Born and raised on a farm in Perry County, Alabama, Coretta Scott (1927-2006) was introduced to the segregated society at an early age and lived a discriminated life for many years. Even though she attended a one-room school for low-income blacks in her neighbourhood, Scott excelled in her studies, especially music, and rose as a singer. Graduating from Lincoln High School, Scott was chosen as its valedictorian in 1945 followed by a scholarship from Antioch College, Ohio.
Graduating as a Bachelor of Arts with a degree in music and education, Scott proceeded to her next institute, New England Conservatory of Music in Boston with a fellowship awarded to her name. In the early 1950s, the talented individual earned her second collegiate degree in voice and violin.
Moving to Montgomery in 1953 with her husband who she met in her former institute, Scott began to get involved in the Civil Rights Movement while simultaneously working alongside her husband in the Baptist Church throughout the 1950s and 1960s. As an active member, Scott took part in the Montgomery Bus Boycott in 1955, attended Ghana’s Independence Day in 1957 and traveled on a pilgrimage to India in 1959. She was also one of the civil rights workers to contribute towards the 1964 Civil Rights Act.
As her husband, Martin Luther King Jr., established himself as the most recognizable face of the Civil Rights Movement, the couple became a source of inspiration for the other citizens, both white and black, to defy segregation laws. However, the couple’s journey to success was not free of hurdles and they faced opposition from the supporters of institutionalized racism. The same white supermacists also bombed the Kings’ family home in 1956.
Mother of four and a devoted wife, Scott had to sacrifice her singing career in order to serve her family. However, she was quick in finding an alternative use for her musical talents and conceived and performed a series of Freedom Concerts. Using a combination of poetry, narration and music, the concerts not only conveyed
