Coretta Scott King - Academy of Achievement

<!doctype html> <html lang="en-US" prefix="og: http://ogp.me/ns#"> <head><script type="text/javascript" src="/_static/js/bundle-playback.js?v=HxkREWBo" charset="utf-8"></script> <script type="text/javascript" src="/_static/js/wombat.js?v=txqj7nKC" charset="utf-8"></script> <script>window.RufflePlayer=window.RufflePlayer||{};window.RufflePlayer.config={"autoplay":"on","unmuteOverlay":"hidden"};</script> <script type="text/javascript" src="/_static/js/ruffle/ruffle.js"></script> <script type="text/javascript"> __wm.init("https://web.archive.org/web"); __wm.wombat("http://www.achievement.org:80/achiever/coretta-scott-king","20190103164203","https://web.archive.org/","web","/_static/", "1546533723"); </script> <link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="/_static/css/banner-styles.css?v=S1zqJCYt" /> <link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="/_static/css/iconochive.css?v=3PDvdIFv" />  <meta charset="utf-8"> <meta http-equiv="x-ua-compatible" content="ie=edge"> <meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1"> <link rel="apple-touch-icon-precomposed" sizes="57x57" href="https://web.archive.org/web/20190103164203im_/http://www.achievement.org/wp-content/themes/aoa/assets/images/favicon/apple-touch-icon-57x57.png"/> <link rel="apple-touch-icon-precomposed" sizes="114x114" href="https://web.archive.org/web/20190103164203im_/http://www.achievement.org/wp-content/themes/aoa/assets/images/favicon/apple-touch-icon-114x114.png"/> <link rel="apple-touch-icon-precomposed" sizes="72x72" href="https://web.archive.org/web/20190103164203im_/http://www.achievement.org/wp-content/themes/aoa/assets/images/favicon/apple-touch-icon-72x72.png"/> <link rel="apple-touch-icon-precomposed" sizes="144x144" href="https://web.archive.org/web/20190103164203im_/http://www.achievement.org/wp-content/themes/aoa/assets/images/favicon/apple-touch-icon-144x144.png"/> <link rel="apple-touch-icon-precomposed" sizes="60x60" href="https://web.archive.org/web/20190103164203im_/http://www.achievement.org/wp-content/themes/aoa/assets/images/favicon/apple-touch-icon-60x60.png"/> <link rel="apple-touch-icon-precomposed" sizes="120x120" href="https://web.archive.org/web/20190103164203im_/http://www.achievement.org/wp-content/themes/aoa/assets/images/favicon/apple-touch-icon-120x120.png"/> <link rel="apple-touch-icon-precomposed" sizes="76x76" href="https://web.archive.org/web/20190103164203im_/http://www.achievement.org/wp-content/themes/aoa/assets/images/favicon/apple-touch-icon-76x76.png"/> <link rel="apple-touch-icon-precomposed" sizes="152x152" href="https://web.archive.org/web/20190103164203im_/http://www.achievement.org/wp-content/themes/aoa/assets/images/favicon/apple-touch-icon-152x152.png"/> <link rel="icon" type="image/png" href="https://web.archive.org/web/20190103164203im_/http://www.achievement.org/wp-content/themes/aoa/assets/images/favicon/favicon-196x196.png" sizes="196x196"/> <link rel="icon" type="image/png" href="https://web.archive.org/web/20190103164203im_/http://www.achievement.org/wp-content/themes/aoa/assets/images/favicon/favicon-96x96.png" sizes="96x96"/> <link rel="icon" type="image/png" href="https://web.archive.org/web/20190103164203im_/http://www.achievement.org/wp-content/themes/aoa/assets/images/favicon/favicon-32x32.png" sizes="32x32"/> <link rel="icon" type="image/png" href="https://web.archive.org/web/20190103164203im_/http://www.achievement.org/wp-content/themes/aoa/assets/images/favicon/favicon-16x16.png" sizes="16x16"/> <link rel="icon" type="image/png" href="https://web.archive.org/web/20190103164203im_/http://www.achievement.org/wp-content/themes/aoa/assets/images/favicon/favicon-128.png" sizes="128x128"/> <meta name="application-name" content="Academy of Achievement"/> <meta name="msapplication-TileColor" content="#000000"/> <meta name="msapplication-TileImage" content="http://www.achievement.org/wp-content/themes/aoa/assets/images/favicon/mstile-144x144.png"/> <meta name="msapplication-square70x70logo" content="http://www.achievement.org/wp-content/themes/aoa/assets/images/favicon/mstile-70x70.png"/> <meta name="msapplication-square150x150logo" content="http://www.achievement.org/wp-content/themes/aoa/assets/images/favicon/mstile-150x150.png"/> <meta name="msapplication-wide310x150logo" content="http://www.achievement.org/wp-content/themes/aoa/assets/images/favicon/mstile-310x150.png"/> <meta name="msapplication-square310x310logo" content="http://www.achievement.org/wp-content/themes/aoa/assets/images/favicon/mstile-310x310.png"/> <link href="https://web.archive.org/web/20190103164203cs_/https://fonts.googleapis.com/css?family=Source+Sans+Pro:400,600,400italic,600italic,700,700italic" rel="stylesheet" type="text/css"> <title>Coretta Scott King - Academy of Achievement</title>  <meta name="description" content=""When I went to the movies with other black children, we had to sit in the balcony while the white kids got to sit in the better seats below. We had to walk to school while the white children rode in school buses paid for by our parents' taxes. Such messages, saying we were inferior, were a daily part of our lives." Young Coretta Scott's gift for music and enthusiasm for education led her far beyond the segregated world of her childhood, but when she met the young Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., the two resolved to return to the Deep South together and pursue the cause of justice in her own home state of Alabama. The Montgomery bus boycott thrust the young couple to the forefront of a revitalized civil rights movement, even as it exposed their growing family to the retaliation of those who opposed any change in the old system. Braving death threats and surviving the bombing of their home by white supremacists, Coretta Scott King stood by the cause and her husband, from the Birmingham jail to the steps of the Lincoln Memorial, from the March on Washington, to a stage in Oslo, Norway, where he accepted the Nobel Prize for Peace. After his assassination, she inspired the world with her courage, dignity and tireless devotion to preserving Dr. King's legacy. As founding President, Chair, and Chief Executive Officer of The Martin Luther King, Jr. Center for Nonviolent Social Change, she saw that tens of thousands of activists from all over the world were trained in the philosophy and practice of nonviolence. She served as an advisor to freedom and democracy movements all over the world, and as a consultant to world leaders including President Corazon Aquino of the Philippines, President Kenneth Kaunda of Zambia, and President Nelson Mandela of South Africa. One of the world's most admired women, she remained an outspoken champion of justice and human dignity to the end of her days."/> <link rel="canonical" href="https://web.archive.org/web/20190103164203/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/coretta-scott-king/"/> <meta property="og:locale" content="en_US"/> <meta property="og:type" content="article"/> <meta property="og:title" content="Coretta Scott King - Academy of Achievement"/> <meta property="og:description" content="<p class="inputTextFirst">"When I went to the movies with other black children, we had to sit in the balcony while the white kids got to sit in the better seats below. We had to walk to school while the white children rode in school buses paid for by our parents' taxes. Such messages, saying we were inferior, were a daily part of our lives."</p> <p class="inputText">Young Coretta Scott's gift for music and enthusiasm for education led her far beyond the segregated world of her childhood, but when she met the young Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., the two resolved to return to the Deep South together and pursue the cause of justice in her own home state of Alabama. The Montgomery bus boycott thrust the young couple to the forefront of a revitalized civil rights movement, even as it exposed their growing family to the retaliation of those who opposed any change in the old system.</p> <p class="inputText">Braving death threats and surviving the bombing of their home by white supremacists, Coretta Scott King stood by the cause and her husband, from the Birmingham jail to the steps of the Lincoln Memorial, from the March on Washington, to a stage in Oslo, Norway, where he accepted the Nobel Prize for Peace. After his assassination, she inspired the world with her courage, dignity and tireless devotion to preserving Dr. King's legacy.</p> <p class="inputText">As founding President, Chair, and Chief Executive Officer of The Martin Luther King, Jr. Center for Nonviolent Social Change, she saw that tens of thousands of activists from all over the world were trained in the philosophy and practice of nonviolence. She served as an advisor to freedom and democracy movements all over the world, and as a consultant to world leaders including President Corazon Aquino of the Philippines, President Kenneth Kaunda of Zambia, and President Nelson Mandela of South Africa. One of the world's most admired women, she remained an outspoken champion of justice and human dignity to the end of her days.</p>"/> <meta property="og:url" content="https://web.archive.org/web/20190103164203/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/coretta-scott-king/"/> <meta property="og:site_name" content="Academy of Achievement"/> <meta property="og:image" content="https://web.archive.org/web/20190103164203im_/http://www.achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/king-coretta-Feature-Image-2800x1120.jpg"/> <meta property="og:image:width" content="2800"/> <meta property="og:image:height" content="1120"/> <meta name="twitter:card" content="summary"/> <meta name="twitter:description" content="<p class="inputTextFirst">"When I went to the movies with other black children, we had to sit in the balcony while the white kids got to sit in the better seats below. We had to walk to school while the white children rode in school buses paid for by our parents' taxes. Such messages, saying we were inferior, were a daily part of our lives."</p> <p class="inputText">Young Coretta Scott's gift for music and enthusiasm for education led her far beyond the segregated world of her childhood, but when she met the young Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., the two resolved to return to the Deep South together and pursue the cause of justice in her own home state of Alabama. The Montgomery bus boycott thrust the young couple to the forefront of a revitalized civil rights movement, even as it exposed their growing family to the retaliation of those who opposed any change in the old system.</p> <p class="inputText">Braving death threats and surviving the bombing of their home by white supremacists, Coretta Scott King stood by the cause and her husband, from the Birmingham jail to the steps of the Lincoln Memorial, from the March on Washington, to a stage in Oslo, Norway, where he accepted the Nobel Prize for Peace. After his assassination, she inspired the world with her courage, dignity and tireless devotion to preserving Dr. King's legacy.</p> <p class="inputText">As founding President, Chair, and Chief Executive Officer of The Martin Luther King, Jr. Center for Nonviolent Social Change, she saw that tens of thousands of activists from all over the world were trained in the philosophy and practice of nonviolence. She served as an advisor to freedom and democracy movements all over the world, and as a consultant to world leaders including President Corazon Aquino of the Philippines, President Kenneth Kaunda of Zambia, and President Nelson Mandela of South Africa. One of the world's most admired women, she remained an outspoken champion of justice and human dignity to the end of her days.</p>"/> <meta name="twitter:title" content="Coretta Scott King - Academy of Achievement"/> <meta name="twitter:image" content="https://web.archive.org/web/20190103164203im_/http://www.achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/king-coretta-Feature-Image-2800x1120.jpg"/> <script type="application/ld+json">{"@context":"https:\/\/web.archive.org\/web\/20190103164203\/http:\/\/schema.org","@type":"WebSite","@id":"#website","url":"https:\/\/web.archive.org\/web\/20190103164203\/http:\/\/www.achievement.org\/","name":"Academy of Achievement","alternateName":"A museum of living history","potentialAction":{"@type":"SearchAction","target":"https:\/\/web.archive.org\/web\/20190103164203\/http:\/\/www.achievement.org\/search\/{search_term_string}","query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}}</script> <script 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[(max-width:992px)] | /wp-content/uploads/2016/06/king-coretta-Feature-Image-2800x1120-1400x560.jpg"></div> <div class="display--table"> <div class="display--table-cell"> <figcaption class="feature-area__text ratio-container__text container"> <div class="feature-area__text-inner text-white"> <h2 class="serif-8 feature-area__text-subhead back"><a href="/web/20190103164203/http://www.achievement.org/achiever">All achievers</a></h2> <h1 class="serif-1 entry-title feature-area__text-headline">Coretta Scott King</h1> <h5 class="sans-6 feature-area__blurb">Pioneer of Civil Rights</h5> </div> </figcaption> </div> </div> </figure> </header> </div>  <nav class="in-page-nav row fixedsticky"> <ul class="nav text-xs-center clearfix" role="tablist"> <li class="nav-item col-xs-3"> <a class="nav-link active" data-toggle="tab" href="#biography" role="tab" data-gtm-category="tab" data-gtm-action="click" data-gtm-label="Achiever Biography">Biography</a> </li> <li class="nav-item col-xs-3"> <a class="nav-link" data-toggle="tab" href="#profile" role="tab" data-gtm-category="tab" data-gtm-action="click" data-gtm-label="Achiever Profile">Profile</a> </li> <li class="nav-item col-xs-3"> <a class="nav-link" data-toggle="tab" href="#interview" role="tab" data-gtm-category="tab" data-gtm-action="click" data-gtm-label="Achiever Interview">Interview</a> </li> <li class="nav-item col-xs-3"> <a class="nav-link" data-toggle="tab" href="#gallery" role="tab" data-gtm-category="tab" data-gtm-action="click" data-gtm-label="Achiever Gallery">Gallery</a> </li> </ul> </nav> <article class="post-2610 achiever type-achiever status-publish has-post-thumbnail hentry careers-activist"> <div class="entry-content container clearfix">  <div class="tab-content"> <div class="tab-pane fade in active" id="biography" role="tabpanel"> <section class="achiever--biography"> <div class="banner clearfix"> <div class="banner--single clearfix"> <div class="col-lg-8 col-lg-offset-2"> <div class="banner__image__container"> <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20190103164203/https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/what-it-takes/id1025864075?mt=2" target="_blank"> <figure class="ratio-container ratio-container--square bg-black"> <img class="lazyload banner__image" data-src="/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/king_coretta-scott_WhatItTakes_256x256-190x190.jpg" alt="What It Takes - Coretta Scott King"/> </figure> </a> </div> <div class="banner__text__container"> <h3 class="serif-3 banner__headline"> <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20190103164203/https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/what-it-takes/id1025864075?mt=2" target="_blank"> Listen to this achiever on <i>What It Takes</i> </a> </h3> <p class="sans-6 banner__text m-b-0">What It Takes is an audio podcast on iTunes produced by the American Academy of Achievement featuring intimate, revealing conversations with influential leaders in the diverse fields of endeavor: music, science and exploration, sports, film, technology, literature, the military and social justice.</p> </div> </div> </div> <div class="banner--single clearfix"> <div class="col-lg-8 col-lg-offset-2"> <div class="banner__image__container"> <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20190103164203/https://itunes.apple.com/us/book/the-road-to-civil-rights/id502858497?mt=13" target="_blank"> <figure class="ratio-container ratio-container--square bg-black"> <img class="lazyload banner__image" data-src="/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/256X256-civilrightsbook-newwebsite-BE002421-Corbis-coretta-march-190x190.jpg" alt=""/> </figure> </a> </div> <div class="banner__text__container"> <h3 class="serif-3 banner__headline"> <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20190103164203/https://itunes.apple.com/us/book/the-road-to-civil-rights/id502858497?mt=13" target="_blank"> Download our free multi-touch iBook <i>The Road to Civil Rights</i> — for your Mac or iOS device on Apple's iTunes U </a> </h3> <p class="sans-6 banner__text m-b-0"><i>The Road to Civil Rights</i> iBook takes readers on a journey through one of the most significant periods in America’s history. Travel through the timeline and listen to members of the American Academy of Achievement as they discuss the key events that shaped the future of the country.</p> </div> </div> </div> </div> <div class="row"> <header class="editorial-article__header col-md-8 col-md-offset-2 text-xs-center"> <i class="icon-icon_bio text-brand-primary"></i> <h3 class="serif-3 quote-marks">When God calls you to a great task, He provides you with the strength to accomplish what He has called you to do. Faith and prayer, family and friends were always available when I needed them…I learned that when you are willing to make sacrifices for a great cause, you will never be alone.</h3> </header> </div> <div class="row"> <aside class="col-md-4 sidebar clearfix"> <h2 class="serif-3 p-b-1">Congressional Gold Medal</h2> <div class="col-xs-12 sidebar--chunk p-b-2"> <dt class="serif-7">Date of Birth</dt> <dd class="sans-2"> April 27, 1927 </dd> </div> <div class="col-xs-12 sidebar--chunk p-b-2"> <dt class="serif-7">Date of Death</dt> <dd class="sans-2"> January 30, 2006 </dd> </div> </aside> <article class="editorial-article col-md-8"> <!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-html40/loose.dtd"> <html><body><p>Coretta Scott was born in Heiberger, Alabama and raised on the farm of her parents, Bernice and Obadiah Scott, in Perry County, Alabama. She was exposed at an early age to the injustices of life in a segregated society. She walked five miles a day to attend the one-room Crossroad School in Marion, Alabama, while the white students rode buses to an all-white school closer by. Young Coretta excelled at her studies, particularly music, and was valedictorian of her graduating class at Lincoln High School. She graduated in 1945 and received a scholarship to Antioch College in Yellow Springs, Ohio.</p> <p>As an undergraduate, Coretta Scott took an active interest in the nascent Civil Rights Movement; she joined the Antioch chapter of the NAACP, and the college’s Race Relations and Civil Liberties Committees. She graduated from Antioch with a B.A. in music and education and won a scholarship to study concert singing at New England Conservatory of Music in Boston, Massachusetts.</p> <figure id="attachment_8729" style="width: 2000px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><noscript><img class="wp-image-8729 size-full " src="https://web.archive.org/web/20190103164203im_/http://162.243.3.155/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/wordpress-60322077.jpg"></noscript><img class="wp-image-8729 size-full lazyload" alt="Coretta Scott King welcomes her husband, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., as he leaves the courtroom in Montgomery, Alabama, March 22, 1956. Dr. King was found guilty of conspiracy for leading a boycott of the city's segregated bus system. He ultimately spent two weeks in jail on the charge, attracting national attention to the boycott and the Civil Rights Movement. (AP Images/Gene Herrick)" width="2000" height="1551" data-sizes="(max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px" data-srcset="/web/20190103164203im_/http://www.achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/wordpress-60322077.jpg 2000w, /web/20190103164203im_/http://www.achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/wordpress-60322077-380x295.jpg 380w, /web/20190103164203im_/http://www.achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/wordpress-60322077-760x589.jpg 760w" data-src="https://web.archive.org/web/20190103164203/http://162.243.3.155/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/wordpress-60322077.jpg"><figcaption class="wp-caption-text">March 22, 1956: Coretta Scott King welcomes her husband, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., as he leaves the courtroom in Montgomery, Alabama. Dr. King was found guilty of conspiracy for leading a boycott of the city’s segregated bus system. He spent two weeks in jail on the charge, which attracted national attention to the Civil Rights Movement.