While Coretta Scott King is recognized as the architect of the King legacy and founder of the MLK Center, few realized the integral placement of her justice worldview and activism to influence the public role of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. A classically-trained musicologist, Scott King’s justice lens was informed by historical and sociocultural aesthetics. Essentially, Scott King was already championing social change through peaceful protest and introduced MLK to Gandhi’s philosophical praxis of satyagraha, seeded in the educational synergy of their shared Boston collegiate experience. As a proponent for the Center, Scott King also traveled extensively to speak on nonviolence, anti-war and peace justice activist for religious freedom, racial and economic justice, LGBTQIA dignity, and gender justice.
The Womanist Approaches to Religion and Society Unit and others will invite panelists that focus on Scott King as a justice coalition builder, organizational leader, and spiritually-grounded orator in her own right.