More Than A Label
Coretta Scott King holding a candle and leading a march at night to the White House as part of the Moratorium to End the War in Vietnam, October 15, 1969. Source: Library of Congress
When asked about her public image, Coretta Scott King was once quoted as saying, “Often, I am made to sound like an attachment to a vacuum cleaner: the wife of Martin, then the widow of Martin, all of which I was proud to be. But I was never just a wife, nor a widow. I was always more than a label.”
In this web extra from BackStory’s “The Real Martin Luther King,” guest Jeanne Theoharis talks about how Coretta Scott King was an activist before meeting Martin and how she expanded her husband’s legacy while continuing to build her own.