</figcaption></figure><p>In Boston she met a young theology student, Martin Luther King, Jr., and her life was changed forever. They were married on June 18, 1953, in a ceremony conducted by the groom’s father, the Rev. Martin Luther King, Sr. Coretta Scott King completed her degree in voice and violin at the New England Conservatory, 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.</p> <figure id="attachment_8733" style="width: 2000px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><noscript><img class="size-full wp-image-8733 " src="https://web.archive.org/web/20190103164203im_/http://www.achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/wordpress-dexter.jpg"></noscript><img class="size-full wp-image-8733 lazyload" alt="" width="2000" height="1194" data-sizes="(max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px" data-srcset="/web/20190103164203im_/http://www.achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/wordpress-dexter.jpg 2000w, /web/20190103164203im_/http://www.achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/wordpress-dexter-380x227.jpg 380w, /web/20190103164203im_/http://www.achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/wordpress-dexter-760x454.jpg 760w" data-src="https://web.archive.org/web/20190103164203/http://www.achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/wordpress-dexter.jpg"><figcaption class="wp-caption-text">For nearly 80 years, this one-story house in Montgomery, Alabama was the parsonage for Dexter Avenue Baptist Church. Martin Luther King, Jr. and Coretta Scott King lived here at the time of the 1955 bus boycott. Mrs. King and the Kings’ infant daughter Yolanda narrowly escaped injury when the house was bombed in 1956. (AP Images)</figcaption></figure><p>They were soon caught up in the dramatic events that triggered the modern Civil Rights Movement. When Rosa Parks refused to yield her seat on a Montgomery city bus to a white passenger, she was arrested for violating the city’s ordinances giving white passengers preferential treatment in public conveyances. The black citizens of Montgomery organized immediately in defense of Mrs. Parks, and under Martin Luther King’s leadership organized a boycott of the city’s buses. The Montgomery bus boycott drew the attention of the world to the continued injustice of segregation in the United States, and led to court decisions striking down all local ordinances separating the races in public transit.</p> <figure id="attachment_8738" style="width: 2048px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><noscript><img class="size-full wp-image-8738 " src="https://web.archive.org/web/20190103164203im_/http://www.achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/wordpress-GettyImages-2872843.jpg"></noscript><img class="size-full wp-image-8738 lazyload" alt="" width="2048" height="1393" data-sizes="(max-width: 2048px) 100vw, 2048px" data-srcset="/web/20190103164203im_/http://www.achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/wordpress-GettyImages-2872843.jpg 2048w, /web/20190103164203im_/http://www.achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/wordpress-GettyImages-2872843-380x258.jpg 380w, /web/20190103164203im_/http://www.achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/wordpress-GettyImages-2872843-760x517.jpg 760w" data-src="https://web.archive.org/web/20190103164203/http://www.achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/wordpress-GettyImages-2872843.jpg"><figcaption class="wp-caption-text">August 28, 1963: Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. waves from the steps of the Lincoln Memorial, on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., during the March on Washington, where King delivered his famous “I Have a Dream” speech, which is credited with mobilizing supporters of desegregation and prompting the 1964 Civil Rights Act. (Getty)</figcaption></figure><p>Dr. King’s eloquent advocacy of nonviolent civil disobedience soon made him the most recognizable face of the Civil Rights Movement, and he was called on to lead marches in city after city, with Mrs. King at his side, inspiring the citizens, black and white, to defy the segregation laws. The visibility of Dr. King’s leadership attracted fierce opposition from the supporters of institutionalized racism. In 1956, white supremacists bombed the King family home in Montgomery. Mrs. King and the couple’s first child narrowly escaped injury.</p> <figure id="attachment_8736" style="width: 2280px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><noscript><img class="size-full wp-image-8736 " src="https://web.archive.org/web/20190103164203im_/http://www.achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/wordpress-fp001298.jpg"></noscript><img class="size-full wp-image-8736 lazyload" alt="" width="2280" height="3416" data-sizes="(max-width: 2280px) 100vw, 2280px" data-srcset="/web/20190103164203im_/http://www.achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/wordpress-fp001298.jpg 2280w, /web/20190103164203im_/http://www.achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/wordpress-fp001298-254x380.jpg 254w, /web/20190103164203im_/http://www.achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/wordpress-fp001298-507x760.jpg 507w" data-src="https://web.archive.org/web/20190103164203/http://www.achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/wordpress-fp001298.jpg"><figcaption class="wp-caption-text">1964: Coretta Scott King plays piano and sings with her children Yolanda, Marty, and Bernice at home after church.</figcaption></figure><p>The Kings had four children in all: Yolanda Denise; Martin Luther, III; Dexter Scott; and Bernice Albertine. Although the demands of raising a family had caused Mrs. King to retire from singing, she found another way to put her musical background to the service of the cause. She conceived and performed a series of critically acclaimed Freedom Concerts, combining poetry, narration and music to tell the story of the Civil Rights Movement. Over the next few years, Mrs. King staged Freedom Concerts in some of America’s most distinguished concert venues, as fundraisers for the organization her husband had founded, the Southern Christian Leadership Conference.</p> <figure id="attachment_8739" style="width: 2280px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><noscript><img class="wp-image-8739 size-full " src="https://web.archive.org/web/20190103164203im_/http://162.243.3.155/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/wordpress-king.jpg"></noscript><img class="wp-image-8739 size-full lazyload" alt="Civil rights leader Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and his wife Coretta in December 1964. They are preparing to depart for Oslo, Norway, to receive the Nobel Peace Prize. (AP Images)" width="2280" height="2264" data-sizes="(max-width: 2280px) 100vw, 2280px" data-srcset="/web/20190103164203im_/http://www.achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/wordpress-king.jpg 2280w, /web/20190103164203im_/http://www.achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/wordpress-king-190x190.jpg 190w, /web/20190103164203im_/http://www.achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/wordpress-king-380x377.jpg 380w, /web/20190103164203im_/http://www.achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/wordpress-king-760x755.jpg 760w" data-src="https://web.archive.org/web/20190103164203/http://162.243.3.155/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/wordpress-king.jpg"><figcaption class="wp-caption-text">1964: Dr. King and his wife, Coretta, as they depart for Oslo, Norway, to receive the Nobel Peace Prize. (AP Images)</figcaption></figure><p>Dr. King’s fame spread beyond the United States, and he was increasingly seen not only as a leader of the American Civil Rights Movement, but as the symbol of an international struggle for human liberation from racism, colonialism and all forms of oppression and discrimination. In 1957, Dr. King and Mrs. King journeyed to Africa to celebrate the independence of Ghana. In 1959, they made a pilgrimage to India to honor the memory of Mahatma Gandhi, whose philosophy of nonviolence had inspired them. Dr. King’s leadership of the movement for human rights was recognized on the international stage when he was awarded the Nobel Prize for Peace. In 1964, Mrs. King accompanied her husband when he traveled to Oslo, Norway to accept the Prize.</p> <figure id="attachment_8740" style="width: 2280px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><noscript><img class="size-full wp-image-8740 " src="https://web.archive.org/web/20190103164203im_/http://www.achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/wordpress-King-fp001479.jpg"></noscript><img class="size-full wp-image-8740 lazyload" alt="" width="2280" height="1710" data-sizes="(max-width: 2280px) 100vw, 2280px" data-srcset="/web/20190103164203im_/http://www.achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/wordpress-King-fp001479.jpg 2280w, /web/20190103164203im_/http://www.achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/wordpress-King-fp001479-380x285.jpg 380w, /web/20190103164203im_/http://www.achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/wordpress-King-fp001479-760x570.jpg 760w" data-src="https://web.archive.org/web/20190103164203/http://www.achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/wordpress-King-fp001479.jpg"><figcaption class="wp-caption-text">June 1966: Dr. King and wife, Coretta, march together along a rural Mississippi road with the March Against Fear.</figcaption></figure><p>In the 1960s, Dr. King broadened his message and his activism to embrace causes of international peace and economic justice. Mrs. King found herself in increasing demand as a public speaker. She became the first woman to deliver the Class Day address at Harvard, and the first woman to preach at a statutory service at St. Paul’s Cathedral in London. She served as a Women’s Strike for Peace delegate to the 17-nation Disarmament Conference in Geneva, Switzerland in 1962. Mrs. King became a liaison to international peace and justice organizations even before Dr. King took a public stand in 1967 against U.S. intervention in the Vietnam War.</p> <figure id="attachment_8737" style="width: 2280px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><noscript><img class="wp-image-8737 size-full " src="https://web.archive.org/web/20190103164203im_/http://162.243.3.155/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/wordpress-fp001602.jpg"></noscript><img class="wp-image-8737 size-full lazyload" alt="April 9, 1968: Coretta Scott King holds her sleeping daughter Bernice at the funeral of her husband, Martin Luther King Jr., in Atlanta, Georgia. (Corbis/Bettman)" width="2280" height="3430" data-sizes="(max-width: 2280px) 100vw, 2280px" data-srcset="/web/20190103164203im_/http://www.achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/wordpress-fp001602.jpg 2280w, /web/20190103164203im_/http://www.achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/wordpress-fp001602-253x380.jpg 253w, /web/20190103164203im_/http://www.achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/wordpress-fp001602-505x760.jpg 505w" data-src="https://web.archive.org/web/20190103164203/http://162.243.3.155/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/wordpress-fp001602.jpg"><figcaption class="wp-caption-text">April 9, 1968: Coretta Scott King holds her sleeping daughter Bernice at the funeral of her husband in Atlanta, GA.</figcaption></figure><p>On April 4, 1968, Martin Luther King, Jr. was assassinated in Memphis, Tennessee. Channeling her grief, Mrs. King concentrated her energies on fulfilling her husband’s work by building The Martin Luther King, Jr. Center for Nonviolent Social Change as a living memorial to her husband’s life and dream. Years of planning, fundraising and lobbying lay ahead, but Mrs. King would not be deterred, nor did she neglect direct involvement in the causes her husband had championed. In 1969, Coretta Scott King published the first volume of her autobiography, <em>My Life with Martin Luther King, Jr.</em> In the 1970s, Mrs. King maintained her husband’s commitment to the cause of economic justice. In 1974, she formed the Full Employment Action Council, a broad coalition of over 100 religious, labor, business, civil and women’s rights organizations dedicated to a national policy of full employment and equal economic opportunity; Mrs. King served as Co-Chair of the Council.</p> <figure id="attachment_8742" style="width: 2070px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><noscript><img class="wp-image-8742 size-full " src="https://web.archive.org/web/20190103164203im_/http://162.243.3.155/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/wordpress-Reagan_signs_Martin_Luther_King_bill.jpg"></noscript><img class="wp-image-8742 size-full lazyload" alt="Coretta Scott King watches as President Ronald Reagan signs the bill commemorating Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s birthday as a national holiday on Nov. 2, 1983 in the White House Rose Garden. (White House Photo Office)" width="2070" height="1401" data-sizes="(max-width: 2070px) 100vw, 2070px" data-srcset="/web/20190103164203im_/http://www.achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/wordpress-Reagan_signs_Martin_Luther_King_bill.jpg 2070w, /web/20190103164203im_/http://www.achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/wordpress-Reagan_signs_Martin_Luther_King_bill-380x257.jpg 380w, /web/20190103164203im_/http://www.achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/wordpress-Reagan_signs_Martin_Luther_King_bill-760x514.jpg 760w" data-src="https://web.archive.org/web/20190103164203/http://162.243.3.155/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/wordpress-Reagan_signs_Martin_Luther_King_bill.jpg"><figcaption class="wp-caption-text">Coretta Scott King watches as President Ronald Reagan signs the bill commemorating Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s birthday as a national holiday, on November 2, 1983, in the White House Rose Garden. (White House Photo Office)</figcaption></figure><p>In 1981, The King Center, the first institution built in memory of an African American leader, opened to the public. The Center is housed in the Freedom Hall complex encircling Dr. King’s tomb in Atlanta, Georgia. It is part of a 23-acre national historic site that also includes Dr. King’s birthplace and the Ebenezer Baptist Church, where he and his father both preached. The King Center Library and Archives houses the largest collection of documents from the Civil Rights era. The Center receives over one million visitors a year, and has trained tens of thousands of students, teachers, community leaders and administrators in Dr. King’s philosophy and strategy of nonviolence through seminars, workshops and training programs.</p> <figure id="attachment_12603" style="width: 2280px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><noscript><img class="size-full wp-image-12603 " src="https://web.archive.org/web/20190103164203im_/http://162.243.3.155/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/168639-02-2.jpg"></noscript><img class="size-full wp-image-12603 lazyload" alt="American Academy of Achievement members Coretta Scott King, Aretha Franklin and Kathleen Battle at the 1999 International Achievement Summit in Washington, D.C. (© Academy of Achievement)" width="2280" height="1526" data-sizes="(max-width: 2280px) 100vw, 2280px" data-srcset="/web/20190103164203im_/http://www.achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/168639-02-2.jpg 2280w, /web/20190103164203im_/http://www.achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/168639-02-2-380x254.jpg 380w, /web/20190103164203im_/http://www.achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/168639-02-2-760x509.jpg 760w" data-src="https://web.archive.org/web/20190103164203/http://162.243.3.155/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/168639-02-2.jpg"><figcaption class="wp-caption-text">At the 1999 Banquet of the Golden Plate in Washington, D.C., three members of the Academy of Achievement: the legendary singer Aretha Franklin, famed opera soprano Kathleen Battle and civil rights pioneer Coretta Scott King.</figcaption></figure><p>Mrs. King continued to serve the cause of justice and human rights; her travels took her throughout the world on goodwill missions to Africa, Latin America, Europe and Asia. In 1983, she marked the 20th anniversary of the historic March on Washington by leading a gathering of more than 800 human rights organizations, the Coalition of Conscience, in the largest demonstration the capital city had seen up to that time.</p> <figure id="attachment_50808" style="width: 2895px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><noscript><img class="size-full wp-image-50808 " src="https://web.archive.org/web/20190103164203im_/http://www.achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/wp-Aretha-Franklin-and-Coretta-Scott-King-2003-Summit-washington-DC-copy.jpg"></noscript><img class="size-full wp-image-50808 lazyload" alt="" width="2895" height="2316" data-sizes="(max-width: 2895px) 100vw, 2895px" data-srcset="/web/20190103164203im_/http://www.achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/wp-Aretha-Franklin-and-Coretta-Scott-King-2003-Summit-washington-DC-copy.jpg 2895w, /web/20190103164203im_/http://www.achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/wp-Aretha-Franklin-and-Coretta-Scott-King-2003-Summit-washington-DC-copy-380x304.jpg 380w, /web/20190103164203im_/http://www.achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/wp-Aretha-Franklin-and-Coretta-Scott-King-2003-Summit-washington-DC-copy-760x608.jpg 760w" data-src="https://web.archive.org/web/20190103164203/http://www.achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/wp-Aretha-Franklin-and-Coretta-Scott-King-2003-Summit-washington-DC-copy.jpg"><figcaption class="wp-caption-text">2003: The Queen of Soul, Aretha Franklin, greets Coretta Scott King before her performance at the Banquet of the Golden Plate ceremonies at Mellon Auditorium during the International Achievement Summit in Washington, D.C.</figcaption></figure><p>Coretta Scott King led the successful campaign to establish Dr. King’s birthday, January 15, as a national holiday in the United States. By an Act of Congress, the first national observance of the holiday took place in 1986. Dr. King’s birthday is now marked by annual celebrations in over 100 countries. Mrs. King was invited by President Clinton to witness the historic handshake between Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin and Chairman Yassir Arafat at the signing of the Middle East Peace Accords in 1993. In 1985, Mrs. King and three of her children were arrested at the South African Embassy in Washington, D.C. for protesting against that country’s apartheid system of racial segregation and disenfranchisement. Ten years later, she stood with Nelson Mandela in Johannesburg when he was sworn in as President of South Africa.</p> <figure id="attachment_4995" style="width: 2280px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><noscript><img class="size-full wp-image-4995 " src="https://web.archive.org/web/20190103164203im_/http://www.achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/Academy1156_RT8.jpg"></noscript><img class="size-full wp-image-4995 lazyload" alt="At the 2003 Washington, D.C. Summit, South Africa's Desmond Tutu receives the Academy's Golden Plate Award from civil rights icon Coretta Scott King." width="2280" height="1520" data-sizes="(max-width: 2280px) 100vw, 2280px" data-srcset="/web/20190103164203im_/http://www.achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/Academy1156_RT8.jpg 2280w, /web/20190103164203im_/http://www.achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/Academy1156_RT8-380x253.jpg 380w, /web/20190103164203im_/http://www.achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/Academy1156_RT8-760x507.jpg 760w" data-src="https://web.archive.org/web/20190103164203/http://www.achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/Academy1156_RT8.jpg"><figcaption class="wp-caption-text">South Africa’s Archbishop Desmond Tutu receives the Academy of Achievement’s Golden Plate Award from Coretta Scott King at the Banquet ceremonies during the 2003 International Achievement Summit held in Washington, D.C.