Like Coretta: Persevere
by Rosie Armstrong
January 17, 2022
Every year, since 1983, on the third Monday in January, we observe and honor a man and leader that
helped change the course of our history as a nation. His name is Martin Luther King, Jr. (MLK). He is
known as one of the most influential forces behind the success of the Civil Rights Movement.
Growing up as a little girl, I would see his framed picture on the walls in many homes of my much older, more “seasoned” senior family members and their close friends; ones who had endured a time where it was a crime to be black in America; ones who had witnessed their parents struggle and persisted in a time where it was an abomination to be black in America.
And so you can imagine, the consistent mention and sometimes outpouring; hours of storytelling, rich with inspired admiration, appreciation, affection and esteem for MLK from the lips of those who came before me. And rightly so.
He struggled,
fought,
sacrificed,
and persisted
through countless “no’s”
delivered often in terrifying distribution
until they became “yes’s.”
He ultimately was killed for this work; for this divine calling to “set the captives free.”
And so, with great respect and high regard, we cherish, revere, and celebrate Dr. King and his powerful
contribution to many of the freedoms we as black Americans have today.
Yet, as I sat on my couch, Monday January 17, 2022 watching the commemorative service for MLK, at
one point, MLK’s youngest daughter, Bernice A. King, said something I had never heard before (or that I
hadn’t paid attention to in the past.) I’m paraphrasing, but the heart of her message was,
We CANNOT honor my Father without honoring my mother as well.
That simple reminder struck me.
How come I never heard more of her growing up?
There was certainly no consistent mention of her…
no outpouring or story-telling where she was concerned.
Her contribution to not just black people, but to the collective oppressed was so MASSIVE.
She, along with countless others, is the reason we observe Martin Luther King Jr. Day as a FEDERAL holiday and just to secure it as such took many years of effort; it was a down-right fight really! As were many things in her life; but I’m getting ahead of myself.
God has used the reverence I have for her…for who she is at the epitome of her being…to mentor my heart back to life in many ways, long after she has passed: The woman I honor through this writing is Coretta Scott King.
Coretta Scott King
She says in her autobiography, My Life, My Love, My Legacy, “There is a Mrs. King. There is also Coretta…Now I think it is time you knew Coretta.”
I pray this helps us SEE and KNOW her and serves as reminder and/or introduction to her leadership and
legacy that even now is affecting change in our world.
First, a small introduction. Coretta Scott was born on April 27, 1927 in Heiberger, Alabama to Obadiah
(Obie) Scott and Bernice McMurray Scott. Her childhood was full of hard, fear-inducing experiences, as
you could imagine growing up in the South in the 1930s and 40s. But she was not moved. Not that she
wasn’t scared, but as she knowingly states, “When fear rushed in, I learned how to hear my heart racing,
but refused to allow my feelings to sway me.” Crediting her hope and faith in God and watching her
steadfast parents, “a hardworking, faithful, courageous father and a loving, nurturing, farsighted
mother”, push through in the midst of so much hate because of their own hope and faith. She would
remember this and it would renew her strength over and over again.
By age 6, she was working the fields on her family’s farm and by age 10 because of the Great Depression, she was hired to pick cotton along with her sister Edythe. She attended a segregated elementary school and the private Lincoln High School, founded by former slaves, in Marion Alabama. The high school provided her first experience of whites and blacks working together. This coupled with her exposure to people of different ethnicities, religions, and backgrounds at Antioch College in Ohio continually shaped her heart to see the dignity in all humans no matter the color of their skin, what they believed in, or where they were from. Her entrance to Antioch was through one of the small amounts of scholarships they offered to black students in that time.
The positives of becoming more multicultural ran parallel with the negatives of racism she faced, being one of a few black students there. And hence the repetitious cycle of her life: Gaining opportunities that preached with words “we welcome you here!” while hate and pride boiling up and over, spilled out from hearts in many white men and women through their words and actions.
Yet she PERSEVERED.
And in small ways, began to speak up for herself and others. She continued her education at the New England Conservatory of Music in Boston because of her love to sing. This is also the time where she met Martin.
A Personal Pause
Now let’s just pause here.
