My Life, My Love, My Legacy by Coretta Scott King

Author:Coretta Scott King
Language: eng
Format: azw3, epub
Publisher: Henry Holt and Co.
Published: 0101-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

SEVENTEEN

My Fifth Child

THROUGHOUT MY LIFE, whenever I didn’t pray, things went badly. I would become frustrated and feel out of sync with the will and purpose of God. But whenever my life was guided by prayer, I felt good about what I was doing, and I was able to reach out to other people with love and understanding. In the wake of Martin’s death, I pondered and soul-searched, trying to determine my future plans and goals, and of course I prayed. It was during this time of prayer that the idea of creating an institution dedicated to Martin’s legacy rose to the top of my life’s to-do list.

As John Russwurm, who cofounded the first black American newspaper, Freedom’s Journal, in 1827, put it, “Who can tell our story better than we ourselves can tell our story?” I knew that if I left our story for others to tell, it would be misinterpreted and maligned. Through twelve and a half short years of ministry, Martin changed the world we lived in. I wanted to ensure that his legacy to humanity lived on—and could be replicated.

So on June 26, 1968, I founded the Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial Center, and in July, only three months after my husband’s assassination, I held a press conference announcing it. Eventually, the name was changed to the Martin Luther King, Jr. Center for Nonviolent Social Change, or the King Center. In those hectic first days after Martin was gone, I worked on the Center right there in my bedroom. I sometimes slept with files of Martin’s sermons and news clippings neatly stacked alongside me on the bed—on the side of the bed that only months before had belonged to the love of my life.

I had conceived of the Center as an extension of Martin’s personality—not just a place, not just a building, but a spirit, one undergirded with his philosophy of nonviolence and love in action. It would be the official living memorial, a place where we would teach his philosophy, methodology, and strategies of nonviolence in the hope of bringing about social change and eliminating what he called the triple evils of society: poverty, racism, and war. The Center would advocate not just for civil rights but for human rights. It would encourage community and economic development in Atlanta as well as agitate for national political empowerment and promote social and economic justice around the world.

I knew that I did not want the Center to be a monument set only in bricks and mortar, yet I did want a physical memorial as well, and I envisioned a state-of-the-art archive of my husband’s sermons, speeches, and other pertinent writings, and also films documenting the civil and human rights movements. I saw conference space for programs devoted to issues such as penal reform, voter registration, economic reform, and training in nonviolent conflict reconciliation. And I wanted a “freedom hall,” with an auditorium and meeting rooms, an all-faiths international chapel, an administration building, a memorial park, a community center, a natatorium, and of course a permanent entombment for Martin.

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