</figcaption></figure> <p>After 27 years at the helm of The King Center, Mrs. King turned over leadership of the Center to her son, Dexter Scott King, in 1995. She remained active in the causes of racial and economic justice, and in her remaining years devoted much of her energy to AIDS education and curbing gun violence. Although she died in 2006 at the age of 78, she remains an inspirational figure to men and women around the world.</p></body></html> <div class="clearfix"> <figure class="achiever__video-block"> <div class="embed-responsive embed-responsive-16by9"> <iframe class="embed-responsive-item " width="200" height="150" src="https://web.archive.org/web/20190103164203if_/https://www.youtube.com/embed/n82rgdbM9G4?feature=oembed&autohide=1&hd=1&color=white&modestbranding=1&rel=0&showinfo=0&theme=light&start=0&end=160&version=3" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe> </div> <figcaption class="achiever__interview-video__copy m-t-1"> <p><strong>View and listen to Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s historic “I Have a Dream” speech, delivered on the steps of Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C., August 28, 1963.</strong></p> </figcaption> </figure> <figure class="achiever__video-block"> <div class="embed-responsive embed-responsive-16by9"> <iframe class="embed-responsive-item embed-responsive--has-thumbnail" width="200" height="150" src="https://web.archive.org/web/20190103164203if_/https://www.youtube.com/embed/IXlYwJPJtkI?feature=oembed&autohide=1&hd=1&color=white&modestbranding=1&rel=0&showinfo=0&theme=light&start=0&end=81&version=3" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe> <div class="embed-responsive__thumbnail ratio-container__image lazyload" data-sizes="auto" data-bgset="/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/ATV-Angelou-in-Pink-Red-Justice-Citizen.00_27_21_09.Still002-380x214.jpg [(max-width:576px)] | /wp-content/uploads/2016/07/ATV-Angelou-in-Pink-Red-Justice-Citizen.00_27_21_09.Still002-760x428.jpg"></div> <i class="embed-responsive__play icon-icon_play-full text-brand-primary"></i> </div> <figcaption class="achiever__interview-video__copy m-t-1"> <p class="p1">Member of the American Academy of Achievement, poet and best-selling author, <span class="s2">Maya Angelou</span> shares her interpretation of Dr. Martin Luther King’s “I Have a Dream” speech.</p> </figcaption> </figure> </div> </article> </div> </section> </div> <div class="tab-pane fade" id="profile" role="tabpanel"> <section class="clearfix"> <header class="editorial-article__header"> <figure class="text-xs-center"> <img class="inductee-badge" src="/web/20190103164203im_/http://www.achievement.org/wp-content/themes/aoa/assets/images/inducted-badge@2x.png" alt="Inducted Badge" width="120" height="120"/> <figcaption class="serif-3 text-brand-primary"> Inducted in 1997 </figcaption> </figure> </header> <div class="row"> <aside class="col-md-4 sidebar"> <dl class="clearfix m-b-0"> <div class="col-xs-12 sidebar--chunk p-b-2"> <dt class="serif-7">Career</dt> <dd class="sans-2"> <div><a href="/web/20190103164203/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/#filter=.activist">Activist</a></div> </dd> </div> <div class="col-xs-12 sidebar--chunk p-b-2"> <dt class="serif-7">Date of Birth</dt> <dd class="sans-2"> April 27, 1927 </dd> </div> <div class="col-xs-12 sidebar--chunk p-b-2"> <dt class="serif-7">Date of Death</dt> <dd class="sans-2"> January 30, 2006 </dd> </div> </dl> </aside> <article class="col-md-8 editorial-article clearfix"> <p class="inputTextFirst">“When I went to the movies with other black children, we had to sit in the balcony while the white kids got to sit in the better seats below. We had to walk to school while the white children rode in school buses paid for by our parents’ taxes. Such messages, saying we were inferior, were a daily part of our lives.”</p> <p class="inputText">Young Coretta Scott’s gift for music and enthusiasm for education led her far beyond the segregated world of her childhood, but when she met the young Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., the two resolved to return to the Deep South together and pursue the cause of justice in her own home state of Alabama. The Montgomery bus boycott thrust the young couple to the forefront of a revitalized civil rights movement, even as it exposed their growing family to the retaliation of those who opposed any change in the old system.</p> <p class="inputText">Braving death threats and surviving the bombing of their home by white supremacists, Coretta Scott King stood by the cause and her husband, from the Birmingham jail to the steps of the Lincoln Memorial, from the March on Washington, to a stage in Oslo, Norway, where he accepted the Nobel Prize for Peace. After his assassination, she inspired the world with her courage, dignity and tireless devotion to preserving Dr. King’s legacy.</p> <p class="inputText">As founding President, Chair, and Chief Executive Officer of The Martin Luther King, Jr. Center for Nonviolent Social Change, she saw that tens of thousands of activists from all over the world were trained in the philosophy and practice of nonviolence. She served as an advisor to freedom and democracy movements all over the world, and as a consultant to world leaders including President Corazon Aquino of the Philippines, President Kenneth Kaunda of Zambia, and President Nelson Mandela of South Africa. One of the world’s most admired women, she remained an outspoken champion of justice and human dignity to the end of her days.</p> </article> </div> </section> </div> <div class="tab-pane fade" id="interview" role="tabpanel"> <section class="clearfix"> <div class="col-md-12 interview-feature-video"> <figure> <div class="embed-responsive embed-responsive-16by9"> <iframe class="embed-responsive-item embed-responsive--has-thumbnail" width="200" height="150" src="https://web.archive.org/web/20190103164203if_/https://www.youtube.com/embed/7DX5pyvAXz0?feature=oembed&autohide=1&hd=1&color=white&modestbranding=1&rel=0&showinfo=0&theme=light&start=0&end=2106&version=3" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe> <div class="embed-responsive__thumbnail ratio-container__image lazyload" data-sizes="auto" data-bgset="/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/King-Coretta-Scott-MasterEdit.00_19_56_19.Still008-380x214.jpg [(max-width:576px)] | /wp-content/uploads/2016/07/King-Coretta-Scott-MasterEdit.00_19_56_19.Still008-760x428.jpg"></div> <div class="video-tag sans-4"> <i class="embed-responsive__play icon-icon_play-full text-brand-primary"></i> <div class="video-tag__text">Watch full interview</div> </div> </div> </figure> </div> <header class="col-md-12 text-xs-center m-b-2"> <i class="icon-icon_bio text-brand-primary"></i> </header> <aside class="col-md-4 sidebar"> <h2 class="serif-3 achiever--biography-subtitle">Congressional Gold Medal</h2> <div class="sans-2">Chicago, Illinois</div> <div class="sans-2">June 12, 2004</div> </aside> <article class="editorial-article col-md-8">   <div class="achiever__interview-copy"> <p>(On June 18, 1999, Coretta Scott King addressed the American Academy of Achievement at the National Cathedral in Washington, D.C. Excerpts from her remarks on that occasion are interspersed throughout two video interviews <span class="st" data-hveid="44" data-ved="0ahUKEwiRzO6Q7LzQAhVJlZAKHXo2CHQQ4EUILDAB">—</span> one from 1999 and the other from 2004.)</p> <p><strong>You were a music student in Boston when you met Martin Luther King, Jr. for the first time. Did you ever imagine that the two of you would play such an important part in the Civil Rights Movement?</strong></p> <p>Coretta Scott King: No, I didn’t.</p> </div>     <div class="achiever__video-block"> <figure class="achiever__interview-video"> <div class="embed-responsive embed-responsive-16by9"> <iframe class="embed-responsive-item embed-responsive--has-thumbnail" width="200" height="150" src="https://web.archive.org/web/20190103164203if_/https://www.youtube.com/embed/Z4L1v1-51CI?feature=oembed&autohide=1&hd=1&color=white&modestbranding=1&rel=0&showinfo=0&theme=light&start=0&end=68&version=3" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe> <div class="embed-responsive__thumbnail ratio-container__image lazyload" data-sizes="auto" data-bgset="/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/King-Coretta-Scott-MasterEdit.00_07_40_21.Still002-380x214.jpg [(max-width:576px)] | /wp-content/uploads/2016/07/King-Coretta-Scott-MasterEdit.00_07_40_21.Still002-760x428.jpg"></div> <i class="embed-responsive__play icon-icon_play-full text-brand-primary"></i> </div> </figure>  <div class="achiever__interview-video__copy"> <p>I don’t think that my husband, although he said he was going to go back south and fight to change the system — and he was thinking about not just in Alabama or in Georgia, but he was talking about making our society more inclusive, changing the system so that everybody could participate — although he talked about that at that time, we never dreamed that we would have an opportunity, that we would be projected into the forefront of the struggle as we were. We were just going to work from, as he said, a black Baptist Church pulpit. That was the freest place in the society at that time, but we had no idea what God had in store for us. And I do believe it was divine intervention that we were thrust into the forefront of the struggle.</p> </div> </div>      <div class="achiever__video-block"> <figure class="achiever__interview-video"> <div class="embed-responsive embed-responsive-16by9"> <iframe class="embed-responsive-item embed-responsive--has-thumbnail" width="200" height="150" src="https://web.archive.org/web/20190103164203if_/https://www.youtube.com/embed/RiCx2KNgCxQ?feature=oembed&autohide=1&hd=1&color=white&modestbranding=1&rel=0&showinfo=0&theme=light&start=0&end=54&version=3" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe> <div class="embed-responsive__thumbnail ratio-container__image lazyload" data-sizes="auto" data-bgset="/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/King-Coretta-Scott-MasterEdit.00_36_43_05.Still012-380x214.jpg [(max-width:576px)] | /wp-content/uploads/2016/07/King-Coretta-Scott-MasterEdit.00_36_43_05.Still012-760x428.jpg"></div> <i class="embed-responsive__play icon-icon_play-full text-brand-primary"></i> </div> <figcaption class="achiever__interview-video-terms"> <span>Keys to success —</span> <a class="comma-item" href="/web/20190103164203/http://www.achievement.org/keys-to-success/vision/">Vision</a> </figcaption> </figure>  <div class="achiever__interview-video__copy"> <p>After we married, we moved to Montgomery, Alabama, where my husband had accepted an invitation to be the pastor of Dexter Avenue Baptist Church. Before long, we found ourselves in the middle of the Montgomery bus boycott, and Martin was elected leader of the protest movement. As the boycott continued, I had a growing sense that I was involved in something so much greater than myself, something of profound historic importance. I came to the realization that we had been thrust into the forefront of a movement to liberate oppressed people, not only in Montgomery but also throughout our country, and this movement had worldwide implications. I felt blessed to have been called to be a part of such a noble and historic cause.</p> </div> </div>      <div class="achiever__interview-copy"> <!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-html40/loose.dtd"> <html><body><figure id="attachment_8744" style="width: 2255px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><noscript><img class="wp-image-8744 size-full " src="https://web.archive.org/web/20190103164203im_/http://162.243.3.155/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/wordpress-wedding.jpg"></noscript><img class="wp-image-8744 size-full lazyload" alt="Martin Luther King, Jr. and Coretta Scott King at the Montgomery, Alabama courthouse where Dr. King was tried for leading the bus boycott that brought national attention to the Civil Rights Movement. March 22, 1956. (AP Images/Gene Herrick)" width="2255" height="3000" data-sizes="(max-width: 2255px) 100vw, 2255px" data-srcset="/web/20190103164203im_/http://www.achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/wordpress-wedding.jpg 2255w, /web/20190103164203im_/http://www.achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/wordpress-wedding-286x380.jpg 286w, /web/20190103164203im_/http://www.achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/wordpress-wedding-571x760.jpg 571w" data-src="https://web.archive.org/web/20190103164203/http://162.243.3.155/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/wordpress-wedding.jpg"><figcaption class="wp-caption-text">Martin Luther King, Jr. and Coretta Scott King at the Montgomery, Alabama courthouse where Dr. King was tried for leading the bus boycott that brought national attention to the Civil Rights Movement. March 22, 1956. (AP)</figcaption></figure><p><strong>When Dr. King was asked to lead the Montgomery bus boycott, you had just had your first child. What are your memories of those days? What stands out for you?</strong></p></body></html> </div>     <div class="achiever__video-block"> <figure class="achiever__interview-video"> <div class="embed-responsive embed-responsive-16by9"> <iframe class="embed-responsive-item embed-responsive--has-thumbnail" width="200" height="150" src="https://web.archive.org/web/20190103164203if_/https://www.youtube.com/embed/Efc1h-_kZa4?feature=oembed&autohide=1&hd=1&color=white&modestbranding=1&rel=0&showinfo=0&theme=light&start=0&end=68&version=3" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe> <div class="embed-responsive__thumbnail ratio-container__image lazyload" data-sizes="auto" data-bgset="/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/King-Coretta-Scott-MasterEdit.00_09_47_20.Still005-380x214.jpg [(max-width:576px)] | /wp-content/uploads/2016/07/King-Coretta-Scott-MasterEdit.00_09_47_20.Still005-760x428.jpg"></div> <i class="embed-responsive__play icon-icon_play-full text-brand-primary"></i> </div> </figure>  <div class="achiever__interview-video__copy"> <p>Well, first of all, I was extremely excited about what was going on because this was something that had never happened before, and I knew this was history-making, and I also knew that it was not only happening in Montgomery but it was — the impact of this was maybe much further — much more extensive than Montgomery because during the Montgomery boycott we heard that there was a boycott in Johannesburg, South Africa of buses, and also there was one in Mobile and in Tallahassee, so it was like it was spreading but we also knew that the struggle was much bigger than a boycott. It was about the injustices in our society. It was about changing the society in such a way and changing the laws of the government locally, and certainly nationally we had to create new laws to protect us and protect the rights once they were won.</p> </div> </div>      <div class="achiever__interview-copy"> <p><strong>On a personal level, you had an extraordinary realization during the time of the Montgomery, Alabama bus desegregation court hearings. Can you take us back to that time in your life and express your personal concerns, but also the results of your soul searching?</strong></p> </div>     <div class="achiever__video-block"> <figure class="achiever__interview-video"> <div class="embed-responsive embed-responsive-16by9"> <iframe class="embed-responsive-item embed-responsive--has-thumbnail" width="200" height="150" src="https://web.archive.org/web/20190103164203if_/https://www.youtube.com/embed/nKygN7VCQXc?feature=oembed&autohide=1&hd=1&color=white&modestbranding=1&rel=0&showinfo=0&theme=light&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe> <div class="embed-responsive__thumbnail ratio-container__image lazyload" data-sizes="auto" data-bgset="/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/King-Coretta-Scott-MasterEdit.00_05_37_04.Still001-380x214.jpg [(max-width:576px)] | /wp-content/uploads/2016/07/King-Coretta-Scott-MasterEdit.00_05_37_04.Still001-760x428.jpg"></div> <i class="embed-responsive__play icon-icon_play-full text-brand-primary"></i> </div> </figure>  <div class="achiever__interview-video__copy"> <p>We even experienced what was like modern day miracles when things happened. Like when the Supreme Court had ruled on bus desegregation, we were in court that day because the City of Montgomery was having a hearing and was trying to outlaw our transportation system and, if it had, maybe the people would have gotten tired and gone back to the buses. And my husband was very worried, and I said to him, “You know what? I think that by the time we go to court, and by the time the judge rules, that the Supreme Court will have ruled.” And we felt that if the Supreme Court ruled it would be in our favor and that was my consolation. Sure enough, while we were in court Associated Press — an Associated Press reporter handed a note to my husband and it said, “The Supreme Court of the United States has ruled today that bus segregation in Montgomery is unconstitutional.” So that ended the court session. So it was that kind of thing and intervention again that helped us to realize that we were doing the right thing, and we continued to do that, and more importantly that we had been called. I had been called personally to be in Montgomery at that time because I had always sought my purpose. As a teenager I began to think about what my life was going to be like and going to college. That was one level. Going beyond there was the next level. Going to prepare for a music career, but when I got to Boston there was, I realized, another reason for me being there. And then I wondered why Martin Luther King, Jr., a minister, that I didn’t think I would ever marry a minister, and then he was going back south, I wanted to go back south, but I wasn’t prepared to go at that time, because I had to finish my work, and finally in Montgomery — and then things began to happen and the house was bombed. So I did a lot of soul searching after that and tried to remember, you know, try to think back of how I got there, and I realized that all my life I had been being prepared for this role, and that we were supposed to be there in Montgomery. And it was a great feeling of satisfaction because I realized that I had found my purpose.</p> </div> </div>      <div class="achiever__interview-copy"> <!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-html40/loose.dtd"> <html><body><figure id="attachment_8735" style="width: 2280px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><noscript><img class="wp-image-8735 size-full " src="https://web.archive.org/web/20190103164203im_/http://162.243.3.155/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/wordpress-fp001272.jpg"></noscript><img class="wp-image-8735 size-full lazyload" alt="Coretta Scott King and her daughters Yolanda and Bernice talk with a fellow parishioner outside Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta. November 8, 1964. (© Flip Schulke/CORBIS)" width="2280" height="3399" data-sizes="(max-width: 2280px) 100vw, 2280px" data-srcset="/web/20190103164203im_/http://www.achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/wordpress-fp001272.jpg 2280w, /web/20190103164203im_/http://www.achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/wordpress-fp001272-255x380.jpg 255w, /web/20190103164203im_/http://www.achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/wordpress-fp001272-510x760.jpg 510w" data-src="https://web.archive.org/web/20190103164203/http://162.243.3.155/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/wordpress-fp001272.jpg"><figcaption class="wp-caption-text">1964: Mrs. King and daughters Yolanda and Bernice talk with parishioners at Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta.