Coretta Scott King Slammed the Civil Rights Movement, Plus More Facts

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by Sommer P. 

Most people know her solely as Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s wife, but there’s a reason why a powerful man married and started a family with the late Coretta Scott King.

Born on April 27, 1927 in Marion, Alabama, Coretta came from a family of strong-willed people. Her father, Obadiah “Obie” Scott, was the first African-American in her hometown neighborhood to own a truck. Her sister Edythe was one of the first African-American students to attend Antioch College in Yellow Springs, OH. Coretta’s maternal grandfather owned a 280-acre farm because many people mistaken him to be a White man — his mother was of Black Native American ancestry and conceived him with her slaveowner.

Below are five things you may not have known about the late Coretta Scott King:

1. She’s a descendant of the Mende people of Sierra Leone. A DNA analysis found that Coretta descended from the Mende people, which is one of the two largest ethnic groups in Sierra Leone. They live in villages of 70 to 250 people and are very strict about keeping the traditions of their tribe a secret. In fact, the Mende people believe the greatest sin a man can commit is to giveaway the secrets of his tribe.
2. She wasn’t born into slavery, but she picked cotton. Although Coretta’s family owned a farm since the American Civil War, they were not wealthy. Coretta and her three siblings were forced to pick cotton in an effort to help the family sustain during the Great Depression.
3. She was a gifted musician and loved to sing. Coretta transferred from Antioch College to the New England Conservatory of Music on scholarship, studying voice and violin.
4. She criticized the Civil Rights Movement. Coretta clashed with her husband about her role. She was thoroughly committed to the Civil Rights Movement and wanted to be a public leader, but Martin wanted her to focus on raising their four children. In an interview with New Lady magazine in January 1966, she criticized the sexism of the movement. “Not enough attention has been focused on the roles played by women in the struggle. By and large, men have formed the leadership in the civil rights struggle but…women have been the backbone of the whole civil rights movement,” she said.
5. She chose an open casket funeral for her husband so that their children would know he wasn’t coming back. Coretta made the tough decision to leave her husband’s casket open with the hope that their children would know upon viewing his body that he would not be coming home.