretta Scott was born on April 27, 1927, to parents Obadiah and Bernice Scott, was raised in rural Alabama, graduated valedictorian from Lincoln High School, 

and received a B.A. from Antioch College in Yellow 

Springs, Ohio; 

Whereas Coretta Scott came of age in the segregated South, 

took an active interest in the emerging Civil Rights 

Movement as an undergraduate, and jointed the Antioch 

chapter of the NAACP, and the Race Relations and Civil 

Liberties Committees of Antioch College; 

Whereas Coretta Scott won a scholarship to study concert 

singing at Boston’s New England Conservatory of Music; 

Whereas while in Boston, Coretta Scott met Martin Luther 

King, Jr., who was a graduate student studying for his 

doctorate at Boston University; 

Whereas after Coretta Scott and Martin Luther King, Jr. 

were married on June 18, 1953, Mrs. Coretta Scott King 

completed her degree in voice and violin at the New Eng-
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land Conservatory of Music, and the young couple moved 

in September 1954 to Montgomery, Alabama, where Martin Luther King, Jr. had accepted an appointment as 

Pastor of the Dexter Avenue Baptist Church; 

Whereas their first child, Yolanda, was born in 1955, just 

two weeks before the beginning of the Montgomery bus 

boycott, during which the King house was bombed; 

Whereas the Kings had four children: Yolanda Denise, Martin Luther, III, Dexter Scott, and Bernice Albertine; 

Whereas during Dr. King’s lifetime, Mrs. King served as an 

equal partner in the Civil Rights Movement, balancing 

the demands of raising their four children, serving as a 

pastor’s wife, and speaking before church, civic, college, 

fraternal, and peace groups; 

Whereas Mrs. King established and performed in more than 

30 successful ‘‘Freedom Concerts’’ that combined prose 

and poetry narration with musical selections to increase 

awareness and understanding of the Movement and the 

Southern Christian Leadership Conference, of which Dr. 

King served as the first president; 

Whereas Mrs. King stood side-by-side with her husband during many civil rights marches and on other notable occasions, including a 1957 trip to Ghana to mark that country’s independence, a 1959 trip to India to visit sites associated with Mahatma Gandhi, and a 1964 trip to Oslo, 

Norway, to accept Dr. King’s Nobel Peace Prize; 

Whereas just four days after her husband’s assassination on 

April 4, 1968, Mrs. King led a march of 50,000 people 

through the streets of Memphis, Tennessee, and later 

that year took his place in the Poor People’s March to 

Washington, D.C.; 
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Whereas Mrs. King devoted her energy to carrying on her 

husband’s legacy of nonviolence and his work to create an 

America in which all people have equal rights; 

Whereas Mrs. King dedicated herself to developing and building the Atlanta-based Martin Luther King, Jr. Center for 

Nonviolent Social Change as an enduring memorial to 

her husband’s life and their dream of nonviolent social 

change and full civil rights for all Americans and, as its 

founding President, Chair, and Chief Executive Officer, 

she guided the creation and housing of the largest archive of documents from the Civil Rights Movement; 

Whereas Mrs. King was instrumental in seeing her husband’s 

birthday honored as a Federal holiday, an occasion first 

marked in 1986; 

Whereas Mrs. King received honorary doctorates from over 

60 colleges and universities and authored three books; 

Whereas Mrs. King worked to advance the cause of justice 

and human rights around the world and spoke out on behalf of a number of important issues, including racial and 

economic justice, women’s and children’s rights, religious 

freedom, full employment, health care, and education; 

and 

Whereas Mrs. Coretta Scott King was a civil rights icon and 

one of the most influential African Americans in history, 

and her work brought us closer to achieving the ‘‘Beloved 

Community’’: Now, therefore, be it 

Resolved, That the House of Representatives honors the 

life and accomplishments of Mrs. Coretta Scott King and her 
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contributions as a leader in the struggle for civil rights, and 

expresses condolences to the King family on her passing. 

Attest:

Clerk.