</figcaption></figure><p><strong>There were threats on your husband’s life, your life and your family. When did you realize that you would be dedicating your life to this movement?</strong></p></body></html> </div>     <div class="achiever__video-block"> <figure class="achiever__interview-video"> <div class="embed-responsive embed-responsive-16by9"> <iframe class="embed-responsive-item embed-responsive--has-thumbnail" width="200" height="150" src="https://web.archive.org/web/20190103164203if_/https://www.youtube.com/embed/0frduE5m2tw?feature=oembed&autohide=1&hd=1&color=white&modestbranding=1&rel=0&showinfo=0&theme=light&start=0&end=132&version=3" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe> <div class="embed-responsive__thumbnail ratio-container__image lazyload" data-sizes="auto" data-bgset="/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/King-Coretta-Scott-MasterEdit.00_22_26_04.Still010-380x214.jpg [(max-width:576px)] | /wp-content/uploads/2016/07/King-Coretta-Scott-MasterEdit.00_22_26_04.Still010-760x428.jpg"></div> <i class="embed-responsive__play icon-icon_play-full text-brand-primary"></i> </div> <figcaption class="achiever__interview-video-terms"> <span>Keys to success —</span> <a class="comma-item" href="/web/20190103164203/http://www.achievement.org/keys-to-success/courage/">Courage</a> </figcaption> </figure>  <div class="achiever__interview-video__copy"> <p>I realized when Montgomery started that this was probably the reason we were called to Montgomery. After my house was bombed, and of course, all the threats on my husband’s life, on my life too. I realized I could have been killed as well — because I was in the house when the bomb hit the front porch — with my young baby. And the callers had been calling, and they said that they were going to bomb our house, told my husband they were going to bomb his house and kill his family if he didn’t leave town in three days. And of course he didn’t leave town in three days, and they did bomb the house. So knowing that they meant what they said, because they actually did bomb the house — the bomb was not strong enough to destroy the house, but if it had been, then that would have been very, very sad for all of us, certainly for me and my baby and my husband. But the fact is that I had to deal with the fact that if I continued in the struggle, I too could be killed, and that’s when I started praying very seriously about my commitment and whether or not I would be able to stick with my husband to continue in the struggle. And of course it wasn’t that difficult. It was a struggle, but I knew that we were doing the right thing. I always felt that what was happening in Montgomery was part of God’s will and purpose, and we were put there to be in the forefront of that struggle, and it wasn’t just a struggle relegated to Montgomery, Alabama or the South, but that it had worldwide implications. And I felt, really, a sense of fulfillment that I hadn’t felt before, that this was really what I was supposed to be doing, and it was a great blessing to have discovered this, and to be doing what was God’s will for your life.</p> </div> </div>      <div class="achiever__video-block"> <figure class="achiever__interview-video"> <div class="embed-responsive embed-responsive-16by9"> <iframe class="embed-responsive-item embed-responsive--has-thumbnail" width="200" height="150" src="https://web.archive.org/web/20190103164203if_/https://www.youtube.com/embed/po-PNVOzsVU?feature=oembed&autohide=1&hd=1&color=white&modestbranding=1&rel=0&showinfo=0&theme=light&start=0&end=89&version=3" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe> <div class="embed-responsive__thumbnail ratio-container__image lazyload" data-sizes="auto" data-bgset="/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/King-Coretta-Scott-MasterEdit.00_33_11_09.Still013-380x214.jpg [(max-width:576px)] | /wp-content/uploads/2016/07/King-Coretta-Scott-MasterEdit.00_33_11_09.Still013-760x428.jpg"></div> <i class="embed-responsive__play icon-icon_play-full text-brand-primary"></i> </div> <figcaption class="achiever__interview-video-terms"> <span>Keys to success —</span> <a class="comma-item" href="/web/20190103164203/http://www.achievement.org/keys-to-success/perseverance/">Perseverance</a> </figcaption> </figure>  <div class="achiever__interview-video__copy"> <p>After we were successful in desegregating the buses in Montgomery, the nonviolent revolution we launched in Montgomery spread like a prairie fire across the southern states. My husband led nonviolent protest campaigns against racism and segregation in cities across the South as well as in Chicago, Cleveland, and other cities in the North. During this time, I had three more children and participated in movement activities as much as possible. People asked me how was I able to do this and raise four children at the same time. I can only reply that when God calls you to a great task, he provides you with the strength to accomplish what he has called you to do. Faith and prayer, family and friends were always available when I needed them, and of course Martin and I always were there for each other. I learned that when you are willing to make sacrifices for a great cause, you will never be alone, because you will have divine companionship and the support of good people. This same faith and cosmic companionship sustained me after my husband was assassinated, and gave me the strength to make my contribution to carrying forward his unfinished work.</p> </div> </div>      <div class="achiever__interview-copy"> <!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-html40/loose.dtd"> <html><body><figure id="attachment_8741" style="width: 2128px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><noscript><img class="wp-image-8741 size-full " src="https://web.archive.org/web/20190103164203im_/http://162.243.3.155/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/wordpress-march.jpg"></noscript><img class="wp-image-8741 size-full lazyload" alt="Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and Coretta Scott King on the five-day march to Montgomery, Alabama, March 25, 1965. (© Bettmann/CORBIS)" width="2128" height="3047" data-sizes="(max-width: 2128px) 100vw, 2128px" data-srcset="/web/20190103164203im_/http://www.achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/wordpress-march.jpg 2128w, /web/20190103164203im_/http://www.achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/wordpress-march-265x380.jpg 265w, /web/20190103164203im_/http://www.achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/wordpress-march-531x760.jpg 531w" data-src="https://web.archive.org/web/20190103164203/http://162.243.3.155/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/wordpress-march.jpg"><figcaption class="wp-caption-text">Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and Coretta Scott King on the five-day march to Montgomery, Alabama, March 25, 1965.</figcaption></figure><p><strong>What inspired you? What kept you going?</strong></p></body></html> </div>     <div class="achiever__video-block"> <figure class="achiever__interview-video"> <div class="embed-responsive embed-responsive-16by9"> <iframe class="embed-responsive-item embed-responsive--has-thumbnail" width="200" height="150" src="https://web.archive.org/web/20190103164203if_/https://www.youtube.com/embed/WbZuKt5k6go?feature=oembed&autohide=1&hd=1&color=white&modestbranding=1&rel=0&showinfo=0&theme=light&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe> <div class="embed-responsive__thumbnail ratio-container__image lazyload" data-sizes="auto" data-bgset="/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/King-Coretta-Scott-MasterEdit.00_05_17_05.Still003-380x214.jpg [(max-width:576px)] | /wp-content/uploads/2016/07/King-Coretta-Scott-MasterEdit.00_05_17_05.Still003-760x428.jpg"></div> <i class="embed-responsive__play icon-icon_play-full text-brand-primary"></i> </div> <figcaption class="achiever__interview-video-terms"> <span>Keys to success —</span> <a class="comma-item" href="/web/20190103164203/http://www.achievement.org/keys-to-success/perseverance/">Perseverance</a> </figcaption> </figure>  <div class="achiever__interview-video__copy"> <p>Well, it was the belief that we were doing the right thing. Because it had never happened before, it was like, you know, the Supreme Court decision had been rendered in 1954, and this was in 1955, and we were all motivated by that and knowing that this meant the beginning of breaking down the system of segregation. We recognized that if the schools could desegregate, this means that other things can desegregate as well, so with Montgomery happening, it was like an intervention there that God had planted Rosa Parks and also Martin Luther King, Jr. And so you had the sense that something very, very significant was happening and that it had — it would have impact beyond — around the world that we were not only struggling to free the people of the South but oppressed people around the world. And we had no idea where it was leading but we had a sense that it was leading to something much more significant than what we were involved in at the time. And each time there was things — for instance, the stabbing incident when Martin was stabbed in Harlem. I mean, it’s like it made no sense except that God was preparing us for something even bigger. And then when the Nobel Peace Prize came along, which we were rewarded in a sense for our struggles, it was like, but this is still not it, because we have not achieved the peace that he was awarded — the award represented, but we still have a long way to go. So it was always not knowing what the future held, but we knew that we were on the right path, and you had a sense of, as Martin used to say, “cosmic companionship,” and that kept you going.</p> </div> </div>      <div class="achiever__interview-copy"> <!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-html40/loose.dtd"> <html><body><figure id="attachment_8731" style="width: 2435px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><noscript><img class="wp-image-8731 size-full " src="https://web.archive.org/web/20190103164203im_/http://162.243.3.155/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/wordpress-be025957.jpg"></noscript><img class="wp-image-8731 size-full lazyload" alt="October 14, 1964: Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and Coretta Scott King during a news conference following the announcement that he had been awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. (Corbis/Bettman)" width="2435" height="3628" data-sizes="(max-width: 2435px) 100vw, 2435px" data-srcset="/web/20190103164203im_/http://www.achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/wordpress-be025957.jpg 2435w, /web/20190103164203im_/http://www.achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/wordpress-be025957-255x380.jpg 255w, /web/20190103164203im_/http://www.achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/wordpress-be025957-510x760.jpg 510w" data-src="https://web.archive.org/web/20190103164203/http://162.243.3.155/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/wordpress-be025957.jpg"><figcaption class="wp-caption-text">1964: Dr. King and Coretta following the announcement that he had been awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. (Corbis)</figcaption></figure><p><strong>Someone else in your position might have felt that she had given enough, or sacrificed too much, and that someone else could carry the burden for a while. Why didn’t you feel that way?</strong></p></body></html> </div>     <div class="achiever__video-block"> <figure class="achiever__interview-video"> <div class="embed-responsive embed-responsive-16by9"> <iframe class="embed-responsive-item embed-responsive--has-thumbnail" width="200" height="150" src="https://web.archive.org/web/20190103164203if_/https://www.youtube.com/embed/aNupyHI08rI?feature=oembed&autohide=1&hd=1&color=white&modestbranding=1&rel=0&showinfo=0&theme=light&start=0&end=144&version=3" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe> <div class="embed-responsive__thumbnail ratio-container__image lazyload" data-sizes="auto" data-bgset="/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/King-Coretta-Scott-MasterEdit.00_15_07_05.Still006-380x214.jpg [(max-width:576px)] | /wp-content/uploads/2016/07/King-Coretta-Scott-MasterEdit.00_15_07_05.Still006-760x428.jpg"></div> <i class="embed-responsive__play icon-icon_play-full text-brand-primary"></i> </div> <figcaption class="achiever__interview-video-terms"> <span>Keys to success —</span> <a class="comma-item" href="/web/20190103164203/http://www.achievement.org/keys-to-success/perseverance/">Perseverance</a> </figcaption> </figure>  <div class="achiever__interview-video__copy"> <p>When I say I was married to the cause, I was married to my husband whom I loved — I learned to love, it wasn’t love at first sight — but I also became married to the cause. It was my cause, and that’s the way I felt about it. So when my husband was no longer there, then I could continue in that cause, and I prayed that God would give me the direction for my life, to give me the strength to do what it was, and the ability to do what it was that he had called me to do. And I was trying to seek, “What is it that I’m supposed to do, now that Martin is no longer here?” And I finally determined that it was to develop an institution. I was already involved in building the institution, but I wasn’t sure that that was it. I thought maybe it might have been with women, but then, of course, I didn’t get that feeling in particular, but always, because I felt there was a need to have more women involved, in organizing them as a support group to my husband, and I encouraged him to do that. And he didn’t do that in particular, and I thought, well maybe then, that might be what I’m supposed to do. But then I finally determined that it was the King Center, because Martin’s message and his meaning were so powerful, and his spirit I felt needed to be continued. I know that people’s spirits live on, but I think in a very positive, meaningful way, that young people would know that that influence was being continued. So I felt that my role, then, was to develop an institution, to institutionalize his philosophy, his principles of nonviolence and his methodology of social change, and that’s what I have spent my years doing. For 27 years, I was the president, founder, CEO — I’m still a founder; you’re always the founder — but I retired from that position in 1995, and my son Dexter is now in that position, but I still continue to do all the work that I can, to reach as many people as I can with the message.</p> </div> </div>     <aside class="collapse" id="full-interview">    <div class="achiever__interview-copy"> <p><strong>What was life like for you when you were growing up?</strong></p> <p>Coretta Scott King: I grew up in the Deep South. It was totally segregated in terms of race, and everything was separate but unequal. I had wonderful parents who inspired me to be the best person that I could be, and my mother always told me that I was going to go to college, even if she didn’t have but one dress to put on. So I grew up knowing that I was going to somehow find a way out of the situation I grew up in.</p> <p>I grew up on a farm. We were culturally deprived, but we were not poor in the sense that we didn’t have very much. We had limited resources, because in the country at that time nobody had very much, and we had probably more than most people.</p> <p>As an African American child growing up in the segregated South, I was told, one way or another, almost every day of my life, that I wasn’t as good as a white child. When I went to the movies with other black children, we had to sit in the balcony while the white kids got to sit in the better seats below. We had to walk to school while the white children rode in school buses paid for by our parents’ taxes. Such messages, saying we were inferior, were a daily part of our lives. But I was blessed with parents who taught me not to let anyone make me feel like I wasn’t good enough, and as my mother told me, “You are just as good as anyone else. You get an education and try to be somebody. Then you won’t have to be kicked around by anybody, and you won’t have to depend on anyone for your livelihood, not even a man.”</p> <p>My parents taught me some wonderful values that have have stayed with me, and I’ve built on them throughout my life. If it hadn’t been for my parents, who I consider heroes, I wouldn’t be the kind of person I am. I am very thankful and grateful for them. So I went to a good school, a good private school, because that was the only school close by, and it was semi-private at the time, and that school also prepared me to go on to college. I went to Antioch College in Yellow Springs, Ohio. Antioch College, as you probably realize, is a college that teaches people how to have a world view. All races and religions were represented there, and it was an excellent education. I had a very broad background in liberal arts, and I had work experience as well. Antioch was about making change in societies, about social change, which was preparing me at that time for the role that I would play later in life.</p> <p><strong>Did you have any favorite books when you were growing up? Is there something you remember reading as a young person that had a big impact on you?</strong></p> <p>Coretta Scott King: I was inspired by the words of many, many persons. I used to recite a lot of poetry, and I was inspired by the words of Longfellow, “Lives of great men all remind us…” Even though I was a female, I thought, “Of course, that means me, too.”</p> <p>“Lives of great men all remind us</p> <p>We can make our lives sublime</p> <p>And departing leave behind us</p> <p>Footprints on the sands of time.”</p> <p>And so on.</p> <p><strong>Besides your parents, were there other heroes or role models who were particularly important to you?</strong></p> <p>Coretta Scott King: I was inspired by the likes of Mrs. Eleanor Roosevelt, because I was in high school during the ’40, and of course President Roosevelt was a hero of mine. I used to love to hear him speak, and I recognized the voice whenever he came on the radio, because we didn’t have televisions back then. I never got to meet Mrs. Roosevelt. Mrs. Mary McLeod Bethune, a black woman who became an advisor to President Roosevelt and founded a school in Florida — the Bethune-Cookman College — was another great black woman that was a role model for me. And then, of course, there was Paul Robeson, who was a great singer and had such a commanding presence. When I first met him and he performed, you could just feel so much power when he walked out on the stage, and his words were so meaningful — his very deep voice, both speaking and singing.</p> <p><strong>We’ve read stories of your having to go five miles to go to school and of your mother having to arrange for transportation so the black kids in your area could even go to high school. What was that like for you?</strong></p> <p>It was the way it was. I didn’t like it and I always felt less — I knew I was important as they were but it just — it sort of brought down a curtain, you know, in a sense in my selfhood and helped me to be more — become more determined to get out of that situation and to try to do something about it when I finally — when I had an opportunity. I was determined myself to get an education, to get the best education possible, and to be able to come back and give back something to the community, and that was what I really went to college with my mind on as well as the New England Conservatory of Music. So I attended the New England Conservatory on a scholarship; I had a scholarship to Antioch and a scholarship to the Conservatory.</p> <p><strong>You were studying music when you met your husband, Dr. King. How did that come about? Was there someone who influenced you or encouraged you in that direction?