Coretta Scott King inducted into Women’s Hall of Fame

The late civil rights icon and wife of Martin Luther King Jr., Coretta Scott King, was inducted into the Alabama Women’s Hall of Fame (AWHF) on March 5.

The AWHF, founded in 1970, is housed in A. Howard Bean Hall on the campus of Judson College in Marion.

“After the assassination of her husband, Coretta took up the cross and carried on Martin Luther King’s work,” said induction speaker and retired U.S. District Judge U.W. Clemon, of Birmingham.

Clemon said King gave herself to two major projects following her husband’s death — the establishment of The King Center in Atlanta in 1968 and the establishment of the King holiday, which came about in 1986.

Clemon also noted King was born only 10 miles from the Judson campus. After her graduation from Antioch College, where she majored in elementary education and music, King was awarded a scholarship to the New England Conservatory of Music. It was in Boston that she met her future husband, a student at Boston University. King graduated from the conservatory two months after her husband accepted the pastorate of Dexter Avenue Baptist Church  in Montgomery in 1954.

The full effect of what her partnership in the civil rights movement would cost her was realized in 1956, according to Clemon. “She was in the house with her oldest daughter, Yolanda, and a friend when the parsonage was bombed,” he said. “It was a miracle that no one was hurt.”

King’s second daughter, Bernice, attended the induction and unveiled the plaque that will be installed at the AWHF.

“My mother raised up four children at the same time she raised up a nation,” Bernice King said. “She taught us that the most important thing is to discover the will of God and follow it, no matter what. She was a woman of determination and courage.”

According to The King Center, Coretta King received more than 60 honorary doctorates, wrote three books and a nationally syndicated column and helped found and served many organizations, including the Black Leadership Forum, the National Black Coalition for Voter Participation and the Black Leadership Roundtable. For more information, visit awhf.org.