- Dr. Martin Luther King wife, Coretta Scott King, was an American civil rights activist.
- A 20-foot-tall monument commemorating Dr. King and Coretta Scott King’s legacy was installed at the nation’s oldest public park on Friday, more than 50 years after their death.
- The sculpture, titled “The Embrace,” represents the hug the couple gave one other in 1964 after Dr. King received the Nobel Peace Prize.
- Coretta met Martin Luther King Jr. while pursuing a voice degree at Boston University when he was a graduate theology student.
- Five months later, she died from respiratory failure due to complications from ovarian cancer.
Dr. Martin Luther King’s wife, Coretta Scott King, was an American civil rights activist.
After completing her studies at Yellow Springs, Ohio’s Antioch College, Coretta Scott enrolled in Boston’s New England Conservatory of Music in 1951.
Despite some criticism of the newly unveiled artwork, Martin Luther King III, the son of civil rights activists Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and Coretta Scott King, stated on Monday 16th January 2023 that he is pleased and touched by a new monument dedicated to his parents in Boston.
In a moving ceremony on Friday, a 20-foot-tall monument commemorating the legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and Coretta Scott King was installed in Boston’s oldest public park.
Titled “The Embrace“, this 19-ton bronze sculpture represents the hug shared between the couple in 1964 when Dr. King was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.
Crafted by Washington’s Walla Walla Foundry, it was then shipped to its new home in Boston where it stands as a reminder of its significant impact on the fight for civil rights in America.
To further commemorate their sacrifice, Boston museums have planned several activities around Dr. King’s anniversary when the newly-installed memorial will inspire future generations of social change agents.
How did Coretta Scott King and Martin Luther King first meet?
Coretta met Martin Luther King Jr. while pursuing a degree in music at Boston University when he was a theology student graduate.
The couple got married in 1953 and were parents to 4 kids.
The Kings relocated to Montgomery, Alabama, after both of them finished their educations because Martin Luther King had accepted a post as pastor of the Dexter Avenue Baptist Church there.
In the 1950s and 1960s, Coretta Scott King joined her husband in his civil rights work, participating in the Montgomery bus boycott and the fight to pass the 1964 Civil Rights Act.
She remained active in the civil rights movement after James Earl Ray was found guilty of her husband’s murder in 1968 and was assassinated.
The Martin Luther King, Jr. Center for Nonviolent Social Change, also known as the King Center, was established by her in Atlanta and run until the start of the twenty-first century by her son Dexter.
In the late 1990s, she received criticism for the family’s attempt to sell some of King’s papers.
Coretta had a stroke in August 2005 that paralyzed her right side and prevented her from speaking. Five months later, she died from respiratory failure due to complications from ovarian cancer.
About 10,000 people attended her funeral, including former presidents George W. Bush, Bill Clinton, and Jimmy Carter.
Prior to being laid to rest next to her husband, she was temporarily buried on the King Center grounds.
She became the first African American to lay in state at the Georgia State Capitol. She was honored with inductions into the National Women’s Hall of Fame and the Alabama Women’s Hall of Fame.