</strong></p> <p>Coretta Scott King: I studied elementary education and music at Antioch, and I couldn’t get a full music degree but I always wanted to study music; that was my first love. In high school, I had a teacher who influenced me greatly, Miss Olive J. Williams, and she was versatile in music, and I wanted to be like her. She exposed me to the world of classical music. Before then, I had never heard classical music. She exposed me also to the great composers of the world, as well as black performers, which I didn’t know about at the time: Marian Anderson, Paul Robeson, Roland Hayes and Dorothy Maynor and others. So I got my foundation and my beginning there, and then, at Antioch, I built on that with another teacher named Walter Anderson. He was the one who eventually encouraged me to apply when I graduated from Antioch to the New England Conservatory of Music in Boston.</p> <p><strong>Just as you were entering into a new chapter of your life in college you met your future husband. What were your early impressions of that developing relationship?</strong></p> <p>After my first semester in Boston in 1951, I met Martin Luther King, Jr. Of course, Martin Luther King, Jr. was studying for his doctorate in systematic theology, and he was going to go back South and pastor a Baptist Church, and he was looking for a wife. I wasn’t looking for a husband, but he was a wonderful human being, and he made everyone feel special, and he made me feel very special as a woman. I still resisted his overtures, but after he persisted, I had to pray about it, because my parents were religious, I was brought up in the church, and I had a strong faith. I always believed that there was a purpose for my life, and that I had to seek that purpose, and that if I discovered that purpose, then I believed that I would be successful in what I was doing. And I thought I had found that purpose when I decided that music was going to be my career — concert singing. I was going to be trained as a concert singer at the New England Conservatory of Music. I studied voice the first year, and after I met Martin and prayed about whether or not I should open myself to that relationship, I had a dream, and in that dream, I was made to feel that I should allow myself to be open and stop fighting the relationship. And that’s what I did, and of course the rest is history.</p> <p><strong>But you finished your music education, didn’t you? How did you make use of your musical training after your marriage?</strong></p> <p>Coretta Scott King: I finished Conservatory with a degree in voice and music education, and my second instrument was violin. I started doing concerts when I was a college student, and after we moved to Montgomery — my husband was called to a church there — I continued to perform. I performed concerts the first year, got pregnant, had to stop, performed between babies — I have four children — and I was doing standard concerts when I had my fourth child. I realized I could not continue to do that that way. And, I developed the “Freedom Concert” concept, where I narrated the story of the civil rights movement that we were involved in, and sang freedom songs in between the narrations that told the story of our struggle from Montgomery to Washington at that time. In 1964, I did my debut with my Freedom Concert at Town Hall, raised money for the cause, and the rest of the time I raised money for my husband’s organization doing Freedom Concerts across the country and so forth.</p> <p><strong>How do you see your work now? What challenges do you see for humanity in the new century?</strong></p> <p>Coretta Scott King: I think what I’ve tried to do is to empower people to understand that they can make a difference. And by using the method of nonviolence as a way of life, it becomes internalized into your life; so everything that you seek to do, you use those principles and those steps, based on those principles, and the steps and methodologies, so that if you have a problem or a conflict in whatever it is you are doing, you are able to better resolve that. And if it is dealing with people, certainly you’ll know how to resolve that and become reconciled and to move forward.</p> <p>Today we have so many problems. Some of them are new problems. You have the human rights struggle continuing, but you also have problems like HIV and AIDS. I think young people have to be dedicated to find ways to deal with these problems, to educate the whole world, because the world as a whole needs to be educated. We have a lot of education that needs to be done here in this country so that people can avoid getting the disease. We know that people can live with the disease, but there is a tremendous amount of work that needs to be done there. There are other problems that we are fighting now. Violence is so pervasive. People have access to guns, and so many people are being killed. I’ve done a lot of work with the handgun control organization — it’s called the Brady Organization now — with Sarah and Jim Brady. There are many things that we can do now to get involved with so many of the causes that are tending to destroy us.</p> <p>I think that nonviolence allows you and empowers you to do what is necessary, because what you do is build coalitions. You can’t do all of it by yourself, but you can put together a coalition and get other people involved, or join organizations that are already involved and continue to work to eradicate poverty, of course, since poverty is still with us, very much so. My husband — it was one of the triple evils that he talked about — poverty, racism and war. And of course, they all are forms of violence, and we have to continue to work to make sure that people everywhere have a decent livelihood, that they have jobs, they have housing, they have health care, they have quality education. All of these areas that we still have to work on and to improve, so that the quality of life for all people is improved, and we can achieve indeed the “beloved community” that Martin talked about, that I believe in.</p> <p><strong>Did your belief in nonviolence ever waver? It was tested time after time after time. Did you ever think that maybe nonviolence was not the way to go?</strong></p> <p>Coretta Scott King: No, I really — I never thought that it wasn’t the way to go. I always — I guess because of my religious upbringing and, you know, I believed that even though we kind of stray away from it but you know what is right. I mean that you’ve been taught it was wrong to kill. I believe that firmly. I believe that you have to try to resolve your conflicts without violence. I believe that you have to give something back to society that has nurtured you and so I never got to the point where I felt that nonviolence was not viable. I just felt that when there was violence and it came from within, and very seldom violence did come from within, I realized that it wasn’t that it wouldn’t work, it’s that people didn’t follow the proper steps in trying to achieve it because there are a set of principles and there are a set of steps in the methodology that we were taught about nonviolence. And when we follow those they work. It may take a while but in order to have a peaceful solution and a lasting peace it has to be a nonviolent approach.</p> <p><strong>If one of these young people came to you and asked you for advice about how they should live their lives or how they can achieve what they hope to achieve, what would you say to them? What would be your advice to young people today?</strong></p> <p>Coretta Scott King: Well, certainly you have to get the best possible education and training that’s available and you have to decide that you need to learn as much about the world and society. And these young people live in a global village really.</p> <p>Everybody lives in a global village and a global community. I didn’t know at the time. I didn’t live in a global community, but I had a vision that I would be living in a global village. I knew I had to be prepared to be comfortable anywhere in the world. That was what my goal was. So these young people are being prepared differently than I was because they live in a different time but the most important thing they have to decide is not just to get an education and to be selfish about it but that they must prepare themselves to give back and to make a difference in the world. We have to create what my husband called “The Beloved Community.” If we are to survive we have to learn how to solve our problems and resolve our conflicts in a nonviolent manner. And so I think it’s important for them to realize that they have a personal responsibility, each one of them.</p> <p><strong>Looking to the future, what must be a priority for the next generation in order to foster a society of nonviolence and acceptance?</strong></p> <p>When I sat in the audience today and I thought about these young people who had gathered and I thought about how this all came together, I just wish that there were more gatherings such as what we have experienced here the weekend at the International Achievement Summit because if we are going to continue to change society for the better and if our world is to survive, we have got to invest in these young people in a way so that they know which is the best way and the right way. And I think the Academy is doing a great job.</p> <p><strong>Thank you so much for spending this time with us, Mrs. King.</strong></p> <p>Coretta Scott King: Thank you.</p> <p><strong>(Mrs. King closed her address to the Academy at the National Cathedral with the following words.)</strong></p> <p>On March 31st, 1968, just four days before Martin was assassinated, he delivered his last sermon, entitled “Remaining Awake Through a Great Revolution,” right here in this cathedral. In the sermon, Martin inspired us with his unshakable faith in the triumph of good over evil, and he said, “With this faith, we will be able to hew out of the mountain of despair the stone of hope. With this faith, we will be able to transform the jangling discord of our nation into a beautiful symphony of brotherhood.” And so today, I want to challenge you to make a courageous commitment, not only to achieve personal success, but to use your success to help create this beautiful symphony of brotherhood and sisterhood, and if you embrace this challenge with prayer and faith and determination, you will surely succeed, and the 21st Century will become a glorious new age of peace and progress for all humankind. May God bless you all and give you the strength to fulfill your dreams. Thank you.</p> </div>  </aside>  <div class="read-more__toggle collapsed" data-toggle="collapse" data-target="#full-interview"><a href="#" class="sans-4 btn">Read full interview</a></div> </article> </section> </div> <div class="tab-pane fade" id="gallery" role="tabpanel"> <section class="isotope-wrapper">  <header class="toolbar toolbar--gallery bg-white clearfix"> <div class="col-md-6"> <div class="serif-4">Coretta Scott King Gallery</div> </div> <div class="col-md-6 text-md-right isotope-toolbar"> <ul class="list-unstyled list-inline m-b-0 text-brand-primary sans-4"> <li class="list-inline-item" data-filter=".photo"><i class="icon-icon_camera"></i>21 photos</li> </ul> </div> </header> <div class="isotope-gallery isotope-box single-achiever__gallery clearfix"> <figure class="isotope-item ratio-container--gallery photo" data-category="photo" data-ratio="1.247947454844" title="" data-gtm-category="photo" data-gtm-action="click" data-gtm-label="Achiever - ">   <div class="lazyload ratio-container__image" data-toggle="modal" data-target="#imageModal" data-image-src="/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/robeson.jpg" data-image-caption="Paul Robeson (1898-1976): American actor, singer and social activist. (Corbis/Bettman)" data-image-copyright="robeson" data-sizes="auto" data-bgset="/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/robeson-304x380.jpg [(max-width:576px)] | /wp-content/uploads/2016/05/robeson-609x760.jpg"></div>  </figure> <figure class="isotope-item ratio-container--gallery photo" data-category="photo" data-ratio="1.3103448275862" title="" data-gtm-category="photo" data-gtm-action="click" data-gtm-label="Achiever - ">   <div class="lazyload ratio-container__image" data-toggle="modal" data-target="#imageModal" data-image-src="/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/wordpress-withbook.jpg" data-image-caption="Coretta Scott King displaying her book "My Life With Martin Luther King, Jr.," February 9, 1970. (Hulton Archive by Getty Images)" data-image-copyright="wordpress-withbook" data-sizes="auto" data-bgset="/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/wordpress-withbook-290x380.jpg [(max-width:576px)] | /wp-content/uploads/2016/05/wordpress-withbook-580x760.jpg"></div>  </figure> <figure class="isotope-item ratio-container--gallery photo" data-category="photo" data-ratio="1.3309982486865" title="" data-gtm-category="photo" data-gtm-action="click" data-gtm-label="Achiever - ">   <div class="lazyload ratio-container__image" data-toggle="modal" data-target="#imageModal" data-image-src="/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/wordpress-wedding.jpg" data-image-caption="Martin Luther King, Jr. and Coretta Scott King at the Montgomery, Alabama courthouse where Dr. King was tried for leading the bus boycott that brought national attention to the Civil Rights Movement. March 22, 1956. (AP Images/Gene Herrick)" data-image-copyright="wordpress-wedding" data-sizes="auto" data-bgset="/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/wordpress-wedding-286x380.jpg [(max-width:576px)] | /wp-content/uploads/2016/05/wordpress-wedding-571x760.jpg"></div>  </figure> <figure class="isotope-item ratio-container--gallery photo" data-category="photo" data-ratio="1.496062992126" title="" data-gtm-category="photo" data-gtm-action="click" data-gtm-label="Achiever - ">   <div class="lazyload ratio-container__image" data-toggle="modal" data-target="#imageModal" data-image-src="/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/wordpress-U1392049-8.jpg" data-image-caption="A photo taken from the top of the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C. shows how the March on Washington participants jammed the area in front of the memorial and on either side of the Reflecting Pool. Demonstrators are massed at the pool all the way back to the Washington Monument, August 28, 1963. (Image by © Bettmann/CORBIS)" data-image-copyright="The March on Washington at the Lincoln Memorial" data-sizes="auto" data-bgset="/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/wordpress-U1392049-8-254x380.jpg [(max-width:576px)] | /wp-content/uploads/2016/05/wordpress-U1392049-8-508x760.jpg"></div>  </figure> <figure class="isotope-item ratio-container--gallery photo" data-category="photo" data-ratio="0.67631578947368" title="" data-gtm-category="photo" data-gtm-action="click" data-gtm-label="Achiever - ">   <div class="lazyload ratio-container__image" data-toggle="modal" data-target="#imageModal" data-image-src="/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/wordpress-Reagan_signs_Martin_Luther_King_bill.jpg" data-image-caption="Coretta Scott King watches as President Ronald Reagan signs the bill commemorating Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s birthday as a national holiday on November 2, 1983 in the White House Rose Garden. (White House Photo Office)" data-image-copyright="Reagan signs bill" data-sizes="auto" data-bgset="/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/wordpress-Reagan_signs_Martin_Luther_King_bill-380x257.jpg [(max-width:576px)] | /wp-content/uploads/2016/05/wordpress-Reagan_signs_Martin_Luther_King_bill-760x514.jpg"></div>  </figure> <figure class="isotope-item ratio-container--gallery photo" data-category="photo" data-ratio="1.4312617702448" title="" data-gtm-category="photo" data-gtm-action="click" data-gtm-label="Achiever - ">   <div class="lazyload ratio-container__image" data-toggle="modal" data-target="#imageModal" data-image-src="/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/wordpress-march.jpg" data-image-caption="Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and Coretta Scott King on the five-day march to Montgomery, Alabama, March 25, 1965. (© Bettmann/CORBIS)" data-image-copyright="Martin Luther King Leading a March" data-sizes="auto" data-bgset="/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/wordpress-march-265x380.jpg [(max-width:576px)] | /wp-content/uploads/2016/05/wordpress-march-531x760.jpg"></div>  </figure> <figure class="isotope-item ratio-container--gallery photo" data-category="photo" data-ratio="0.75" title="" data-gtm-category="photo" data-gtm-action="click" data-gtm-label="Achiever - ">   <div class="lazyload ratio-container__image" data-toggle="modal" data-target="#imageModal" data-image-src="/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/wordpress-King-fp001479.jpg" data-image-caption="June 1966: Dr. King and wife, Coretta, march together along a rural Mississippi road with the March Against Fear." data-image-copyright="wordpress-King-fp001479" data-sizes="auto" data-bgset="/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/wordpress-King-fp001479-380x285.jpg [(max-width:576px)] | /wp-content/uploads/2016/05/wordpress-King-fp001479-760x570.jpg"></div>  </figure> <figure class="isotope-item ratio-container--gallery photo" data-category="photo" data-ratio="0.99342105263158" title="" data-gtm-category="photo" data-gtm-action="click" data-gtm-label="Achiever - ">   <div class="lazyload ratio-container__image" data-toggle="modal" data-target="#imageModal" data-image-src="/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/wordpress-king.jpg" data-image-caption="Civil rights leader Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and his wife, Coretta, in December 1964. They are preparing to depart for Oslo, Norway, to receive the Nobel Peace Prize. (AP Images)" data-image-copyright="wordpress-king" data-sizes="auto" data-bgset="/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/wordpress-king-380x377.jpg [(max-width:576px)] | /wp-content/uploads/2016/05/wordpress-king-760x755.jpg"></div>  </figure> <figure class="isotope-item ratio-container--gallery photo" data-category="photo" data-ratio="0.68026315789474" title="" data-gtm-category="photo" data-gtm-action="click" data-gtm-label="Achiever - ">   <div class="lazyload ratio-container__image" data-toggle="modal" data-target="#imageModal" data-image-src="/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/wordpress-GettyImages-2872843.jpg" data-image-caption="August 28, 1963: Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. waves from the steps of the Lincoln Memorial, on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., during the March on Washington, where King delivered his famous "I Have a Dream" speech, which is credited with mobilizing supporters of desegregation and prompting the 1964 Civil Rights Act. (Getty)" data-image-copyright="(FILES) US civil rights leader Martin Lu" data-sizes="auto" data-bgset="/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/wordpress-GettyImages-2872843-380x258.jpg [(max-width:576px)] | /wp-content/uploads/2016/05/wordpress-GettyImages-2872843-760x517.jpg"></div>  </figure> <figure class="isotope-item ratio-container--gallery photo" data-category="photo" data-ratio="1.5049504950495" title="" data-gtm-category="photo" data-gtm-action="click" data-gtm-label="Achiever - ">   <div class="lazyload ratio-container__image" data-toggle="modal" data-target="#imageModal" data-image-src="/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/wordpress-fp001602.jpg" data-image-caption="April 9, 1968: Coretta Scott King holds her sleeping daughter Bernice at the funeral of her husband, Martin Luther King, Jr., in Atlanta, Georgia. (Corbis/Bettman)" data-image-copyright="wordpress-fp001602" data-sizes="auto" data-bgset="/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/wordpress-fp001602-253x380.jpg [(max-width:576px)] | /wp-content/uploads/2016/05/wordpress-fp001602-505x760.jpg"></div>  </figure> <figure class="isotope-item ratio-container--gallery photo" data-category="photo" data-ratio="1.4990138067061" title="" data-gtm-category="photo" data-gtm-action="click" data-gtm-label="Achiever - ">   <div class="lazyload ratio-container__image" data-toggle="modal" data-target="#imageModal" data-image-src="/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/wordpress-fp001298.jpg" data-image-caption="1964: Coretta Scott King plays piano and sings with her children Yolanda, Marty, and Bernice at home after church." data-image-copyright="wordpress-fp001298" data-sizes="auto" data-bgset="/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/wordpress-fp001298-254x380.jpg [(max-width:576px)] | /wp-content/uploads/2016/05/wordpress-fp001298-507x760.jpg"></div>  </figure> <figure class="isotope-item ratio-container--gallery photo" data-category="photo" data-ratio="1.4901960784314" title="" data-gtm-category="photo" data-gtm-action="click" data-gtm-label="Achiever - ">   <div class="lazyload ratio-container__image" data-toggle="modal" data-target="#imageModal" data-image-src="/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/wordpress-fp001272.jpg" data-image-caption="Coretta Scott King and her daughters Yolanda and Bernice talk with a fellow parishioner outside Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta. November 8, 1964. (© Flip Schulke/CORBIS)" data-image-copyright="wordpress-fp001272" data-sizes="auto" data-bgset="/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/wordpress-fp001272-255x380.jpg [(max-width:576px)] | /wp-content/uploads/2016/05/wordpress-fp001272-510x760.jpg"></div>  </figure> <figure class="isotope-item ratio-container--gallery photo" data-category="photo" data-ratio="0.675" title="" data-gtm-category="photo" data-gtm-action="click" data-gtm-label="Achiever - ">   <div class="lazyload ratio-container__image" data-toggle="modal" data-target="#imageModal" data-image-src="/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/wordpress-fp001159.jpg" data-image-caption="Martin Luther King, Jr. eats Sunday dinner with his wife, Coretta Scott King, and their young children, at home in Atlanta. (© Flip Schulke/CORBIS)" data-image-copyright="wordpress-fp001159" data-sizes="auto" data-bgset="/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/wordpress-fp001159-380x257.jpg [(max-width:576px)] | /wp-content/uploads/2016/05/wordpress-fp001159-760x513.jpg"></div>  </figure> <figure class="isotope-item ratio-container--gallery photo" data-category="photo" data-ratio="0.59736842105263" title="" data-gtm-category="photo" data-gtm-action="click" data-gtm-label="Achiever - ">   <div class="lazyload ratio-container__image" data-toggle="modal" data-target="#imageModal" data-image-src="/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/wordpress-dexter.jpg" data-image-caption="For nearly 80 years, this one-story house in Montgomery, Alabama was the parsonage for Dexter Avenue Baptist Church. Martin Luther King, Jr. and Coretta Scott King lived here at the time of the 1955 bus boycott. Mrs. King and the Kings' infant daughter Yolanda narrowly escaped injury when the house was bombed in 1956. (AP Images)" data-image-copyright="wordpress-dexter" data-sizes="auto" data-bgset="/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/wordpress-dexter-380x227.jpg [(max-width:576px)] | /wp-content/uploads/2016/05/wordpress-dexter-760x454.jpg"></div>  </figure> <figure class="isotope-item ratio-container--gallery photo" data-category="photo" data-ratio="0.64078947368421" title="" data-gtm-category="photo" data-gtm-action="click" data-gtm-label="Achiever - ">   <div class="lazyload ratio-container__image" data-toggle="modal" data-target="#imageModal" data-image-src="/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/wordpress-CorettamarchingwithMLKgetty-.jpg" data-image-caption="Martin Luther King, Jr. with his wife, Coretta Scott King, and colleagues during the famous march from Selma, Alabama, to the state capital in Montgomery, March 1965. (Hulton Archive by Getty Images)" data-image-copyright="wordpress-CorettamarchingwithMLKgetty" data-sizes="auto" data-bgset="/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/wordpress-CorettamarchingwithMLKgetty--380x243.jpg [(max-width:576px)] | /wp-content/uploads/2016/05/wordpress-CorettamarchingwithMLKgetty--760x487.jpg"></div>  </figure> <figure class="isotope-item ratio-container--gallery photo" data-category="photo" data-ratio="1.4901960784314" title="" data-gtm-category="photo" data-gtm-action="click" data-gtm-label="Achiever - ">   <div class="lazyload ratio-container__image" data-toggle="modal" data-target="#imageModal" data-image-src="/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/wordpress-be025957.jpg" data-image-caption="October 14, 1964: Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and Coretta Scott King during a news conference following the announcement that he had been awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. (Corbis/Bettman)" data-image-copyright="wordpress-be025957" data-sizes="auto" data-bgset="/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/wordpress-be025957-255x380.jpg [(max-width:576px)] | /wp-content/uploads/2016/05/wordpress-be025957-510x760.jpg"></div>  </figure> <figure class="isotope-item ratio-container--gallery photo" data-category="photo" data-ratio="0.7" title="" data-gtm-category="photo" data-gtm-action="click" data-gtm-label="Achiever - ">   <div class="lazyload ratio-container__image" data-toggle="modal" data-target="#imageModal" data-image-src="/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/wordpress-680528057.jpg" data-image-caption="Coretta Scott King, at home in Atlanta, Georgia, shortly after the death of her husband in 1968. (AP Images)" data-image-copyright="wordpress-680528057" data-sizes="auto" data-bgset="/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/wordpress-680528057-380x266.jpg [(max-width:576px)] | /wp-content/uploads/2016/05/wordpress-680528057-760x532.jpg"></div>  </figure> <figure class="isotope-item ratio-container--gallery photo" data-category="photo" data-ratio="0.775" title="" data-gtm-category="photo" data-gtm-action="click" data-gtm-label="Achiever - ">   <div class="lazyload ratio-container__image" data-toggle="modal" data-target="#imageModal" data-image-src="/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/wordpress-60322077.jpg" data-image-caption="Coretta Scott King welcomes her husband, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., as he leaves the courtroom in Montgomery, Alabama, March 22, 1956. Dr. King was found guilty of conspiracy for leading a boycott of the city's segregated bus system. He ultimately spent two weeks in jail on the charge, attracting national attention to the boycott and the Civil Rights Movement. (AP Images/Gene Herrick)" data-image-copyright="wordpress-60322077" data-sizes="auto" data-bgset="/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/wordpress-60322077-380x295.jpg [(max-width:576px)] | /wp-content/uploads/2016/05/wordpress-60322077-760x589.jpg"></div>  </figure> <figure class="isotope-item ratio-container--gallery photo" data-category="photo" data-ratio="0.66973684210526" title="" data-gtm-category="photo" data-gtm-action="click" data-gtm-label="Achiever - ">   <div class="lazyload ratio-container__image" data-toggle="modal" data-target="#imageModal" data-image-src="/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/168639-02-2.jpg" data-image-caption="American Academy of Achievement members Coretta Scott King, Aretha Franklin, and Kathleen Battle at the 1999 International Achievement Summit in Washington, D.C. (© Academy of Achievement)" data-image-copyright="168639-02-2" data-sizes="auto" data-bgset="/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/168639-02-2-380x254.jpg [(max-width:576px)] | /wp-content/uploads/2016/06/168639-02-2-760x509.jpg"></div>  </figure> <figure class="isotope-item ratio-container--gallery photo" data-category="photo" data-ratio="0.66842105263158" title="" data-gtm-category="photo" data-gtm-action="click" data-gtm-label="Achiever - ">   <div class="lazyload ratio-container__image" data-toggle="modal" data-target="#imageModal" data-image-src="/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/wp-AP8001140287.jpg" data-image-caption="January 14, 1980: Rosa Parks, right, being kissed by Coretta Scott King, as she received the Martin Luther King, Jr. Nonviolent Peace Prize in Atlanta. Parks, who refused to give up her seat on a Montgomery, Alabama bus in 1955, was the first woman to win the award. (AP Photo)" data-image-copyright="wp-ap8001140287" data-sizes="auto" data-bgset="/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/wp-AP8001140287-380x254.jpg [(max-width:576px)] | /wp-content/uploads/2016/06/wp-AP8001140287-760x508.jpg"></div>  </figure> <figure class="isotope-item ratio-container--gallery photo" data-category="photo" data-ratio="0.79342105263158" title="" data-gtm-category="photo" data-gtm-action="click" data-gtm-label="Achiever - ">   <div class="lazyload ratio-container__image" data-toggle="modal" data-target="#imageModal" data-image-src="/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/King-Coretta-Scott-with-Aretha-Franklin.jpg" data-image-caption="1999: Academy Awards Council member and civil rights pioneer Coretta Scott King presenting the Golden Plate Award to Aretha Franklin at the Banquet of the Golden Plate ceremonies during the Summit in Washington, D.C. (© Academy of Achievement)" data-image-copyright="king-coretta-scott-with-aretha-franklin" data-sizes="auto" data-bgset="/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/King-Coretta-Scott-with-Aretha-Franklin-380x302.jpg [(max-width:576px)] | /wp-content/uploads/2016/11/King-Coretta-Scott-with-Aretha-Franklin-760x603.jpg"></div>  </figure>    </div> </section> </div> </div> <div class="container"> <footer class="editorial-article__footer col-md-8 col-md-offset-4"> <div class="editorial-article__next-link sans-3"> <a href="#"><strong>What's next:</strong> <span class="editorial-article__next-link-title">profile</span></a> </div> <ul class="social list-unstyled list-inline ssk-group m-b-0"> <li class="list-inline-item"><a href="" class="ssk ssk-facebook" data-gtm-category="social" data-gtm-action="click" data-gtm-label="Shared Achiever on Facebook"><i class="icon-icon_facebook-circle"></i></a></li> <li class="list-inline-item"><a href="" class="ssk ssk-twitter" data-gtm-category="social" data-gtm-action="click" data-gtm-label="Shared Achiever on Twitter"><i class="icon-icon_twitter-circle"></i></a></li>  <li class="list-inline-item"><a href="" class="ssk ssk-email" data-gtm-category="social" data-gtm-action="click" data-gtm-label="Shared Achiever via Email"><i class="icon-icon_email-circle"></i></a></li> </ul> <time class="editorial-article__last-updated sans-6">This page last revised on September 18, 2018</time> <div class="sans-4"><a href="/web/20190103164203/http://www.achievement.org/how-to-cite" target="_blank">How to cite this page</a></div> </footer> </div> <div class="container interview-related-achievers"> <hr class="m-t-3 m-b-3"/> <footer class="clearfix small-blocks text-xs-center"> <h3 class="m-b-3 serif-3">If you are inspired by this achiever’s story, you might also enjoy:</h3> <div class="centered-blocks"> <div class="isotope-achiever sports challenges athletic " data-year-inducted="1977" data-achiever-name="Aaron"> <div class="achiever-block view-grid"> <a href="/web/20190103164203/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/hank-aaron/"> <figure class="ratio-container ratio-container--square bg-black"> <div class="lazyload box achiever-block__image" data-sizes="auto" data-bgset="/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/HankAaron-e1453912195145-190x190.jpg [(max-width:576px)] | /wp-content/uploads/2016/01/HankAaron-e1453912195145.jpg"></div> <div class="achiever-block__overlay"></div> <figcaption class="text-xs-center achiever-block__text"> <div class="display--table"> <div class="display--table-cell"> <div class="achiever-block__text--center"> <div class="achiever-block__name text-brand-primary">Hank Aaron</div> <div class="achiever-block__known-as text-white sans-6">Baseball Immortal</div> </div> </div> </div> <div class="text-white achiever-block__text--bottom"> <div class="achiever-block__year sans-4">Inducted in <span class="year-inducted">1977</span></div> </div> </figcaption> </figure> </a> </div> </div> </div> <div class="centered-blocks"> <div class="isotope-achiever the-arts shy-introverted spiritual-religious " data-year-inducted="1990" data-achiever-name="Angelou"> <div class="achiever-block view-grid"> <a href="/web/20190103164203/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/maya-angelou/"> <figure class="ratio-container ratio-container--square bg-black"> <div class="lazyload box achiever-block__image" data-sizes="auto" data-bgset="/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/angelou_760_ac-190x190.jpg [(max-width:576px)] | /wp-content/uploads/2016/01/angelou_760_ac-380x380.jpg"></div> <div class="achiever-block__overlay"></div> <figcaption class="text-xs-center achiever-block__text"> <div class="display--table"> <div class="display--table-cell"> <div class="achiever-block__text--center"> <div class="achiever-block__name text-brand-primary">Maya Angelou</div> <div class="achiever-block__known-as text-white sans-6">Poet and Historian</div> </div> </div> </div> <div class="text-white achiever-block__text--bottom"> <div class="achiever-block__year sans-4">Inducted in <span class="year-inducted">1990</span></div> </div> </figcaption> </figure> </a> </div> </div> </div> <div class="centered-blocks"> <div class="isotope-achiever experienced-war-firsthand small-town-rural-upbringing " data-year-inducted="1978" data-achiever-name="Johnson"> <div class="achiever-block view-grid"> <a href="/web/20190103164203/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/frank-m-johnson/"> <figure class="ratio-container ratio-container--square bg-black"> <div class="lazyload box achiever-block__image" data-sizes="auto" data-bgset="/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/johnson-frank-013a-190x190.jpg [(max-width:576px)] | /wp-content/uploads/2016/11/johnson-frank-013a-380x380.jpg"></div> <div class="achiever-block__overlay"></div> <figcaption class="text-xs-center achiever-block__text"> <div class="display--table"> <div class="display--table-cell"> <div class="achiever-block__text--center"> <div class="achiever-block__name text-brand-primary">Frank M. Johnson, Jr.</div> <div class="achiever-block__known-as text-white sans-6">Presidential Medal of Freedom</div> </div> </div> </div> <div class="text-white achiever-block__text--bottom"> <div class="achiever-block__year sans-4">Inducted in <span class="year-inducted">1978</span></div> </div> </figcaption> </figure> </a> </div> </div> </div> <div class="centered-blocks"> <div class="isotope-achiever public-service public-service racism-discrimination small-town-rural-upbringing spiritual-religious help-mankind pioneer " data-year-inducted="2004" data-achiever-name="Lewis"> <div class="achiever-block view-grid"> <a href="/web/20190103164203/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/congressman-john-r-lewis/"> <figure class="ratio-container ratio-container--square bg-black"> <div class="lazyload box achiever-block__image" data-sizes="auto" data-bgset="/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/lewis_760_ac-190x190.jpg [(max-width:576px)] | /wp-content/uploads/2016/04/lewis_760_ac-380x380.jpg"></div> <div class="achiever-block__overlay"></div> <figcaption class="text-xs-center achiever-block__text"> <div class="display--table"> <div class="display--table-cell"> <div class="achiever-block__text--center"> <div class="achiever-block__name text-brand-primary">Congressman John R. Lewis</div> <div class="achiever-block__known-as text-white sans-6">Champion of Civil Rights</div> </div> </div> </div> <div class="text-white achiever-block__text--bottom"> <div class="achiever-block__year sans-4">Inducted in <span class="year-inducted">2004</span></div> </div> </figcaption> </figure> </a> </div> </div> </div> <div class="centered-blocks"> <div class="isotope-achiever public-service imprisonment-persecution racism-discrimination shy-introverted spiritual-religious teach-others help-mankind " data-year-inducted="1995" data-achiever-name="Parks"> <div class="achiever-block view-grid"> <a href="/web/20190103164203/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/rosa-parks/"> <figure class="ratio-container ratio-container--square bg-black"> <div class="lazyload box achiever-block__image" data-sizes="auto" data-bgset="/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/parks-rosa-760_ac-190x190.jpg [(max-width:576px)] | /wp-content/uploads/2016/06/parks-rosa-760_ac-380x380.jpg"></div> <div class="achiever-block__overlay"></div> <figcaption class="text-xs-center achiever-block__text"> <div class="display--table"> <div class="display--table-cell"> <div class="achiever-block__text--center"> <div class="achiever-block__name text-brand-primary">Rosa Parks</div> <div class="achiever-block__known-as text-white sans-6">Pioneer of Civil Rights</div> </div> </div> </div> <div class="text-white achiever-block__text--bottom"> <div class="achiever-block__year sans-4">Inducted in <span class="year-inducted">1995</span></div> </div> </figcaption> </figure> </a> </div> </div> </div> <div class="centered-blocks"> <div class="isotope-achiever public-service public-service public-service imprisonment-persecution racism-discrimination athletic extroverted spiritual-religious help-mankind pursue-public-office " data-year-inducted="1983" data-achiever-name="Young"> <div class="achiever-block view-grid"> <a href="/web/20190103164203/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/andrew-young/"> <figure class="ratio-container ratio-container--square bg-black"> <div class="lazyload box achiever-block__image" data-sizes="auto" data-bgset="/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/young_760_SQUARE-1-190x190.jpg [(max-width:576px)] | /wp-content/uploads/2016/04/young_760_SQUARE-1-380x380.jpg"></div> <div class="achiever-block__overlay"></div> <figcaption class="text-xs-center achiever-block__text"> <div class="display--table"> <div class="display--table-cell"> <div class="achiever-block__text--center"> <div class="achiever-block__name text-brand-primary">Andrew J. Young</div> <div class="achiever-block__known-as text-white sans-6">Civil Rights Ambassador</div> </div> </div> </div> <div class="text-white achiever-block__text--bottom"> <div class="achiever-block__year sans-4">Inducted in <span class="year-inducted">1983</span></div> </div> </figcaption> </figure> </a> </div> </div> </div> </footer> </div> </div> </article> <div class="modal image-modal fade" id="imageModal" tabindex="-1" role="dialog" aria-labelledby="imageModal" aria-hidden="true"> <div class="close-container"> <div class="close icon-icon_x" data-dismiss="modal" aria-label="Close"></div> </div> <div class="modal-dialog" role="document"> <div class="modal-content"> <div class="modal-body"> <figure class="image-modal__container"> <div class="display--table"> <div class="display--table-cell"> <img class="image-modal__image" src="/web/20190103164203im_/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/coretta-scott-king" alt=""/>  <figcaption class="p-t-2 container"> <div class="image-modal__caption sans-2 text-white"></div>  </figcaption> </div> </div> </figure> </div> </div> </div> </div> </main> </div> </div> <footer class="content-info main-footer bg-black"> <div class="container"> <div class="find-achiever" id="find-achiever-list"> <div class="form-group"> <input id="find-achiever-input" class="search js-focus" placeholder="Search for an achiever"/> <i class="icon-icon_chevron-down"></i> </div> <ul class="find-achiever-list list m-b-0 list-unstyled"> <li> <a href="/web/20190103164203/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/hank-aaron/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Hank Aaron</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20190103164203/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/kareem-abdul-jabbar/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Kareem Abdul-Jabbar</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20190103164203/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/lynsey-addario/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Lynsey Addario</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20190103164203/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/edward-albee/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Edward Albee</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20190103164203/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/tenley-albright-m-d/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Tenley Albright, M.D.