I will be 35 years old this year. More and more as an adult, I am coming to understand how shaped I was
by my own upbringing and how it has affected and contributed greatly to how I think, what I believe,
how I parent, how I love others, and overall who I am. Everything in our lives shape us, but this season in
particular molds us, many times unconsciously. And the more God reveals to me, the more shaken I am
from unproductive, tightly held ideals and expectations and the more firmly rooted I am in the things
that reflect God’s goodness and character.
Back To Coretta’s Perseverance
From what I’ve gathered thus far, Coretta was NOT unconscious. God had given her an awakening and
an awareness and a desire to search His heart for answers to questions about who she was and who she
would be: Her purpose on this Earth. And she sought Him until He answered and she understood. In the
in-between, He was growing her faith, stretching her as far as she desired, using her in ways higher than
her thinking and imagination. LORD, HELP ME EMULATE THIS MORE AND MORE!
After marrying Martin, while birthing and raising four children, and walking through struggle after
struggle, hurdle after hurdle, threat after threat, and fight after fight right by her husband’s side, she
didn’t lose her sense of self…her confidence in God’s plan for her to live out her passions to speak out
for the voiceless no matter their race, ethnicity, gender, origin, background, or orientation. They, as
human beings had a right to dignity first, among so many other rights. It became a significant part of her
legacy. One I believe infected Martin’s to become the IMPACT His dream is today.
And just think, after losing Martin, her husband, life partner and closest friend, her confidant and the
Father of her children in the tragic way that she did; instantly becoming a single mother of four…that
could cause any one of us to give up; stop; quit.
But she PERSEVERED by the grace of God and with His power.
She continued the fight peacefully, but fiercely.
Subsequently, after Martin’s death, she founded what’s now called the Martin Luther King, Jr. Center for
Nonviolent Social Change, Inc. (previously named the Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial Center) also
known as The King Center. Her goal according to The King Center’s website, was and is to “provide
programs and training in Dr. King’s philosophy and methodology of non-violence.”
She said of The King Center “…The Memorial Center will, like Martin Luther King, emerge proudly out of the heart of the black experience in America, but it will address the experiences of all people, especially those who are broken and oppressed, those who desperately search for justice, liberation, and peace.”
She formed coalitions for peace and equal economic, women, and human rights. She was head of
summits for women and cross country peace talks. She spoke at numerous rallies promoting peace and
justice and was the “first black woman to” over and over again serve in the roles of delegate, liaison, and
preacher in many conferences and services.
This is just a small list of the powerful contributions she has made to our world.
To be impacted as I have been in more of the details of her life, I STRONGLY encourage you to hear it
straight from her.
Read. Her. Autobiography.
It is piercing and mighty,
honest and relatable.
It is not just a “good read,”
but an IMPORTANT one.
Her daughter is right.
We cannot,
SHOULD NOT,
remember MLK
without remembering
Coretta Scott King.
The wisdom and life-giving experiences that I am privileged to witness from her writings alone deeply
resonate with me.
I, like Coretta…
I, like Coretta, love to sing, grew up in the church, am who and where I am today because of the courageous and hardworking efforts of my parents and their instillment of the truth and love of God that surpasses all.
I, like Coretta, married a man (Malcolm) who I eventually came to believe, tried and true, that he was destined for me; and we have four children, two boys and two girls.
I, like Coretta, desire to leave a legacy that lasts long after Malcolm and I are gone; one that our children carry on with pride, compassion, and humility, similar to Coretta Scott King’s children. And oh with what tenacity and boldness they are carrying the torch!
I, like Coretta said of herself, believe that I contain “a gentle manner, but a warrior’s spirit.” And in that
spirit, I want to love like Jesus loves. I want everyone to know that they deserve dignity because they are
made in the image of the Living God. And I want them to know how much He loves them no matter
what those against them say about them.
But I, BECAUSE of Coretta,
because of God’s fearsome work through Coretta,
because Coretta understood her purpose and FOLLOWED THRU.
No matter the obstacle, test, life-threatening persecution,
with countless others working with her side by side
and countless others working against them;
because of their perseverance,
I have the freedoms many of my ancestors dreamed of.
And yet
we still have
so far to go.
I hope I’ve helped you SEE Coretta and some of the legacy she left behind. I hope you’re inspired to
leave your own.
I pray I continue to run the race God has called me to.
Because of Coretta I can: PERSEVERE.
Citations:
My Life, My Love, My Legacy by Coretta Scott King (as told to the Rev. Dr. Barbara Reynolds)
