Quick facts
Birth date- April 27, 1929
Death date- Still alive
Parents- Obadiah and Bernice Scott
Euducational background- Finished high school and went to college
Honors /awards- Recived an award that her husband would have
Childhood in Heiberger
King was born on April 27,1929, in Heiberger near Marion, Alabama. She grew up with two other children. She had one brother named Obie, and she also had one sister named Edythe. Their mom's name was Bernice.
Each day Coretta walked five miles to attend the one room Crossroad School. When she got older she studied at Lincoln High School in Marion, which was nine miles away. Since that was to far for her to walk, her mom hired a bus that drove all of the black students in the area to and from school.
King inherited the love of music from her mother. At Lincoln High School she learned to play the trumpet and the piano, and she also sang as a soloist at the school recitals. She was at the top of her class when she graduated in 1945. She then enrolled at Antioch College in Ohio, where her sister was the first full time black student to live on the campus.
At Antioch College, King majored in music and education. She also took part in the college work-study program. She acted as a Camp Counselor, Library Assistant, and a Nursery School attendant. The fact that she was African American was not a problem in any of these roles. By the time that Coretta had graduated from Antioch College in 1951, she has decided to become a professional singer rather than a schoolteacher.
Mrs. King
When marrying a man commuted to the Civil rights, she knew that she would not live the life of a quite ministers wife. Their first child was born in 1955 and was named Yolanda. With the boycott there came danger-Coretta house was bombed in 1956, and from then on Coretta had to be alert on behalf of her children as well as her husband.
The Kings had three more children Martin Luther lll, Dexter, and Bernice. For the next few years Coretta shaed as full partner in her husband's work. She walked beside him in marches, traveling abroad with him, and she also gave his speeches when he was unable to do so.
When her husband was assassinated in Memphis, Tennessee, in 196E Coretta took if for granted that she would continue his work. Four days after his death she led a march of fifty thousand people through the streets of Memphis.
Bibliography
1) Http.//www.galegroup.com/libary/resrcs/womenhst/kingcs.HTM
2)Preference Libary of Black American vo. 1 Copyright 1990
3)Encyclopedia of World Biography second edition vol. 9 Copyright 1998
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