</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20190103164203/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/svetlana-alexievich/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Svetlana Alexievich</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20190103164203/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/julie-andrews/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Dame Julie Andrews</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20190103164203/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/maya-angelou/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Maya Angelou</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20190103164203/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/robert-d-ballard-ph-d/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Robert D. 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Carter Brown</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20190103164203/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/linda-buck/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Linda Buck, Ph.D.</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20190103164203/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/carol-burnett/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Carol Burnett</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20190103164203/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/george-h-w-bush/"><span class="achiever-list-name">George H. W. Bush</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20190103164203/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/susan-butcher/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Susan Butcher</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20190103164203/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/james-cameron/"><span class="achiever-list-name">James Cameron</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20190103164203/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/benjamin-s-carson/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Benjamin S. Carson, M.D.</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20190103164203/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/jimmy-carter/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Jimmy Carter</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20190103164203/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/johnny-cash/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Johnny Cash</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20190103164203/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/william-j-clinton/"><span class="achiever-list-name">William J. Clinton</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20190103164203/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/francis-s-collins/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Francis S. Collins, M.D., Ph.D.</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20190103164203/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/denton-a-cooley/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Denton A. Cooley, M.D.</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20190103164203/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/francis-ford-coppola/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Francis Ford Coppola</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20190103164203/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/ray-dalio/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Ray Dalio</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20190103164203/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/olivia-de-havilland/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Dame Olivia de Havilland</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20190103164203/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/michael-e-debakey-m-d/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Michael E. DeBakey, M.D.</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20190103164203/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/michael-dell/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Michael S. Dell</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20190103164203/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/ron-dennis/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Ron Dennis</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20190103164203/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/joan-didion/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Joan Didion</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20190103164203/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/david-herbert-donald-ph-d/"><span class="achiever-list-name">David Herbert Donald, Ph.D.</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20190103164203/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/david-doubilet/"><span class="achiever-list-name">David Doubilet</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20190103164203/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/rita-dove/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Rita Dove</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20190103164203/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/sylvia-earle/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Sylvia Earle, Ph.D.</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20190103164203/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/elbaradei/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Mohamed ElBaradei</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20190103164203/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/gertrude-elion/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Gertrude B. Elion, M.Sc.</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20190103164203/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/larry-j-ellison/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Larry J. Ellison</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20190103164203/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/nora-ephron/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Nora Ephron</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20190103164203/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/julius-erving/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Julius Erving</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20190103164203/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/tony-fadell/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Tony Fadell</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20190103164203/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/paul-farmer/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Paul Farmer, M.D.</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20190103164203/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/suzanne-farrell/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Suzanne Farrell</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20190103164203/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/anthony-s-fauci-m-d/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Anthony S. Fauci, M.D.</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20190103164203/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/sally-field/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Sally Field</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20190103164203/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/lord-norman-foster/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Lord Norman Foster</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20190103164203/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/aretha-franklin/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Aretha Franklin</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20190103164203/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/milton-friedman-ph-d/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Milton Friedman, Ph.D.</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20190103164203/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/carlos-fuentes/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Carlos Fuentes</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20190103164203/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/athol-fugard/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Athol Fugard</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20190103164203/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/ernest-j-gaines/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Ernest J. Gaines</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20190103164203/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/william-h-gates-iii/"><span class="achiever-list-name">William H. Gates III</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20190103164203/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/leymah-gbowee/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Leymah Gbowee</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20190103164203/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/frank-gehry/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Frank O. Gehry</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20190103164203/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/murray-gell-mann-ph-d/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Murray Gell-Mann, Ph.D.</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20190103164203/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/carlos-ghosn/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Carlos Ghosn</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20190103164203/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/vince-gill/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Vince Gill</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20190103164203/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/ruth-bader-ginsburg/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Ruth Bader Ginsburg</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20190103164203/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/louise-gluck/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Louise Glück</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20190103164203/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/whoopi-goldberg/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Whoopi Goldberg</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20190103164203/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/jane-goodall/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Dame Jane Goodall</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20190103164203/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/doris-kearns-goodwin/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Doris Kearns Goodwin, Ph.D.</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20190103164203/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/mikhail-s-gorbachev/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Mikhail S. Gorbachev</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20190103164203/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/nadine-gordimer/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Nadine Gordimer</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20190103164203/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/stephen-jay-gould/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Stephen Jay Gould, Ph.D.</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20190103164203/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/carol-greider-ph-d/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Carol Greider, Ph.D.</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20190103164203/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/john-grisham/"><span class="achiever-list-name">John Grisham</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20190103164203/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/sir-john-gurdon/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Sir John Gurdon</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20190103164203/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/dorothy-hamill/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Dorothy Hamill</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20190103164203/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/demis-hassabis-ph-d/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Demis Hassabis, Ph.D.</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20190103164203/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/lauryn-hill/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Lauryn Hill</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20190103164203/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/sir-edmund-hillary/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Sir Edmund Hillary</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20190103164203/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/reid-hoffman/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Reid Hoffman</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20190103164203/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/khaled-hosseini/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Khaled Hosseini, M.D.</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20190103164203/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/ron-howard/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Ron Howard</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20190103164203/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/john-hume/"><span class="achiever-list-name">John Hume</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20190103164203/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/louis-ignarro-ph-d/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Louis Ignarro, Ph.D.</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20190103164203/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/daniel-inouye/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Daniel K. Inouye</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20190103164203/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/jeremy-irons/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Jeremy Irons</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20190103164203/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/john-irving/"><span class="achiever-list-name">John Irving</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20190103164203/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/kazuo-ishiguro/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Kazuo Ishiguro</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20190103164203/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/sir-peter-jackson/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Sir Peter Jackson</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20190103164203/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/donald-c-johanson/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Donald C. Johanson, Ph.D.</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20190103164203/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/frank-m-johnson/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Frank M. Johnson, Jr.</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20190103164203/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/philip-johnson/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Philip C. Johnson</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20190103164203/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/chuck-jones/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Chuck Jones</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20190103164203/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/james-earl-jones/"><span class="achiever-list-name">James Earl Jones</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20190103164203/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/quincy-jones/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Quincy Jones</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20190103164203/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/beverly-joubert/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Beverly Joubert</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20190103164203/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/dereck-joubert/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Dereck Joubert</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20190103164203/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/paul-kagame/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Paul Kagame</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20190103164203/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/thomas-keller-2/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Thomas Keller</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20190103164203/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/anthony-m-kennedy/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Anthony M. Kennedy</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20190103164203/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/b-b-king/"><span class="achiever-list-name">B.B. King</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20190103164203/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/carole-king/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Carole King</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20190103164203/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/coretta-scott-king/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Coretta Scott King</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20190103164203/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/henry-kissinger-ph-d/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Henry A. Kissinger, Ph.D.</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20190103164203/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/willem-j-kolff/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Willem J. Kolff, M.D., Ph.D.</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20190103164203/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/wendy-kopp/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Wendy Kopp</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20190103164203/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/henry-r-kravis/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Henry R. Kravis</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20190103164203/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/nicholas-d-kristof/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Nicholas D. Kristof</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20190103164203/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/mike-krzyzewski/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Mike Krzyzewski</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20190103164203/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/ray-kurzwell/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Ray Kurzweil</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20190103164203/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/eric-lander-ph-d/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Eric S. Lander, Ph.D.</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20190103164203/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/robert-s-langer-ph-d/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Robert S. Langer, Sc.D.</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20190103164203/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/richard-leakey/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Richard E. Leakey</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20190103164203/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/leon-lederman-ph-d/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Leon Lederman, Ph.D.