III 

109TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION S. RES. 362 

Honoring the life of Coretta Scott King and expressing the condolences 

of the Senate on her passing. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

JANUARY 31, 2006 

Mr. FRIST (for himself, Mr. REID, Mr. OBAMA, Mr. ISAKSON, Mr. 

CHAMBLISS, Mr. SANTORUM, Mr. AKAKA, Mr. ALEXANDER, Mr. ALLARD, 

Mr. ALLEN, Mr. BAUCUS, Mr. BAYH, Mr. BENNETT, Mr. BIDEN, Mr. 

BINGAMAN, Mr. BOND, Mrs. BOXER, Mr. BROWNBACK, Mr. BUNNING, 

Mr. BURNS, Mr. BURR, Mr. BYRD, Ms. CANTWELL, Mr. CARPER, Mr. 

CHAFEE, Mrs. CLINTON, Mr. COBURN, Mr. COCHRAN, Mr. COLEMAN, 

Ms. COLLINS, Mr. CONRAD, Mr. CORNYN, Mr. CRAIG, Mr. CRAPO, Mr. 

DAYTON, Mr. DEMINT, Mr. DEWINE, Mr. DODD, Mrs. DOLE, Mr. 

DOMENICI, Mr. DORGAN, Mr. DURBIN, Mr. ENSIGN, Mr. ENZI, Mr. 

FEINGOLD, Mrs. FEINSTEIN, Mr. GRAHAM, Mr. GRASSLEY, Mr. GREGG, 

Mr. HAGEL, Mr. HARKIN, Mr. HATCH, Mrs. HUTCHISON, Mr. INHOFE, 

Mr. INOUYE, Mr. JEFFORDS, Mr. JOHNSON, Mr. KENNEDY, Mr. KERRY, 

Mr. KOHL, Mr. KYL, Ms. LANDRIEU, Mr. LAUTENBERG, Mr. LEAHY, Mr. 

LEVIN, Mr. LIEBERMAN, Mrs. LINCOLN, Mr. LOTT, Mr. LUGAR, Mr. 

MARTINEZ, Mr. MCCAIN, Mr. MCCONNELL, Mr. MENENDEZ, Ms. MIKULSKI, Ms. MURKOWSKI, Mrs. MURRAY, Mr. NELSON of Florida, Mr. NELSON of Nebraska, Mr. PRYOR, Mr. REED, Mr. ROBERTS, Mr. ROCKEFELLER, Mr. SALAZAR, Mr. SARBANES, Mr. SCHUMER, Mr. SESSIONS, 

Mr. SHELBY, Mr. SMITH, Ms. SNOWE, Mr. SPECTER, Ms. STABENOW, 

Mr. STEVENS, Mr. SUNUNU, Mr. TALENT, Mr. THOMAS, Mr. THUNE, 

Mr. VITTER, Mr. VOINOVICH, Mr. WARNER, and Mr. WYDEN) submitted 

the following resolution; which was considered and agreed to 

RESOLUTION 

Honoring the life of Coretta Scott King and expressing the 

condolences of the Senate on her passing. 
2 

•SRES 362 ATS

Whereas Coretta Scott King was an inspirational figure and 

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

to personify the ideals for which her husband fought; 

Whereas Coretta Scott was born and raised in rural Alabama, graduated as the valedictorian from Lincoln High 

School, and received a Bachelor of Arts degree from Antioch College in Yellow Springs, Ohio; 

Whereas Coretta Scott fought to be allowed to teach in the 

local public schools in Ohio but was denied because of her 

race; 

Whereas Coretta Scott studied music at the New England 

Conservatory of Music in Boston and, while attending 

school in the City, met a graduate student who was 

studying for his doctorate degree at Boston University; 

Whereas that graduate student, Martin Luther King, Jr., 

told her on their first date, ‘‘The four things that I look 

for in a wife are character, personality, intelligence, and 

beauty. And you have them all.’’; 

Whereas Coretta Scott and Martin Luther King, Jr. were 

married on June 18, 1953, and moved to Montgomery, 

Alabama; 

Whereas Mrs. King gave birth to her first child, Yolanda, 2 

weeks before the start of the Montgomery bus boycott, 

and protected her when opponents of the boycott bombed 

the King household; 

Whereas Dr. and Mrs. King were to have 3 more children 

named Martin Luther, III, Dexter, and Bernice; 

Whereas during the lifetime of Dr. King, Mrs. King balanced 

the demands of raising their 4 children, serving as the 

wife of a pastor, and speaking before church, civic, college, fraternal, and peace groups; 
3 

•SRES 362 ATS

Whereas Mrs. King participated in more than 30 ‘‘Freedom 

Concerts’’, where she lectured, read poetry, and sang to 

raise awareness of and money for the civil rights movement; 

Whereas Mrs. King stood by the side of her husband during 

many civil rights marches and other notable occasions, 

including a 1957 trip to Ghana to mark the independence 

of that country, a 1959 trip to India to visit sites associated with Mahatma Gandhi, and a 1964 trip to Oslo, 

Norway, to accept a Nobel Peace Prize awarded to Dr. 

King; 

Whereas just 4 days after the assassination of her husband 

in 1968, Mrs. King led a march of 50,000 people through 

the streets of Memphis and, later that year, took his 

place in the Poor People’s March to Washington; 

Whereas Mrs. King devoted her energy to carrying on the 

message of nonviolence and the work of her husband to 

create a United States in which all people have equal 

rights; 

Whereas Mrs. King dedicated herself to raising funds and developing programs for the Atlanta-based Martin Luther 

King, Jr. Center for Nonviolent Social Change, where she 

served as founding President, Chair, and Chief Executive 

Officer; 

Whereas Mrs. King was instrumental in seeing that the birthday of her husband was 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 3 books; 
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•SRES 362 ATS

Whereas Mrs. King received the congressional gold medal for 

her invaluable contributions to the United States as a 

leader of the civil rights movement; 

Whereas Mrs. King traveled to every corner of the United 

States and the globe to speak out on behalf of a number 

of important issues, including racial and economic justice, 

the rights of women and children, religious freedom, full 

employment, health care, and education; and 

Whereas Coretta Scott King was a civil rights icon and one 

of the most influential African Americans in history: 

Now, therefore, be it 

1 Resolved, That the Senate— 

2 (1) mourns the loss of Coretta Scott King; 

3 (2) admires her lifelong commitment to social 

4 justice and peace; 

5 (3) recognizes her role as a leading participant 

6 in the American Civil Rights Movement and her sup7 port to democracy movements world-wide; 

8 (4) expresses its sympathies to the family of 

9 Coretta Scott King; and 

10 (5) directs the Secretary of the Senate to trans11 mit an enrolled copy of this resolution to the family 

12 of Coretta Scott King. 

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