Coretta Scott King Biography

Quick Facts

NAME: Coretta Scott King
OCCUPATION: Civil Rights Activist, Women's Rights Activist, Anti-War Activist, Writer
BIRTH DATE: April 27, 1927
DEATH DATE: January 30, 2006
EDUCATION: Antioch College, Lincoln High School
PLACE OF BIRTH: Marion, Alabama
PLACE OF DEATH: Playas de Rosarito, Mexico
Maiden Name: Coretta Scott
Full Name: Coretta Scott King
AKA: Coretta King

Best Known For

Coretta Scott King was an American civil rights activist and the wife of 1960s civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr.

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Coretta Scott King

APA Style

Coretta Scott King. (2013). The Biography Channel website. Retrieved 01:50, May 19, 2013, from http://www.biography.com/people/coretta-scott-king-9542067.

Harvard Style

Coretta Scott King. [Internet]. 2013. The Biography Channel website. Available from: http://www.biography.com/people/coretta-scott-king-9542067 [Accessed 19 May 2013].

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"Coretta Scott King." 2013. The Biography Channel website. May 19 2013, 01:50 http://www.biography.com/people/coretta-scott-king-9542067.

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"Coretta Scott King," The Biography Channel website, 2013, http://www.biography.com/people/coretta-scott-king-9542067 [accessed May 19, 2013].

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"Coretta Scott King," The Biography Channel website, http://www.biography.com/people/coretta-scott-king-9542067 (accessed May 19, 2013).

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Coretta Scott King [Internet]. The Biography Channel website; 2013 [cited 2013 May 19] Available from: http://www.biography.com/people/coretta-scott-king-9542067.

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Coretta Scott King, http://www.biography.com/people/coretta-scott-king-9542067 (last visited May 19, 2013).

AMA Style

Coretta Scott King. The Biography Channel website. 2013. Available at: http://www.biography.com/people/coretta-scott-king-9542067. Accessed May 19, 2013.

Coretta was also behind the 15-year fight to have her husband's birthday instituted as a national holiday—President Ronald Reagan finally signed the bill in 1983, thusly creating "Martin Luther King Day." Additionally, she published a memoir, My Life with Martin Luther King, Jr., in 1969.

Personal Life and Death

Coretta and Martin Luther King Jr. had four children together: Yolanda Denise (b. 1955), an actress; Martin Luther King III (b. 1957), who now serves as president of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference; Dexter Scott (b. 1961), who runs the King Library and Archive; and Bernice Albertine (b. 1963), a lawyer and Baptist minister.

Coretta Scott King suffered a heart attack and stroke in August 2005. She died less than a year later, on January 30, 2006, at the age of 78, in Playas de Rosarito, Mexico.

Today, King is remembered for her brave work on behalf of civil rights in the United States. Her life has been an inspiration to many over the past several years, and will continue to inspire for decades to come. She once said, "I believe all Americans who believe in freedom, tolerance and human rights have a responsibility to oppose bigotry and prejudice based on sexual orientation."

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