</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20190103164203/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/robert-lefkowitz-m-d/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Robert J. Lefkowitz, M.D.</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20190103164203/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/congressman-john-r-lewis/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Congressman John R. Lewis</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20190103164203/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/maya-lin/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Maya Lin</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20190103164203/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/george-lucas/"><span class="achiever-list-name">George Lucas</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20190103164203/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/norman-mailer/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Norman Mailer</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20190103164203/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/peyton-manning/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Peyton Manning</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20190103164203/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/wynton-marsalis/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Wynton Marsalis</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20190103164203/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/john-c-mather-ph-d/"><span class="achiever-list-name">John C. Mather, Ph.D.</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20190103164203/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/johnny-mathis/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Johnny Mathis</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20190103164203/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/ernst-mayr-ph-d/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Ernst Mayr, Ph.D.</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20190103164203/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/willie-mays/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Willie Mays</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20190103164203/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/frank-mccourt/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Frank McCourt</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20190103164203/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/david-mccullough/"><span class="achiever-list-name">David McCullough</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20190103164203/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/audra-mcdonald/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Audra McDonald</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20190103164203/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/admiral-william-h-mcraven/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Admiral William H. McRaven, USN</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20190103164203/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/w-s-merwin/"><span class="achiever-list-name">W. S. Merwin</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20190103164203/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/james-a-michener/"><span class="achiever-list-name">James A. Michener</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20190103164203/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/marvin-minsky-ph-d/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Marvin Minsky, Ph.D.</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20190103164203/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/mario-j-molina-ph-d/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Mario J. Molina, Ph.D.</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20190103164203/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/n-scott-momaday-ph-d/"><span class="achiever-list-name">N. Scott Momaday, Ph.D.</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20190103164203/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/story-musgrave/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Story Musgrave, M.D.</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20190103164203/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/ralph-nader/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Ralph Nader</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20190103164203/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/peggy-noonan/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Peggy Noonan</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20190103164203/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/jessye-norman/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Jessye Norman</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20190103164203/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/tommy-norris/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Lt. Thomas R. Norris, USN</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20190103164203/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/joyce-carol-oates/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Joyce Carol Oates</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20190103164203/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/pierre-omidyar/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Pierre Omidyar</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20190103164203/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/jimmy-page/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Jimmy Page</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20190103164203/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/larry-page/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Larry Page</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20190103164203/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/arnold-palmer/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Arnold Palmer</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20190103164203/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/leon-panetta/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Leon Panetta</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20190103164203/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/rosa-parks/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Rosa Parks</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20190103164203/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/suzan-lori-parks/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Suzan-Lori Parks</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20190103164203/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/linus-pauling/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Linus C. Pauling, Ph.D.</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20190103164203/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/shimon-peres/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Shimon Peres</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20190103164203/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/itzhak-perlman/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Itzhak Perlman</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20190103164203/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/general-david-petraeus/"><span class="achiever-list-name">General David H. Petraeus, USA</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20190103164203/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/sidney-poitier/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Sidney Poitier</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20190103164203/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/general-colin-l-powell/"><span class="achiever-list-name">General Colin L. Powell, USA</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20190103164203/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/harold-prince/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Harold Prince</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20190103164203/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/venki-ramakrishnan-ph-d/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Venki Ramakrishnan, Ph.D.</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20190103164203/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/lord-martin-rees/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Lord Martin Rees</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20190103164203/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/lloyd-richards/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Lloyd Richards</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20190103164203/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/sally-ride-ph-d/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Sally K. Ride, Ph.D.</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20190103164203/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/sonny-rollins/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Sonny Rollins</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20190103164203/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/anthony-romero/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Anthony Romero</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20190103164203/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/james-rosenquist/"><span class="achiever-list-name">James Rosenquist</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20190103164203/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/pete-rozelle/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Pete Rozelle</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20190103164203/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/bill-russell/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Bill Russell</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20190103164203/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/albie-sachs/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Albie Sachs</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20190103164203/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/oliver-sacks-m-d/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Oliver Sacks, M.D.</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20190103164203/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/jonas-salk-m-d/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Jonas Salk, M.D.</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20190103164203/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/frederick-sanger-ph-d/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Frederick Sanger, Ph.D.</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20190103164203/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/george-b-schaller-ph-d/"><span class="achiever-list-name">George B. Schaller, Ph.D.</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20190103164203/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/barry-scheck/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Barry Scheck</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20190103164203/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/richard-evans-schultes-ph-d/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Richard Evans Schultes, Ph.D.</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20190103164203/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/general-h-norman-schwarzkopf/"><span class="achiever-list-name">General H. Norman Schwarzkopf, USA</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20190103164203/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/stephen-schwarzman/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Stephen A. Schwarzman</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20190103164203/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/glenn-t-seaborg-ph-d/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Glenn T. Seaborg, Ph.D.</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20190103164203/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/neil-sheehan/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Neil Sheehan</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20190103164203/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/admiral-alan-shepard-jr/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Admiral Alan B. Shepard, Jr., USN</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20190103164203/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/ellen-johnson-sirleaf/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Ellen Johnson Sirleaf</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20190103164203/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/carlos-slim/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Carlos Slim Helú</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20190103164203/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/frederick-w-smith/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Frederick W. Smith</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20190103164203/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/stephen-sondheim/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Stephen Sondheim</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20190103164203/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/sonia-sotomayor/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Sonia Sotomayor</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20190103164203/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/wole-soyinka/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Wole Soyinka</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20190103164203/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/esperanza-spalding/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Esperanza Spalding</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20190103164203/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/martha-stewart/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Martha Stewart</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20190103164203/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/admiral-james-b-stockdale/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Admiral James B. Stockdale, USN</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20190103164203/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/hilary-swank/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Hilary Swank</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20190103164203/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/amy-tan/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Amy Tan</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20190103164203/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/dame-kiri-te-kanawa/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Dame Kiri Te Kanawa</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20190103164203/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/edward-teller-ph-d/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Edward Teller, Ph.D.</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20190103164203/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/twyla-tharp/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Twyla Tharp</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20190103164203/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/wayne-thiebaud/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Wayne Thiebaud</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20190103164203/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/lt-michael-e-thornton-usn/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Lt. Michael E. Thornton, USN</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20190103164203/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/charles-h-townes-ph-d/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Charles H. Townes, Ph.D.</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20190103164203/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/david-trimble/"><span class="achiever-list-name">David Trimble</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20190103164203/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/ted-turner/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Robert Edward (Ted) Turner</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20190103164203/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/desmond-tutu/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Archbishop Desmond Tutu</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20190103164203/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/john-updike/"><span class="achiever-list-name">John Updike</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20190103164203/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/gore-vidal/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Gore Vidal</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20190103164203/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/antonio-villaraigosa/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Antonio Villaraigosa</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20190103164203/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/lech-walesa/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Lech Walesa</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20190103164203/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/herschel-walker/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Herschel Walker</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20190103164203/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/james-d-watson/"><span class="achiever-list-name">James D. Watson, Ph.D.</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20190103164203/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/andrew-weil-m-d/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Andrew Weil, M.D.</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20190103164203/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/leslie-h-wexner/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Leslie H. Wexner</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20190103164203/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/elie-wiesel/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Elie Wiesel</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20190103164203/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/edward-o-wilson-ph-d/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Edward O. Wilson, Ph.D.</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20190103164203/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/oprah-winfrey/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Oprah Winfrey</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20190103164203/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/tom-wolfe/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Tom Wolfe</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20190103164203/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/john-wooden/"><span class="achiever-list-name">John Wooden</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20190103164203/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/bob-woodward/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Bob Woodward</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20190103164203/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/shinya-yamanaka-m-d-ph-d/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Shinya Yamanaka, M.D., Ph.D.</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20190103164203/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/general-chuck-yeager/"><span class="achiever-list-name">General Chuck Yeager, USAF</span></a> </li> <li> <a href="/web/20190103164203/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/andrew-young/"><span class="achiever-list-name">Andrew J. 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