![]() Her encouragement forced Martin to remain focused on his goals. She played an important role in consoling and giving advice on the best course of actions. During this period, she made a great contribution by encouraging Martin to realize his goals. During the Civil Movements of the 1950s and 1960s, Coretta Scott King was among the people who played a pivotal role. Coretta met her husband Martin Luther King Jr at Boston University after which they married after sixteen months.ĭuring her lifetime, Coretta spent most of her time fighting and advocating for equality and promotion of un-discriminatory policies across the world. Coretta’s sister was the first black student to study in Antioch College, Ohio. She learned how to play music instruments like the trumpet while she was still at school where she sang as a soloist. The development of these interests can be attributed to her mother who played a significant role in her life.įor instance, she learned to play musical instruments at a very young age. Throughout her life, Coretta had a great thirst for education and music. However, Coretta managed to acquire education up to the university level. Unfortunately, the family was not among the wealthiest families in the region (Academy of Achievement par 1). The family owned a small farm from where they earned their livelihood. Her parents were Obadiah Scott and Bernice McMurry Scott. For instance, he sponsored legislation to give King and Rosa Parks the Congressional Gold Medals, backed a bill to place a statue of Parks in the US Capitol, and voted for a 2006 reauthorization of the Civil Rights Act named after King.įollowing King’s death in 2006, Sessions lauded her, saying in a statement that it “marks yet another sad passing of an historic leader in the movement for equal rights in America.Coretta Scott was born on April 1927 in Perry County, Alabama. Sessions’ 1986 defeat deeply wounded the Alabama conservative, and as a senator he made a point of backing a number of civil rights measures, particularly those connected to King. Now that it has been released, the letter may prove embarrassing for Sessions. It’s unlikely King’s testimonial alone will derail Sessions’ nomination: The Senate rarely rejects nominations for one of its own, and with Republicans controlling the chamber, it appears likely he will be installed at the Department of Justice. Epstein, the reporter who obtained a copy in 1986, told BuzzFeed News he no longer has a copy and could not recall details of its contents beyond what was printed at the time. Chairman Chuck Grassley’s office did not respond to requests for the letter, and sources told BuzzFeed News that Democratic members’ hands are tied by committee rules that give Grassley the sole authority to release it.Īdditionally, the King Center, the Atlanta-based memorial and nonprofit that manages Coretta Scott King’s papers as well as those of her late husband, said it has not finished processing her papers and could not provide a copy of the letter. ![]() It’s unclear why Thurmond didn’t include the letter in the record. Now Sessions, who would go on to become Alabama’s attorney general before replacing Heflin in the Senate in 1997, is once again before the Senate for confirmation, this time as President-elect Donald Trump’s attorney general. ![]() Sessions, protested that they, too, were not personally hostile to blacks," King’s letter said, according to Epstein’s dispatch. "For a century, the racial practices that characterized our region were established and enforced by men who, like Mr. In the only line that was made public at the time - published in June 1986 by Knight Ridder reporter Aaron Epstein - King made clear her opposition to Sessions’ nomination. It can be read here.Īt the time of the hearing, Judiciary Committee Chairman Strom Thurmond never put the letter into the congressional record, and its contents remained largely unknown. The Washington Post published the full, 10 page letter from King to the committee Tuesday evening. The letter would become a key part of the case against Sessions, who would ultimately be defeated when his home state senator, the late Howell Heflin, shocked the Senate and voted against the confirmation. Sessions, whose nomination had initially seemed routine, was suddenly on the ropes after witnesses accused him of using racial slurs and using his position as a US attorney to target civil rights activists in Alabama. In 1986, as the Senate was considering the nomination of Jefferson Beauregard Sessions for federal judge, Coretta Scott King wrote an impassioned plea to the members of the Judiciary Committee.
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